Thunder hot, Vegas not

Published 12:00 am Sunday, August 2, 2015

Are the Portland Thunder of Arena Football League playoff quality?

The Thunder stated their case Saturday night as they stayed in the running for the fourth and final postseason spot in the National Conference.

The Thunder posted a wire-to-wire, 64-33 win over the Las Vegas Outlaws, who are now only a half-game ahead of the Thunder with one week left in the regular season.

Portland quarterback Kyle Rowley threw seven touchdown passes in the team’s most- comfortable triumph of the season.

The Thunder defense picked off four passes and put pressure on both Las Vegas QBs.

Duane Brooks of the Thunder set an AFL single-season record with his eighth kickoff return for a touchdown.

And it all happened before an energized, franchise-record crowd of 14,055 at Moda Center.

To make the playoffs, the Thunder need to win at three-time defending league champion Arizona next Saturday and have Las Vegas lose at home against Spokane the same day — or have the AFL overturn a tie it gave the Outlaws for a game with New Orleans that was recently canceled because both teams’ ownership crumbled, forcing the league to take over their operations.

All records aside, the second-year Thunder left no doubt Saturday night that, at this point of the season, they are better than the Outlaws, and are a team with the potential to be a competitive underdog in the first round of the postseason.

“We’re playoff-worthy now,” Thunder coach Mike Hohensee said after what was the club’s largest margin of victory ever. “We didn’t do the things we needed to do early in the season, when we were a little selfish, but these guys all about the team now, and we’re getting the kind of play we should have been getting all along.”

Rowley had five TD tosses in the first half, as Portland built a 43-20 lead.

Also in the opening half, wideout V’Keon Lacey made all four of his TD receptions, defensive back Varmah Sonie intercepted two passes, De’Mon Glanton scooped up and ran back a botched Outlaws PAT snap to score two points for Portland, and linebacker Bryce Peila scored on an eight-yard interception return after defensive lineman Frank Trotter tipped a Vegas pass at the line of scrimmage.

In other words, it was a team effort from the start — only adding to the newfound Thunder confidence.

“We’re right there with the top teams in the league,” Rowley said. “We’re putting the teams we’re supposed to beat down and out.

“I think we should be in the playoffs. We’re clicking on all cylinders.”

Portland has been playing well of late, going 2-3 in its last five games, with one loss in overtime and the other two defeats by two points in games not deciding until the final snap. The other win in that stretch was 72-48 against Jacksonville — Portland’s largest margin of victory until Saturday’s rout.

“It was a great game, but we expect to play this way now,” Hohensee said. “Our guys are playing inspired football.”

Along with Lacey, the Thunder got key plays from receiver Jared Perry and a solid supporting effort from receiver Perez Ashford. Perry caught Portland’s first and last touchdowns, of 6 and 9 yards. Ashford had four catches, one on his knees and from 4 yards for a TD.

Brooks, who caught two passes, was not going to be denied the league return-game record — which upped Portland’s lead to 50-20. He took the second-half kickoff back 56 yards to surpass Lamont Cooper and Antonio Chapman, who each had seven TD returns (in 2000 and 2003, respectively).

The 5-10 Brooks, a third-year AFL player out of Stephen F. Austin, did a lot of the work himself on the momentous play, getting a few early blocks and then slipping several tackles before carrying Las Vegas’ Eddie Moten the final five yards into the end zone.

“I can’t really remember it,” Brooks said. “But it does feel good.”

Hohensee gave Brooks the game ball — only the second time the veteran coach has given a game ball to a player.

“It might be going home to Irving, Texas, for the family,” Brooks said.

Teammates mobbed Brooks after the TD — “they love the guy,” Hohensee said — and Brooks said the rest of the kick return team deserves much of the credit for the record.

“Coach (Lee) Johnson does a tremendous job of preparing us, and I’ve got guys in front of me who take pride in what they do,” Brooks said.

Portland had a lull in the third quarter, failing to score on offense and getting outscored 13-7. Other than that, it was a totally dominant showing, however, and the 33 points were the fewest allowed by the Thunder this season.

“We were better than the score would indicate tonight,” Rowley said. “We made a lot of plays and had a lot of big plays, and we could have had a couple more. We could have put up 80 or 90 (points) tonight.”

The Outlaws fell to 5-11-1, while Portland improved to 5-12. As of now, the edge for Las Vegas comes because of the league decision to hand the Outlaws a tie for the game that wasn’t played.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Hohensee said. “All I know is we’re going to give it all we’ve got, and how we played tonight is how we have to be playing if we’re going to go down to Arizona and beat the Rattlers.”

The crowd support helped lift the Thunder from the start on SAturday.

“To see the fan base here early, you got an idea it was going to be a good night,” Brooks said.

The arena had “great energy,” Hohensee said. “And this was the type of performance you want your fans to see in the last (home) game. It gives them something to think about over the upcoming months.

“We probably couldn’t have done any better tonight in terms of putting on a show, and the fans didn’t disappoint us, either.”