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It started with coach Guy Benjamin high-fiving Gusto the Gecko, and it ended with a hair-raising missed field goal with no time left on the clock. Islanders open
arenafootball2 with winBy Nick Abramo
nabramo@starbulletin.comThe Hawaiian Islanders and Fresno Frenzy -- two expansion arenafootball2 league teams playing for the first time -- found out quickly that every inch on the short 50-yard field is a tough one. The Islanders got their yards slightly easier and marched to a 50-47 victory in front of 4,376 fans at Blaisdell Arena last night.
Quarterback Darnell Arceneaux plunged in from 1 yard out with 9.8 seconds left for the winning points. The Frenzy had two more chances to win it after Hawaii's squib kickoff, but Brian McCabe's field goal attempts of 37 and 32 yards (the Islanders were penalized after the first miss) both sailed left.
The Frenzy appeared to have stopped Arceneaux before he reached the goal line on the winning effort, but the former St. Louis School and Utah star quickly bolted to the right to find the end zone with one outstretched arm carrying the ball.
"I veered off and my heart was pounding so hard," Arceneaux said. "I knew the game would be won in the second half, but I didn't play near as well as I could have. The crowd was a big part of it. They gave us nothing but support."
Arceneaux had a hand in six of Hawaii's touchdowns, passing for three and rushing for three others.
It was a satisfying win for Benjamin, whose team has a bye next week before hosting the Bakersfield Blitz on April 13.
"It was a great football game," Benjamin said. "It was hard and it was rugged, and I told the players the more rugged team at the end would end up prevailing."
After three evenly played quarters and a 25-25 tie, Hawaii pulled out the win by scoring four times in the final period to Fresno's three.
Elusive Islanders receiver Darrell Jones nabbed 12 catches for 131 yards and a touchdown. He added 92 yards on kickoff returns and was named player of the game.
"I'm an all-purpose player, and I've got to do what I've got to do," Jones said. "That monkey is off my back. ... I was out of football for two years and I didn't think I still had it in me. That's the first time I've played with Darnell, and he is some kind of football player."
Arceneaux finished 19-for-36 for 194 yards with no interceptions, and he rushed for 53 yards.
Fresno's Eddie Klaneski, the former Hawaii All-Western Athletic Conference player from Damien Memorial High School, returned a kick 49 yards to the Islanders' 1 with 4:51 left. Quarterback Rick Ray scored on the next play to give Fresno a 39-38 lead.
Arceneaux's 5-yard TD pass to Robert Kemfort swung the lead back to the Islanders, 44-39, but Klaneski hauled in a 35-yard bullet from Ray, and Ray followed up by hitting Howard Maxwell for a two-pointer and a 47-44 lead with 52.6 seconds to go.
That set the stage for Arceneaux's game-winner.
After fighting to an 18-18 halftime tie, each team scored once in the third quarter. Arceneaux's strike to a streaking Isaac White on a slant for a 30-yard touchdown put the Islanders up 25-18, but the Frenzy fought right back with Blake Eagal's 5-yard TD jaunt.
The Islanders surged to a 15-point lead early in the second quarter. Arceneaux capped a 40-yard drive with a 1-yard keeper for a 12-3 edge, and, when the Frenzy couldn't field the ensuing kickoff off the net, Hawaii's Chris Paogofie sprinted in to grab the bouncing ball and rolled into the end zone from 2 yards out, widening the lead to 18-3.
The fans were thinking blowout, but the Frenzy didn't cooperate, fighting back to make it 18-18 at the half.
With 10:53 left in the half, Eagal stabbed his way for what looked like a short gain along the right boards, but he bounded off an Islanders tackler, found a diagonal lane to the left and flew in untouched for a 15-yard score.
Glenard Burks blocked Jake Huggins' 46-yard field goal attempt and a teammate recovered, setting the Frenzy up at the Hawaii 2. On the next play, Earl Oliver swept right for the touchdown and Ray hit Lamont Webb in the corner of the end zone for the two-point conversion for the 18-all tie.
With time running out in the half, Arceneaux scrambled and weaved for gains of 20 and three yards, but he wound up three yards short of a score.
The Islanders led 6-3 after the first quarter. Derek Zoller bowled into the end zone from 5 yards out for the first touchdown in team history with 9:29 left in the quarter. Fresno countered with McCabe's 20-yard field goal.
"I think it was an eye-opener to the speed of the game," Fresno coach Rick Worman said. "I think we showed a lot of good quality things and we'll build on this performance."
Islanders 50, Frenzy 47
Fresno 3 15 7 22 -- 47 Hawaii 6 12 7 25 -- 50 First quarter
Hawaii -- Derek Zoller 5 run (kick failed)
Fresno -- FG Brian McCabe 20
Second quarter
Hawaii -- Darnell Arceneaux 1 run (kick failed)
Hawaii -- Chris Paogofie 2 fumble recovery
Fresno -- Blake Eagal 15 run (McCabe kick)
Fresno -- Earl Oliver 2 run (Lamont Webb pass)
Third quarter
Hawaii -- Isaac White 30 pass from Arceneaux (Jake Huggins kick)
Fresno -- Eagal 5 run (McCabe kick)
Fourth quarter
Hawaii -- Arceneaux 20 run (Huggins kick)
Fresno -- Ricky Ray 8 run (McCabe kick)
Hawaii -- Darrell Jones 29 pass from Arceneaux (kick failed)
Fresno -- Ray 1 run (McCabe kick)
Hawaii -- Robert Kemfort 5 pass from Arceneaux (pass failed)
Fresno -- Eddie Klaneski 35 pass from Ray (Howard Maxwell pass)
Hawaii -- Arceneaux 1 run (kick failed)RUSHING -- Fresno: Earl Oliver4-23, Blake Eagan 2-20, Eddie Klaneski 2-12, Ricky Ray 3-10, Wali Mumin 2-(-3). Total 13-62. Hawaii: Darnell Arceneaux 8-53, Darrell Jones 2-15, Robert Kemfort 2-9, Derek Zoller 1-5, Danny Katoa 1-4, Chris Paogofie 1-(-1). Total 15-85.
PASSING -- Fresno: Ray 8-20-0-135. Hawaii: Arceneaux 19-36-0-194.
RECEIVING -- Fresno: Eddie Klaneski 2-53, Eric Mahanke 2-28, Howard Maxwell 2-27, Lamont Webb 1-18, Glenard Burks 1-9. Hawaii: Jones 12-131, Isaac White 3-48, Paogofie 2-13, Kemfort 1-5, Katoa 1-(-3).