Pirates Suffer First Loss to Jacksonville 68-40

By: Mick Moninghoff

The Sharks (2-1) scored first as Robinson scored on a short two-yard run. Marc Orozco added the point after and then a "Deuce" for a 9-0 lead. It looked like the Pirates would get back in the game as they drove into the red zone, but on fourth and four from the four-yard line, quarterback Paxton DeLaurent was intercepted by Dylan Brown who went 48 yards for a "pick-six" and Jacksonville had a 16-0 advantage with 5:30 to play in the quarter.

Orlando (3-1) scored its first touchdown of the night with 4:09 to play in the quarter as DeLaurent connected with Thomas Owens on a 25-yards strike, but a missed extra point left the score at 16 to 6. The Sharks came right back with quarterback James Cahoon finding Robinson on a catch and run that covered 25-yards for a touchdown as the score rose to 24-6.

In the second quarter DeLaurent went deep on third and six from his own 20-yard line to Nyqwan Murray for a 30-yard score to put the Pirates down by 11. Cahoon then threw his second touchdown pass of the night, finding Jaedon Stoshak from 30 yards out to push the score to 31-13.

Murray would score his second touchdown of the game on a two-yard run with 5:10 left in the half to keep the deficit at 11. With a minute to play in the half, Cahoon scrambled and found Redd Douglas who made a catch at the five and ran the rest of the way into the end zone for a 38-20 halftime lead for the Sharks.

In the third quarter the DeLaurent to Murray combination clicked again, this time from 16 yards out and Jacksonville was once again 11 points with the scoreboard reading 38-27.

With ten minutes to play in the third quarter on first and goal from the nine, Jacksonville used quarterback Sammy Edwards to run the ball for a touchdown as the Sharks made the score 45 to 27.

The Pirates would keep the pressure on as Teo Redding would catch a one-yard toss from DeLaurent, his fourth passing touchdown of the night, but a 21-yard field goal by Orozco gave the Sharks a 48-34 lead heading in the final quarter.

Jacksonville put the game away in the final quarter as Edwards threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Stoshak for his second TD catch of the game. With 4:40 to play the Pirates turned the ball over as Redding made a catch at his own 13 -yard line but Clay Fields caused a fumble. On the next play Robinson scored on an 11-yard touchdown run to make it 62-34 Sharks.

With less than a minute to play Pooka Williams ran one in from four yards out for the Pirates final score of the night, but Robinson was not finished as he closed the scoring with a 27-yard touchdown run to make the final 68-40.

The Pirates return to action on Friday, April 24 when they will face the Green Bay Blizzard at the Resch Center at 7:00 PM.

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