Ranking the ArenaBowls, #6: ArenaBowl V

Detroit, MI- There will be no four-peat.

The Tampa Bay Storm defeated the Detroit Drive 48-42 to win Arena Bowl V in Joe Louis Arena, ending Detriot’s the three-year reign.

This game started out as a back and forth affair between the two offenses as Jay Gruden matched Art Slichester throw for throw. Two touchdowns from MVP Stevie Thomas, gave the Storm a 28-21 lead at halftime.

The Storm would increase their lead to 42-30 after three quarters, but the Drive came back to tie it at 42 with just over a minute left. Tampa only need 41 seconds to score right back as Gruden found Thomas for what proved to be the game winning score with 39 seconds to go.

Ranking the ArenaBowls, #8: ArenaBowl X

The 1996 season was a year of a bit of transition for the Arena Football League. The Texas Terror came in as an expansion team (and finished 1-13), the Fort Worth Cavalry moved to become the Minnesota Fighting Pike (they finished 4-10), the Las Vegas Sting moved to become the Anaheim Piranhas (who finished 9-5 and made the playoffs), and the Denver Dynamite went on hiatus to move to Nashville to become the Kats.

In the meantime, two of the early cornerstone franchises, the Tampa Bay Storm and Iowa Barnstormers, were slowly heading on a collision course to ArenaBowl X. For the Storm, they were looking to defend their title and finish off a dynasty with a 4th title in six years since moving from Pittsburgh. For Iowa, it was an opportunity to win the franchise’s first title.

Both teams finished the regular season 12-2, with Iowa earning the #1 overall seed based on tiebreakers. Both teams had somewhat of a tough time in the playoffs, with the Barnstormers beating St. Louis and Albany by a touchdown or less, and while the Storm dispatched Anaheim 30-16 in the quarterfinals, they squeaked by Arizona 55-54 to get to the big game.

From the opening whistle, the two hall of fame quarterbacks (Kurt Warner and Jay Gruden) went to work controlling the game. Gruden started the show with a 16-yard pass to OL/DL Lynn Rowland, then Warner threw two (a 16-yarder to WR/LB Chris Spencer and one for 30 yards to OS Lamont Cooper). On the last play of the quarter, Tampa Bay responded with a pass from Gruden to OS George LaFrance, but the extra point went wide, and it was a 14-13 Iowa lead.

The second quarter started fairly uneventfully aside from a Warner pass to WR/DB Willis Jacox to extend the lead. Then, in the final minute, the fireworks finally began. WR/LB Stevie Williams caught a touchdown pass, then an interception 23 seconds later that he returned for a touchdown. Like the first quarter, there was one last score to end the half, a FB/LB Ron Moran one-yard touchdown run.

Defense dominated the third quarter, with both teams only scoring once. Tampa Bay took the lead with a 21-yard pass from Jay Gruden to FB/LB Ivan Caesar, and kept it when Iowa could only answer with a Mike Black 32-yard field goal, again within the last ten seconds.

The fourth quarter was more of the same, with Kurt Warner finding Chris Spencer from four yards out to take their first lead of the second half, and Gruden answering right back with a seven-yard pass to Stevie Thomas. Warner led one last miracle drive, getting down to the Storm one-yard line on a first-and-goal. However, Tampa Bay’s defense prevailed with a goalline stand, denying a touchdown and cementing a championship.

Stevie Williams earned MVP honors thanks to his performance (seven catches, 103 yards, two touchdowns, and a pass breakup), and WR/LB Leonard Conley (10 catches, 91 yards, 3.5 total tackles) won the Ironman of the Game award.

The dynasty was complete, and Tampa Bay would get another shot just two years later to win their fifth title. For Iowa, Warner and crew returned the next year for another crack at a title, but after another loss, never reached the ArenaBowl again. The team moved to New York to become the Dragons in 2001, and the Barnstormers spent time in af2, a second stint in the AFL, and finally moved to the IFL, where they currently reside.

Ranking the ArenaBowls, #14: ArenaBowl XVII

In 2003, the league entered something of uncharted territory. The schedule expanded from 14 to 16 games, and there was a new deal with weekly games on NBC, including the ArenaBowl.

Both the Tampa Bay Storm and Arizona Rattlers had reason to be in ArenaBowl XVII. Despite finishing just 6-8 the year prior, the Storm won a wild card game as the #12 seed and lost to the eventual champions in San Jose by a mere touchdown. On the other side, the Rattlers were trying to make it to their second straight ArenaBowl and shake memories of a 52-14 beatdown just twelve months prior.

Despite a 10-6 season, both the SaberCats and the Los Angeles Avengers made the Western division the toughest in the league. Arizona finished third, good enough for the #6 seed in the playoffs. After beating the Las Vegas Gladiators at home and LA at Staples Center, the Rattlers avenged the loss by winning in San Jose 66-49 in the semifinals.

Tampa Bay won a tough Southern division race on tiebreakers over their archrival Orlando Predators, and the 12-4 record was good enough for the #2 seed and a first-round bye. After a nailbiter against the Detroit Fury in the quarterfinals, the Storm won another War on I-4 in the semifinals to get to, and host, the big game.

A sold-out crowd of 20,496 at the St. Pete Times Forum saw a mostly tense game throughout the first half. Arizona struck first thanks to a Nelson Garner 36-yard field goal, but John Kaleo answered right back with a 33-yard pass to WR/LB Lawrence Samuels, giving Tampa Bay the lead. Sherdrick Bonner and Basil Proctor traded one-yard touchdown runs, and the Storm held a 14-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Tampa Bay controlled the second quarter, starting off with a Kelvin Kinney 23-yard fumble return for a touchdown. However, Kaleo went down with an injury, forcing Pat O’Hara, who had thrown only 14 passes all season, into action at the age of 34. O’Hara, who beat the Storm in ArenaBowl XII as the starter for the Predators, guided a scoring drive that ended with a Kenny Stucker 23-yard field goal at the siren to give his team a 23-16 halftime lead.

The two teams traded early blows to start the third quarter, but neither team got any points on the board. O’Hara found Samuels for a nine-yard touchdown pass, but Bonner answered right back with a three-yard score to Orshawonte Bryant to stay within arm’s reach. O’Hara accounted for two more touchdowns to start the fourth quarter (another pass to Samuels and a three-yard run), and a final pass from Bonner to Randy Gatewood was too little, too late. Tampa Bay held on to win 43-29.

The win gave the Storm their record fifth title, handing Danny White back-to-back ArenaBowl losses, and Bonner became only the third quarterback in league history to start and lose consecutive ArenaBowls. Lawrence Samuels entered rare company by winning both MVP and Ironman of the Game honors. Arizona would get one more shot, but it wouldn’t end very well the next year. For Tampa Bay, it would be the last big game appearance in the original Arena Football League era, as the team would wait seven years for a shot at another title.

Ranking the ArenaBowls, #18: ArenaBowl IX

St. Petersburg- The Tampa Bay Storm brought home their third Jim Foster Trophy in franchise history with a 48-35 win over the I-4 rival Orlando Predators in Arena Bowl IX at Tropicana Field. The win also capped off a 10-2 season for the Storm and gave them a season sweep of the Predators.

After a 15-15 first quarter, the Storm took control thanks to ArenaBowl MVP George LaFrance. Lafrance caught two touchdowns in the second quarter to help the Storm take a 29-15 lead at halftime, and they would increase the lead to 35-22 after three quarters.

Orlando kept it close entering the fourth quarter. The Predators got a touchdown from Flint Flemming early in the fourth to make it 35-29, but Tampa got two more scores, including a 47 yard pick six by Tracey Sanders to seal the win.