Tulsa Dashed All Dallas Hope

Originally Published: Jun 9, 2010 7:1 PM CDT

Bobby Lewis
Oklahoma Sports MOJO

TULSA, Oklahoma – The Tulsa Talons may have ruined the Dallas Vigilantes’ season before it had even started. In the team’s first meeting, Tulsa battered Vigilantes’ quarterback Shane Stafford all night before eventually knocking him out of the game for a while in the third quarter.

“I feel like with this defensive front, we can get to any quarterback,” said Tulsa defensive lineman Terrance Carter. “We don’t want to put them out of the game, but we definitely want to make him change the way he plays.”

The sack didn’t end Stafford’s night, but it did end his season. The AFL veteran severely injured his foot on that game-changing play in the second half. After being slammed to the ground, Stafford could only watch as Tulsa scooped up his fumble and returned it for a 19-yard score.

Stafford suffered a Lisfranc fracture on the hit. The injury is described as a fracture and dislocation of the joints in the midfoot where a cluster of small bones form an arch on top of the foot between the ankle and toes.

He stayed in the game after the hit, but was sacked two more times in the fourth quarter. The team placed him on Injured Reserve the next week. The move sent Dallas into a downward spiral that they haven’t been able to recover from.

“We’ve done a pretty good job of knocking around quarterbacks in every game we’ve played,” said Talons head coach Mitch Allner.

The Talons broke a finger on Stafford’s throwing hand in the win as well. His foot injury required surgery, and he’ll watch from the sidelines this weekend when the Talons visit his home field.

His backup, Collins Drafts, has filled in well in Stafford’s absence, but hasn’t made the electric plays that fans were expecting from Stafford under center this season. Drafts has thrown for 1,765 yards and 38 touchdowns in seven games.

“He’s a good player,” said Allner. “He’s a guy who has played arena ball for a few years. Played in aF2 and put up very good numbers there. He’s done a good job for them since he took over the starting role.”

The Talons will try to put the same kind of heat on Drafts that they put on Stafford when the two teams meet this weekend in Texas. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.