Thunderstruck at the Half.

[dogwood30]

I could only get one half in tonight and it was dominated by the Orlando Thunder who lead 21-0 at the half. The Thunder took the opening kick and drove 64 yds in just over 8 minutes to score on a Michael Vick to Braylon Edwards 9 yd TD. Richmond was driving late in the first quarter but turned it over when Eli Manning hit Steve Smith on a slant but he fumbled and Orlando's Patrick Watson recovered at the Thunder 26. Rickey Williams gained 4 yds out to the 30. After an incomplete pass set up third and 6 Michael Vick looked to throw and the entire left side of the field opened up for him to run. Seventy yards later Orlando owned a 14-0 lead. Both teams traded punts. Eli Manning had a terrible half missing on very high percentage routes. Richmond got the ball after a punt on their own 24 with 2:00 left in the half and all their timeouts. Manning missed on both 1st and 2nd downs. He was able to hit Brandon Jacobs for a short gain but well short of a first down. Richmond had to punt. Next came the best punt of the tournament so far a 67 yarder that went out of bounds at the Orlando 5. With under a minute to go and Orlando pinned deep in their own territory Head Coach Jimmy Johnson decided to play it safe and take a 14-0 lead into the half. He got much more than expected when RB Ryan Grant took a handoff going left and again the Thunders left side cleared a huge hole and Grant was off to the races. He stepped out of bounds 75 yards later at the Rebels 20 yard line with 16 seconds to go in the half. Orlando decided to take one shot at the endzone instead of going for the field goal and again it paid off when Vick hit Edwards for his 2nd TD pass of the game from 20 yards out giving Orlando a commanding 21-0 lead at the half. Richmond could have kept it close but the costly turnover and poor performance by Manning leaves them a huge hill to climb in the second half. The Rebels must stop the high powered Thunder offense and play a perfect half on offense to have even a remote chance of winning. The Rebels recievers have gotten open on the Thunder defense but Manning has been awful and he will really have to pick up his game to give Richmond a chance