EVERETT — Clean up on 16.
No, this isn’t your local supermarket; it was the message over the public address system at Angel of the Winds Arena on Thursday, midway through the second quarter of the Washington Wolfpack’s Arena Football One (AF1) game against the Nashville Kats.
Nashville defensive back Byron Edwards over-exerted himself and, after ending the play down on all fours, vomited onto the playing surface. With 5:21 left before halftime and the Kats leading 19-7, the game briefly stopped as the arena maintenance crew cleaned and sanitized the spot on the 16-yard line.
On the next play, Wolfpack quarterback Ed Crouch rolled right towards his own goal line and hurled the ball to midfield. He overthrew his intended receiver straight into the arms of leaping Kats defensive back Derrick Maxwell Jr. for an interception. With 35 minutes of game time left, the Wolfpack had more to clean up than the turf.
“Just trying to over-extend plays and not being careful with the ball,” Crouch said regarding the interception. “That’s all it is.”
Washington made a defensive stop, highlighted by defensive lineman Antonio Simley’s fourth-down sack to force a turnover on downs, and scored on the next drive with a screen to wide receiver Ledarian McAllister to cut the score to 19-14 by halftime. However, Nashville scored 27 more points in the second half before Washington got back on the board, eventually settling at a 68-20 final. While Nashville improved to 2-2, Washington dropped to 1-4 after its third straight loss.
The only person in the building more sick than Nashville’s Edwards was Wolfpack coach J.R. Wells. What went wrong?
“I’m still trying to figure that out, man,” Wells said. “It’s wild. You think about receivers like Deshon (Williams), played in the NFL, simple drops. Up-and-coming (McAllister), simple drops. The things were there, the things were working. They were just working against us.”
Wells expressed frustration with the officials, believing they let some pass interference penalties against the Wolfpack go uncalled, and also emphasized the offensive line’s need to give Crouch more time in the pocket. Crouch finished 13-for-34 with 134 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. McAllister caught six of 13 targets for 37 yards and two touchdowns, and fullback/defensive lineman Chei Hill caught both of his targets for 70 yards. The Wolfpack gained just six rushing yards as a team.
After going three-and-out on their opening drive, the Wolfpack allowed Nashville to get on the board first with an eight-yard passing touchdown to Antwane Grant. The missed extra point kept it at 6-0, until Kats defensive back Amos Coleman III returned a kick to make it 13-0 with 12:39 left in the half. Washington responded when Hill took a shovel pass 38 yards to set up first-and-goal on the Kats’ four-yard line, and Crouch connected with wide receiver Jalan Minney to cut it to 13-7.
After Simley’s sack and McAllister’s touchdown put the Wolfpack within five, energy was high in the locker room before the second half.
“We talked amongst each other, we got stuff right,” Simley said. “We made sure we was making the adjustments necessary, and at the end of the day, we got to come out and give our best efforts and keep the same fight that we had, you know what I’m saying, in the first half. … Once we get the momentum rolling, we can’t let it stop.”
Before the Wolfpack could build on that momentum, the Kats jumped them just 31 seconds into the third quarter when fullback Carlton Brown scampered for a 30-yard receiving touchdown to make it 25-14 after the missed extra point.
Hill took a dump-off all the way down to Nashville’s 15 on the next drive. Crouch delivered a highlight reel-worthy pass after rolling all over the backfield and diving over the side wall as he connected with McAllister inside the five-yard line, but the Kats successfully challenged the play. Crouch was ruled out-of-bounds, sending Washington back to midfield. Nashville sacked Crouch on the next play, and a subsequent delay of game penalty pushed the Wolfpack back to their own 10, stalling all momentum on the drive.
That marked the first of three challenges from the Kats, all successful, including a converted Wolfpack onside kick in the fourth quarter that was nullified by an illegal block.
Nashville continued to pour it on down the stretch. Meanwhile, Washington’s last-ditch efforts to create a spark fell flat. Backup quarterback Rodney Raines entered in the fourth quarter and attempted three full-length passes down the field; two were intercepted.
“Stay positive, be a professional,” Wells recalled telling his team on the bench. “Just keeping minding ‘yours,’ right? Get back to executing and just do your job. Whatever you can do, whatever you can control, control that and let the rest take care of itself.”
As the Wolfpack move on to face the Oregon Lighting next Friday, the team will focus on giving a better effort through all 60 minutes, while Crouch focuses on building chemistry with his receivers after joining the team ahead of Week 2.
Washington is the fourth team Crouch is playing with this season. He signed contracts with the Wichita Regulators — which announced on Dec. 27 that they would be dormant until 2026 — and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Mavericks — which withdrew from AF1 on Feb. 14 — before spending two days in training camp with the Indoor Football League’s San Antonio Gunslingers as their fourth quarterback.
The 29-year-old got emotional recounting his journey.
“I’ve been down plenty of times. I’ve never played with the best teams,” Crouch said. “I always try to be the one to carry a team, but it’s the same thing. I don’t know, just keep fighting, you know? I got people that, you know…”
Crouch pauses, struggling to get words out as his eyes well up.
“I got people that’s waiting for me to do bigger things. I’m doing this for my family.”
Staring solemnly out across the field, Crouch takes a second, bends over to wipe his eyes with his palms before popping back up with a smile.
“I’m good though. We gonna come fight again. We go to Oregon, we’re gonna beat Oregon, man. You know, we’re gonna live to see another day.”
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