In the first ever meeting between the San Diego Strike Force and the Massachusetts Pirates last night, the home team fell 51-30 to the visitors in a back-and-forth game that ended with the scales tipped in Massachusetts favor. 

San Diego did not lead at any point in this contest, largely due in part to starting field position and missed scoring opportunities. Massachusetts spent most of the game offensively in San Diego territory thanks in large part to the kick return efforts of Jovon Durante, who had multiple returns of over 20 yards. On the flip side, the Strike Force started most of their drives inside their own 20 yard line. 

Although The Pirates' defense did gift over 50 yards of offense in penalties to the Strike Force, they came up with some big stops in the red zone. An interception by DB Khalid Wooten halted a game-tying San Diego drive in the first quarter, and Massachusetts turned right around after the pick and marched into the end zone. They traveled 45 yards in four plays to get there and took a 14-0 lead on a 19-yard pass from quarterback Alejandro Bennifield to wideout Issac Zico.

They also got an interception late in the fourth quarter from defensive back Aarion Maxey-Penton to put the game on ice. After nabbing his fourth interception of the season on a deep Steve Cluley pass from San Diego's own goal line, Maxey brought the ball back to the San Diego nine-yard line for a return of 41 yards. Both of Cluley's interceptions led to touchdown drives for the Pirates. 


Quarterback Alejandro Bennifield was calm and composed the entire night and led the Pirates' offense with surgical precision. He threw for three touchdowns and rushed for two more. In addition to his connection with Isaac Zico, Bennifield found Thomas Owens in the end zone twice from 15 and nine yards out. Running back Deddrick Thomas also added two rushing touchdowns of his own to add to Massachusetts' productive night. 


Although the Strike Force struggled to keep up with the Pirates' scoring pace, wide receiver Marques "Hoodie" Rodgers delivered an impressive performance to lead the offense. Rodgers scored all three of San Diego's touchdowns, two of which came on broken short yardage plays that Rodgers turned into highlights with his shiftiness and grit. His final score of the game was a 21-yard touchdown reception on Cluley's best throw of the night, which brought San Diego to within seven with 8:20 to go in the fourth quarter. Rodgers even added a few touchdown-saving tackles on special teams to the stat sheet.

Newly acquired kicker Victor Leventritt was equally as valuable, accounting for 12 of the Strike Forces' 30 points in his IFL debut. After being signed to the team just one day before, Leventritt delivered a perfect performance, going  three for three on PATs and drilling three of his three field goal attempts from 44, 46, and 23 yards out.

The Pirates would pull away after that score, scoring 14 unanswered and outscoring the Strike Force 22-10 in the fourth quarter. 

San Diego's defense made a few nice plays of their own. Defensive back Ishmael Adams delivered one of his best performances of the season. In addition to a handful of tackles, Adams made a leaping, twisting grab to pick off Bennifield for his first interception of the season to give the ball and some momentum back to the offense. They put together a nine play, 41-yard drive that concluded with a duck-and-dodge four-yard scamper for six from Rodgers. Adams also broke up a pass attempt on fourth down in the end zone to close out a red zone stop for the defense in the first half. Defensive backs London Iakopo and Daquawn Brown added to their season tackle totals, and defensive end DeShon Cooper blocked a PAT.


San Diego is now 2-5 on the season but still only remains one game behind the Vegas Knight Hawks, who currently hold the fourth playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Strike Force will have a chance to jump up to that fourth spot this upcoming Saturday, as they will take on the Knight Hawks at home at 3:05 PM Pacific Time. Get your tickets here on our website and catch all the action up close!