Talons Drop Tough Matchup To Vigilantes

Bobby Lewis
NewsOn6.com

TULSA, Oklahoma -- Through the thick locker room doors, you could hear the anger in the Talons (6-8) players' voices following Saturday night's 55-48 loss to the Dallas Vigilantes. Tulsa let a golden opportunity to inch up the standings at home slip away. Instead, they essentially fell out of the playoff race altogether.

"It was a game that we needed to win," Talons coach Mitch Allner said. "This one hurts a little bit. We're going to need a little bit of help from a couple of teams."

Before the game, Tulsa was tied for the fourth and final spot in the AFL's National Conference. Dallas is in sole possession of third place now, with a 2-0 advantage over Tulsa in the head-to-head series this season.

Tulsa has four games left in its season and probably needs to win them all to make the postseason.

"We need to win out, definitely," receiver Brandon Copeland said after the game. "This game definitely set us back. So, we've got to come back next week."

The remaining four games on the schedule are winnable for the Talons. Three of the games (Iowa, Tampa Bay and Kansas City) are against teams that are not in the postseason picture either. Only Orlando is in at this point.

"We're going to have to win all four," Allner said. "We're going to have to play perfect. Every play, every quarter, every half, every game is going to have to be perfect from here on out if we're going to win a championship."

Next up, the Talons visit the Iowa Barnstormers on July 1. The Talons won their first meeting of the year 61-60 on a field goal as time expired.