The Orlando Apollos broke open a close game in the second half with two long touchdown drives and defeated the Salt Lake Stallions, 20-11, in snowy Rice-Eccles Stadium Saturday night. The Apollos remain undefeated at 4-0 and the Stallions fell to 1-3.
Apollos head coach Steve Spurrier said, “This was a fun one. I told the guys beforehand if us Florida boys can come out and win one in the snow in Utah, we’ll have something to talk about.”
Told he was now undefeated in his career in Utah, Spurrier said, “Well, that’s not the big deal. Winning in the snow, that’s the big deal.”
The first half was a battle of field goals as neither offense was able to have much consistency.
The Apollos grabbed a 3-0 lead when Elliott Fry kicked a 43-yard field goal with 1:05 to play in the first quarter. Salt Lake tied the game with a Taylor Bertolet 36-yard field goal with 11:38 remaining in the second quarter.
Fry provided Orlando with a 6-3 halftime lead when he made a 42-yard field goal with 6:10 left.
The Apollos took a 14-3 lead with 6:01 to play in third quarter on a 10-play, 91-yard drive in which they actually gained 101 yards because of a 10-yard penalty. The possession ended with a 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Garrett Gilbert to wide receiver Donteeya Dye Jr. and a 2-point conversion pass from running back D’Ernest Johnson to tight end Sean Price.
The Stallions answered with a 75-yard drive of their own and got to within 14-11 on as 14-yard run by running back Joel Bouagnon and 2-point conversion pass from quarterback Josh Woodrum to running back Terrell Newby with 27 seconds left in the third quarter.
Orlando scored the final points of the game on an eight-play, 75-yard drive that culminated with a 2-yard touchdown run by running back Akeem Hunt. Hunt carried four times for 32 yards on the possession and Gilbert was 4-for-4 for 43 yards.
On Salt Lake’s four possessions of the second half not including the touchdown, the Apollos held the Stallions to 65 total yards.
Gilbert completed 22 of 32 passes for 244 yards with a passer rating of 101.6. Wide receiver Charles Johnson caught nine passes for 105 yards.
For Salt Lake, Woodrum was 16 of 22 for 161 yards and a 93.2 passer rating.
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