Talons Grab Last-Minute Win over Dallas

Originally Published: Apr 10, 2010 10:39 PM CDT

Gerald Goodridge
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

TULSA, Oklahoma -- The Tulsa Talons won their second game of the season with a 63-59 win over Dallas Saturday. Tulsa didn’t lead until the final minute of the game, but came out on top of the Vigilantes.

Tulsa (2-0) had to overcome an early 21-7 deficit, including 14 unanswered points and two rushing touchdowns by Dallas (0-1) fullback Josh White. The Talons broke the drought with a Jeff Hugley touchdown run to pull within a touchdown.

Shane Stafford answered for the Vigilantes with his second passing touchdown of the half to give Dallas a 28-14 lead.

Late in the second quarter, Tulsa quarterback Justin Allgood threw a 45-yard bomb to Donovan Morgan to pull within one touchdown. That long pass also tied the franchise record for touchdown passes in a career with 212; he threw three more to set the record at 215.

Dallas kicked a field goal at the buzzer to take a 31-21 lead at halftime. The Vigilantes opened the second half with another Stafford touchdown pass to Kenny Henderson to take a 17-point lead over Tulsa.

The Talons got on the board in the second half with another Allgood touchdown strike to Morgan to close the lead back to 10 points, but Dallas answered with another Stafford-to-Henderson touchdown pass. Allgood threw another touchdown pass to Morgan to close the gap to 45-34, but missed on the two-point conversion to keep the deficit at 11.

Gabe Nyenhuis forced Stafford to fumble, which was recovered and returned 19 yards for a Tulsa touchdown to close the gap to four in the closing minutes of the quarter.

Another forced fumble on a sack, this one by Terrance Carter, was recovered by the Talons on the 1-yard line to set Tulsa up to take its first lead of the game. Allgood took the ball in on his own, his second quarterback sneak touchdown of the quarter, to give Tulsa its first lead of the game with one minute left in the contest.