ArenaBowl XVII was played on June 22, 2003 at the St. Pete Times Forum (formerly the

Ice Palace An ice palace or ice castle is a castle-like structure made of blocks of ice. These blocks are usually harvested from nearby rivers or lakes when they become frozen in winter. The first known ice palace (or, rather, '' ice house'', ледяной ...

) in

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

before a sellout crowd of 20,496. The

Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The ...

earned their

AFL AFL may refer to: Education * Angel Foundation for Learning, a Canadian Roman Catholic charity * Ankara Science High School, a high school in Ankara, Turkey, natively referred to as ''Ankara Fen Liesi'' * Assessment for learning Military * ...

record fifth

ArenaBowl The ArenaBowl was the championship game of the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally hosted at Pittsburgh's Civic Arena based on home attendance during the inaugural 1987 season, save four years (2005–2008) the game was hosted by the team w ...

title, by defeating the

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area that competes in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...

, 43–29. The win was just months after the NFL's

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

won

Super Bowl XXXVII Super Bowl XXXVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Oakland Raiders and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

, making Tampa Bay the first metropolitan area to simultaneously hold both NFL and AFL championships.

Game summary

Hall of Fame coach Tim Marcum earned his seventh

title as his

took a first quarter lead and never relinquished it, defeating fellow Hall of Fame coach

Danny White Wilford Daniel White (born February 9, 1952) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback and punter for 13 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He was the third major franchise qu ...

by 14. The teams traded scores in the first quarter, but early in the second

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater i ...

lineman

Kelvin Kinney Kelvin Lamonta Kinney (born December 31, 1972) is an American former professional football defensive lineman. His nickname is K2. Kinney was a defensive end in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins, who drafted him in the si ...

scooped up a

Sherdrick Bonner Sherdrick Deon "Sed" Bonner (born October 19, 1968) is an American former professional football quarterback who played fifteen seasons in the Arena Football League (AFL). Early life Bonner attended Azusa High School in Azusa, California and was ...

fumble – one of four lost

Rattler Rattlesnakes are venomous snakes that form the genera ''Crotalus'' and ''Sistrurus'' of the subfamily Crotalinae (the pit vipers). All rattlesnakes are vipers. Rattlesnakes are predators that live in a wide array of habitats, hunting small ani ...

fumbles on the day – and ran 26 yards for a rather controversial touchdown. Though it appeared Kinney had thrown the ball in the air in celebration before crossing the goal line, the touchdown stood, and the

Storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstor ...

took a 20–10 lead. Though

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

answered with a Bo Kelly touchdown run to close within 20–16, the

used two second-half touchdown passes from veteran backup quarterback

Pat O'Hara Patrick O'Hara (born September 27, 1968) is an American football coach and former quarterback who most recently served as the pass game analyst for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coa ...

to Lawrence Samuels to keep the Rattlers at bay. The 34-year-old O'Hara, who defeated the

ArenaBowl XII ArenaBowl XII was the Arena Football League's twelfth Arena Bowl, which took place August 23, 1998. It pitted the #4 Orlando Predators (9-5) of the National Conference against the #1 Tampa Bay Storm (12-2), also of the National Conference. This ...

as the quarterback for the

Orlando Predators The Orlando Predators were a professional arena football team based in Orlando, Florida and member of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team was most recently owned by Orlando Predators LLC, a company owned by David A. Siegel, and played it ...

, had thrown only 14 passes all year but was pressed into action when starter

John Kaleo John Kaleo (born February 5, 1971) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the Arena Football League (AFL) for the Albany Firebirds (1993), Cleveland Thunderbolts (1994), St. Louis Stampede (1995–1996), Anaheim ...

was injured in the second quarter. He ran for another score with 10 minutes to play, putting

ahead 43–22 and sealing the victory. Samuels was named both the game's

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

and Ironman of the Game, as he led all players with five catches for 109 yards and three touchdowns. The game was the first

to be televised by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

, as

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

had televised the previous five. All participants wore "FP" stickers on their helmets in memory of

head coach

Fran Papasedero Fran Papasedero (March 21, 1969 – June 19, 2003) was an Arena football Player (game), player and Coach (sport), coach. Papasedero coached the Arena Football League (1987–2008), Arena Football League's Orlando Predators in the 2002 and 2003 s ...

, who was killed in a one-car accident just days before the game.

Scoring summary

1st Quarter * AZ – FG Garner 36 * TB – Samuels 33 pass from Kaleo (Stucker kick failed) * AZ – Bonner 1 run (Garner kick) * TB – Proctor 1 run (Saunders pass from Dell) 2nd Quarter * TB – Kinney 26 fumble return (Stucker kick failed) * AZ – Kelly 8 run (Garner kick failed) * TB – FG Stucker 23 3rd Quarter * TB – Samuels 9 pass from O'Hara (Stucker kick) * AZ – Bryant 3 pass from Bonner (Garner kick failed) 4th Quarter * TB – Samuels 43 pass from O'Hara (Stucker kick) * TB – O'Hara 3 run (Stucker kick failed) * AZ – Gatewood 3 pass from Bonner (Garner kick)

External links

ArenaFan box score
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arenabowl Xvii

017 017 may refer to: * DOL-017, GameCube console * '' Global Underground 017'', DJ mix album * Road FC 017, 2014 Mixed Martial Arts event * Swift 017.n, racing car * Tyrrell 017, Formula One racing car See also * 17 (disambiguation) Seventeen o ...

2003 Arena Football League season Arizona Rattlers Tampa Bay Storm 2003 in sports in Florida American football competitions in Tampa, Florida 2003 in American television June 2003 sports events in the United States 21st century in Tampa, Florida Events in Tampa, Florida