[ARENA FOOTBALL]
The Hawaiian Islanders led San Diego midway through the third quarter, but the Riptide scored 21 straight points in the quarter en route to a 44-34 victory in an arenafootball2 game in San Diego last night. Islanders drop eighth straight
after losing second-half leadStar-Bulletin staff
It was the eighth consecutive loss for the Islanders (1-8).
Last night, Darnell Arceneaux ran for two touchdowns and passed for another in the first three quarters. His 6-yard pass to Olen Rosehill at the 4:42 mark of the third period gave the Islanders a 27-23 lead.
But it was all Riptide afer that.
Kane Claunch connected with Altie Parker from 32 yards out to put San Diego up for good, 30-27, with 1:36 left in the third.
The ensuing kickoff bounced off the bottom of the screen and went over the head of Islanders return man Darrell Jones. After a mad scramble for the ball, Brad Greetis recovered the it in the end zone for another Riptide score.
"It seems like we get better every week and we still can't find a way to win," Islanders coach Chad Carlson said. "A couple of bad breaks in the second half, including a lucky bounce off the net on the kickoff, really hurt us."
Erik Wilhelm, a former NFL quarterback, replaced Arceneaux and his first pass as an Islander was picked off by Kenny Haslip and returned 9 yards for a touchdown.
Carlson said the interception was not Wilhelm's fault.
"He was trying to get rid of the ball and he was hit when he threw it," Carlson said.
Wilhelm hit Mike Tillis with a 38-yard touchdown pass with five minutes left to close out the scoring.
Claunch finished 14 of 21 with 227 yards and four touchdowns, two to Aazaar Abdul-Rahim. Haslip picked off Wilhelm twice.
Arceneaux ran for touchdowns of 4 and 2 yards in the first quarter and Derek Zoller rumbled in from a yard out to give the Islanders a 21-13 lead with 8:29 left in the second quarter.
"There's no excuse for losing and I'm not going to give one," Carlson said. "My guys can play. We dominated the first half of the game."
At San Diego, Calif. Riptide 44 , Islanders 34
Hawaiian Islanders (1-8) 14 7 6 7 -- 34 San Diego Riptide (4-5) 13 3 21 7 -- 44 Islanders -- Darnell Arceneaux 4 run (Jake Huggins kick)
Riptide -- Aazaar Abdul-Rahim 30 pass from Kane Claunch (Ryan Geisler kick)
Islanders -- Arceneaux 2 run ( Huggins kick)
Riptide -- Altie Parker 16 pass from Claunch (kick failed)
Islanders -- Derek Zoller 1 run (Huggins kick)
Riptide -- Geisler 29 FG
Riptide -- Abdul-Rahim 30 pass from Kane Claunch ( Geisler kick)
Islanders -- Olen Rosehill 6 pass from Arceneaux (kick failed)
Riptide -- Altie Parker 32 pass from Claunch (Geisler kick)
Riptide -- Brad Greetis fumble recovery (Geisler kick)
Riptide -- Kenny Haslip 9 interception return (Geisler kick)
Islanders -- Jared Flint 38 pass from Erik Wilhelm (Huggins kick)RUSHING--Islanders: Arceneaux 4-26, Zoller 8-17. Riptide: Melvin Blue 5-20, Rico Curtis 2-10.
PASSING--Islanders: Arceneaux 15-31-0-126, Wilhelm 4-10-2-87. Riptide: Claunch 14-21-0-227.
RECEIVING--Islanders: Isaac White 6-67, Flint 5-91, Robert Kemfort 4-28, Darrell Jones 3-21, Rosehill 1-6. Riptide: Abdul-Rahim 4-75, Parker 3-67, Mark Butler 3-29, Jared Smith 2-23, Greetis 1-28, Brian Berg 1-5.
Hawaiian Islanders