Amateur to Professional Developmental Football League

There was no shortage of excitement and/or offense this past Saturday when the Louisiana Lightning hooked up with the West Alabama Chargers. There were several league records set and no shortage of suspense.

Unfortunately for the Lightning, they came up short in the one area that mattered most, the win column. As the final score was 58-56 in favor of the Chargers.

The Lightning made the road trip to Tuscaloosa with only 24 players, putting them at a personnel disadvantage before game even started.

The Lightning were down by 20+ points on 3 seperate occasions, including being down by 25 at one point of the 2nd quarter, but head coach Mike Anderson refused to let that deter his team from putting up a valiant and inspired effort and his squad constantly fought their way back into the contest.

The team kept themselves in the game all the way until the end, scoring a touchdown late in the 4th quarter to put them within 2 points, but a failed 2 point conversion followed by a failed onside kick finally shut the door on the potential of a victory as West Alabama ran the clock out to end the game.

No player personified the team's effort more than QB Jyron Walters, who had a record setting day.

Walters' performance struck down multiple APDFL individual game records: most passing yards (558), most total TDs (8), most passing TDs (6), most completions (37) and most pass attempts (58).

Joining Walters in the offensive explosion were his wide receiver crew. 3 Lightning receivers finished the game with over 100 reception yards: Martin Robertson 8 catches for 120 yards & 2 TDs. Laiton Johnson had 7 catches for 109 yards with 1 TD and Germaine Hall added 8 grabs for 204 yards and a score. Additionally, Daryl Marchand totaled 206 all-purpose yards. These yards came in a variety of different ways: 7 catches for 86 yards & 1 receiving TD. 120 total kick return yards (78 yard kick return TD).

Albeit in a losing effort, some Lightning supporters can take some solace in the fact that the team lost the game as opposed to the opposing team winning the game. They had their opportunities to further close the gap and even had 2 chances to tie the game or possibly take the lead. The team scored 8 touchdowns, but only converted one 2-point conversion. There was also a perfectly thrown pass that should've been a touchdown that was dropped in the third quarter coming off of a momentum changing 2nd quarter. That alone could have changed the scope of the game, but we'll never know if that would hold true. Adding to the mishaps, the Lightning were stopped twice in the red zone without having points to show for it.

The defense played a lot better than the score indicated, getting key stops in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarters to keep the game within reach. But with the lack of depth along with many players playing out of position, the Chargers' offense wore the defense down and scored enough to extend their lead to where they never relinquished it. The Chargers, who were playing at home, never trailed at any point of the contest.

This week is "rivalry week" in the APDFL. The Lightning will be playing in New Orleans as the away team when they match up in a nationally anticipated divisional game against the Greater New Orleans Jaguars, who are ranked #3 overall in the league. The game will be played at Behrman Stadium in Algiers for 7pm on Saturday, March 25th.