[ ARENA FOOTBALL ]
Underdog Coyotes
knock off Islanders
FRESNO, Calif. » The good news for the Hawaiian Islanders is that their slim playoff hopes are still intact.
The bad news is that they won't be able to capture their second straight National Conference West Division championship.
That possibility evaporated when Kimo Naehu missed a 55-yard field goal with 1 second left last night, giving Central Valley a 64-63 arenafootball2 victory at Selland Arena.
Returning from an injury, quarterback Darnell Arceneaux replaced starter Shawn Withy-Allen with 10 ticks to go, but his pass to Nian Taylor fell incomplete 5 seconds later.
After coach Cal Lee, offensive coordinator Vinny Passas and Arceneaux conferred during a timeout, Naehu came on for the big attempt, but the kick was short and left.
Instead of improving to 9-6, the Islanders dropped to 8-7.
"It's kind of sad that we had to be spoilers to the Islanders, but we had to take care of our responsibilities and win the ballgame," said former Islanders coach and NFL standout lineman Al Noga, who is making a comeback on the field and finished his fourth game with the Coyotes (2-13). "I've been trying to come out and give it a go and see if I can do it and things are turning out pretty good."
The Islanders face a must-win situation Saturday at Bakersfield. The Blitz (10-5) clinched the West title, despite a 34-30 loss to San Diego last night.
In order to secure a wild-card berth, the Islanders must beat Bakersfield, while San Diego (8-7), Wichita (8-7) and Louisville (9-6) must lose and Peoria (9-6) must win.
"We're full of disappointment, and I feel bad for everyone in this organization," Lee said after the loss. "We had a shot, but didn't get it done. We had 60 minutes to get it done. This would have been a great win, but it's all water under the bridge now."
Naehu kicked the first seven of his extra points, but missed one early in the fourth quarter after Vai Notoa's 9-yard touchdown run. The miss allowed Central Valley to retain a 56-55 lead.
Notoa's 4-yard run -- his third rushing touchdown of the game -- with 1:03 left and Withy-Allen's 2-point conversion pass to Taylor gave the Islanders a 63-56 edge.
But with 39 seconds to go, Coyotes quarterback Frank Borba pulled off the game-winning heroics by tossing a 13-yard TD pass to LaMonte Jones and rushing home the 2-point conversion for what turned out to be the final 64-63 count.
Noga and Lee both said Naehu's kick with the game on the line just missed.
"It looked like it had the height and the distance and at the last minute it just fell off by about a half-foot," Noga said.
The win snapped Central Valley's eight-game losing streak and gave new coach Fred Biletnikoff Jr. his first win.
"Everyone of their players was in the ballgame and emotional," Lee said about Central Valley. "We put the pressure on their quarterback, but he scrambled late in the game and made some big plays. We had every receiver covered on their last 2-point conversion, but he made it happen."
Withy-Allen went 21-for-30 for 294 yards and four TDs. Gabe Amey caught 10 of those passes for 172 yards. Borba (26-for-33, 265 yards, six TDs) was the offensive player of the game. Kenyatte Morgan scored four touchdowns, including three on Borba passes.