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Firecats beat Peoria, start 2008 season at 5-0
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ESTERO — When the Florida Firecats last faced the Peoria Pirates, the final score was 39-26 -- and the Firecats celebrated an ArenaCup championship.
Four years later, the teams reunited.
Little had changed.
The Firecats took out the Pirates by a nearly identical margin on Saturday night at Germain Arena, registering a 39-27 victory before 4,326 fans.
Florida is now 5-0 for just the second time, matching its 2005 start. A win next weekend against Ben Bennett-less Manchester would mean the fastest start in franchise history.
None of the wins, thus far, have been decided by single digits.
But this was close.
Florida led by six before Chris Wallace hit Chris McKinney against the wall for a 19-yard score. The Firecats then made a defensive stop to preserve the win.
It ended, basically, on a botched center-quarterback exchange on Peoria's final offensive play. Thomas Carroll, who signed with the Firecats less than two weeks ago, recovered the fumble, giving Wallace & Co. a chance to run out the clock at midfield.
The Firecats are now 2-1 in their three meetings with Peoria, which re-entered arenafootball2 this year after a three-season hiatus.
This one meant the least.
Florida and Peoria have been, in some ways, the Steelers-Cowboys rivalry of af2. They're the only teams in the league to have met for the championship twice.
Peoria won ArenaCup in 2002, beating Florida in Illinois. Only two years later, the Firecats returned the favor with the 39-26 triumph in Germain Arena.
The Pirates returned to Estero still wearing their skull-and-crossbones logo. Still wearing as much black as an away team can possibly wear.
Still on the losing end.
Peoria (3-4) had its moments -- especially in the first half, as Justin Rascati and the Pirates offense matched Florida virtually score-for-score.
But the Firecats had too much Wallace. The veteran QB spread the ball around as usual, completing five touchdown passes to four receivers.
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