ARIZONA HOLDS OFF HARTFORD 27-17.

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The Arizona Cardinals held off a determined Hartford Renegade team in the second half and advanced to the next round with a 27-17 win. With a 13-3 lead beginning the 3rd Qtr. Arizona kicked off. Hartford return man Rocket Ishmail dropped the ball and had to fall on it at his own 6 yd line. Hartford got a first down on a pass from Ben Roethleisberger to TE Fred Davis out to the 25. On the next play Karlos Dansby intercepted a pass intended for Marquis Colston and returned it to the Renegade 7. Two plays later the Cardinals Terry Metcalf scored his second TD of the game on a 3 yarder to put Arizona up 20-3. The young Hartford team did not panic and was able to drive the ball down field on some nice passes to Colston(27 yds)and a long catch and run by Donald Brown(36 yds) to the Cardinals 14. Brian Westbrook then ran off left tackle for a 14 yd TD to make the score 20-10. The Cardinals took the kickoff to their own 38 and began a drive that lasted into the 4th QTR. The Cardinals had a 3rd and 8 from the Renegades 17 when QB Kurt Warner hit Larry Fitzgerald inside the 10. Fitzgerald was hit by LB Roosevelt Colvin and lost the ball. Colvin recovered at the Hartford 4 yd line. The Cardinals could have put the game away but their only turnover gave Hartford hope. With 13:31 left in the game Roethliesberger started a drive from his own 4. He had a hot hand hitting Hines Ward for 39 yds Donald Brown for 17 and TE Davis for 18 driving the ball to the Arizona 11 in a little over 6 minutes. On 1st and 10 Donald Brown smashed off right tackle and ran in from the 11 completing a 96 yd drive. The extra point made it 20-17 Cardinals with 7:45 to go. After a touchback Arizona had the ball on their own 20. On first down OJ Anderson ran for 5 yds to the 25. On the next play Warner hit Roy Green for 15 yds but the play was called back when Arizona was offsides. With the ball back on the 20 Terry Metcalf started left and then cut sharply to the right and found a big hole and raced 70 yds before stepping out of bounds at the Hartford 10 yd line. This was the backbreaker for the Renegades. On the next play OJ Anderson bounced out to the right and had an easy score on a 10 yd run and Arizona again led by 10 at 27-17. With just 3:01 left Big Ben was picked for the second time this time by DE Bertrand Berry at the Hartford 28. Berry was downed at the 26. The Cards ran 2 plays for only 1 yard. Hartford used 2 timeouts. Metcalf gained only 2 yds on 3rd down and we were at the 2:00 warning. Rackers attempted a 44 yd field goal. Hartford's Eugene Wilson blocked the kick scooped it up and ran it to the Arizona 48 with 1:51 left. The Renegades still had a chance. Roethleisberger hit Brown who took it to the Arizona 28 and the Renegades had to use their final timeout. The Renegades were able to complete 1 more pass to Westbook who got out of bounds at the Cardinals 10 yd line with just :11 left. Roethleisberger then threw for Hines Ward in the endzone. Pass interference was called on Arneas Williams and it was 1st and goal from the 1 with just :03 left. Westbrook ran but was tackled at the 2 and Arizona held on for the 27-17 victory. Hartford played a gutty game but fell short. The Cardinals won the final wildcard spot and now move on to Chicago to play the Bears in the next round. RB Terry Metcalf ran for 2 TD's and gained 151 yards.