Tulysse grabbed two of the Wildcats’ four touchdowns last night but had a relatively quiet night by his own admittedly lofty standards, with fellow running back Lopez, livewire quarterback Shane Szymczak and wide receiver Reid hitting all the right notes in this brilliant display against the reigning Desert Bowl champions.
The only blot for coach Tony Robinson was that the victory did not come with a shutout attached, Dubai Barracudas’ busy running back Luke Norrey going in for a score late on to salvage a modicum of pride for the visitors.
The Wildcats move on to 4-0 are easily the pride of the pack. At this rate they will take some stopping.
For much of the game this was a real contest, but the hosts struck when they had opportunities, signal caller Szymczak scything his way through the Cudas’ defence untouched for a 15 yard score early in the first quarter.
Norrey was prominent on both sides of the ball but was kept in check largely by the home defence. Michael Anderson’s long pass found Felix Juzgado at the goal-line soon after but he couldn’t gather the ball in for what would have been a certain score.
A roughing the passer penalty in the second quarter proved costly for the Cudas when Tulysse collected a shovel pass from Lopez to go in a few plays later.
Stefan Kirsten’s onside kick fooled everyone and when Abu Dhabi recovered the ball, Szymczak had two chances to put the game beyond the Cudas.
First his 51 yard bomb found Reid but he was deemed to have stepped out of bounds. Then, when he found Carrizosa on the very next play with another monster toss, Dubai held out for half time.
The turning point came early in the third when Norrey’s touchdown was called back for an illegal block in the back by Tom Bruccoleri, and Anderson was then intercepted by Waleed Musa on the Abu Dhabi five-yard line.
Tulysse then came to the fore, torching the Cudas for a 25 yard score. When Reid intercepted Anderson a second time, another Tulysse run took the hosts down to the Cudas one yard and Lopez scampered over to end the contest.
“Vivaldi is the main man but we have other players everywhere on the field,” said 26-year-old Lopez, who grew up playing slot receiver and dabbled as a quarterback.
“Once one gets going we all get going. V came in late in the game and when he did he came up big.
“Lorrance had a big game today, he opened up the passing game. Every defence will key in on one of us, but we give them something else to think about. It’s a great team and I’ve got great people around me.
“The record is really important but we come into every game with our record 0-0. We just have to keep doing it all the way to the Desert Bowl.”
Vanquished Cudas coach Kyle Jordan felt the scoreline didn’t reflect his side’s contribution to the game.
He said: “My team fought hard. We lost to them in the first game and we were manhandled. Today a few plays made the difference, even though the score might say differently. It was 13-0 then the TD was disallowed and an interception and that hurt. No excuses though, they’re the best team in the league right now.”
