Lewis Torches Tide; Roberts Sets New Franchise Record

(ANZA) — Memo to California Tide secondary: Check scoreboard.

When the Silver Stretch Run ‘n’ Shoot offense of the two-time champion SoCal Coyotes approached the line of scrimmage for their first snap Saturday, the taunting of the California Tide secondary reached a crescendo.“You ain’t no Sheriff,” said one. “You one-dimensional! You only throw outs, digs and posts!”Lewis, 6-5, 235, couldn’t hide his grin as he barked his cadence.Then the future Hall of Famer did what he does best: Torch the Tide with 19 completions on 35 attempts for 413 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions, including a fearless 92-yarder to Rashad “The Franchise” Roberts from his own end zone.”You blitz, we score, that’s the rule,” said Lewis, drilled late helmet-to-helmet by two blitzing defenders who were penalized for the late hit on the ensuing kickoff.

Roberts led all receivers with five catches for 203 yards and three touchdowns for a franchise-record 40.6-yard-per-catch average.

“That’s why we call him the Franchise,” said head coach J David Miller. “He holds every franchise record.”

Demario “The President” Brown had six catches for 79 yards.

Lewis now needs only 98 yards and two touchdowns to hit 10,000 and 100, respectively, in his staggering Coyote career.

On the ground, Coyote backs pounded the Tide’s interior, adding the ‘run’ to the Run ‘n’ Shoot, with 14 carries for 82 yards, including 50 yards on four carries and a touchdown from Andre Hunt, former Golden State Bowl MVP.

Keidrick Jackson had six carries for 19 yards, but two punishing runs off screen passes for an additional 33 yards.

New Coyote fans were asking about the Coyotes pair of ‘Wes Welkers’ — slotbacks Michael Karls and Billy Eichmann. Karls, also the Coyotes number-two quarterback, had three back-breaking catches for 59 yards, and an acrobatic 32-yard score.

Eichmann added three catches for 39.

IT WAS THE FOURTH TIME the cannon-armed Lewis has thrown a touchdown from underneath the shadow of his own goalpost, and the fourth-longest in franchise history. He has thrown 97-yard touchdowns three times.

ROBERTS ADDED THE 40.6-YARD AVERAGE franchise record to his formidable resume, and his 203 yards was third in franchise history. First and second are 294 and 211 yards, held by, yep, Roberts. Lewis barely missed Roberts by a yard on another 74-yard throw, which would have tied Roberts own single-game receiving record with four touchdowns.

FROM THE ‘IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE’ DEPARTMENT: The Coyotes dropped two more touchdowns, which led to a pair of field goals from 27 and 25 yards, respectively, from 6-4, 235-pound kicker Dan Kelly, who also boomed his kickoffs through the uprights and onto the track.

LEWIS AVERAGED 4.5 YARDS ON two carries, “another franchise record,” joked head coach J David Miller.

To see all of the Coyote-Tide game statistics, download the free GoMobile Coyote YAPP through iTunes or Android Market. Click ‘Game Stats,’ then under recent games, ‘Box Score’ of the Tide and Coyotes.

Dozens of game photos will be released by the Coyotes today.

To discover more about the SoCal Coyotes organization, visithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoCal_Coyotes, or www.thesocalcoyotes.com.

–GM Sam Maggio ([email protected])