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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Hawks Get Big Plays At Right Time In Victory

This time, it was the other guy who missed the last-second field goal.

This time, it was the other team that muffed three two-point conversions.

This time, it was some other player who was flagged for a face-mask penalty on a crucial drive.

This time, it was the Seattle Seahawks who played effectively in the crunch and came away with the win - a 30-28 decision over New York as Giants’ kicker Brad Daluiso missed wide right on a 48-yard field goal try on the last play.

“Well, it was a ‘W’ and that’s all I can say; it was a win that we needed badly and we got,” Seahawks coach Dennis Erickson said after seeing his team snap a four-game losing streak and move to 3-6. “We had a great drive at the end.”

They certainly did, moving 77 yards in 13 plays - all the way from their own 9 - to score what proved to be the game-winning points on a 32-yard Todd Peterson field goal with 1:32 left in the game.

“Today, we played our best at the end,” said quarterback Rick Mirer, who bounced back from being benched last week to have one of his better games of the season. “At the end, we had to suck it up, tough it out and score some points to win the game.”

Mirer, back in the lineup only because his replacement, John Friesz, was sidelined with a shoulder separation, completed 17 of 31 passes for 253 yards and a pair of touchdowns to Brian Blades.

His lone interception, meanwhile, was not his fault as receiver James McKnight failed to come back on his route as designed.

In fact, all the big plays that have gone the other way and doomed the Hawks in recent weeks finally reversed themselves: Particularly the long completions to Blades, along with Joey Galloway’s stunning 89-yard punt-return touchdown.

The Seahawks have been a slow-starting team all season, scoring just 17 points in the eight first periods leading up to Sunday. Against the Giants (3-6), though, the Hawks bettered that figure with 21 points in the first 14-1/2 minutes.

Mirer took only 2-1/2 minutes to get the Hawks on the board, finding Blades open on a short post pattern for a 33-yard touchdown as Giants free safety Vencie Glenn whiffed as Blades ran past.

After a Daluiso 23-yard field goal, Mirer again found Blades on a short post pattern and he again out-ran Glenn to the end zone for a 44-yard score to give Seattle a 14-3 lead with 4:11 left in the first quarter.

“Brian looked faster than he has in a long time on those two plays, he really did some nifty stuff after he got the ball,” Mirer said. “It was nice to get going well early. We run those plays every game, they have the potential to work really well if they’re executed right; there’s nothing real tricky about them.”

There was nothing particularly tricky about the next Seattle score, either, as it was a result of Galloway’s disarming speed.

Galloway, a breakaway threat whose punt returns have been largely lackluster this season, finally broke a big one, going a team-record 89 yards for a score late in the first period.

Galloway took Mike Horan’s boot at the 11, cut up the right sideline, shook off Herschel Walker and Horan, and simply outran the rest of the Giants for the score.

“That was my longest punt return, in fact, that was my first punt return for a touchdown in my life,” Galloway said.

New York came back quickly, though, scoring on an 8-yard Brown pass to Walker to cut the Hawk lead to 21-10.

And as the first half wound down, the Giants drove to the Hawks’ 28. Brown sent Mike Sherrard straight up the left side and Hawk free safety Eugene Robinson simply didn’t get to the sideline quick enough to break up the pass.

Trailing 21-16 after that score, the Giants went for two, but Rodney Hampton came up inches short on a plunge up the middle.

Mirer was then intercepted by Phillippi Sparks at the Hawks 46 with :53 left, further fueling the Giant comeback.

It took the Giants only 21 seconds and three plays - completions to Chris Calloway and Sherrard and a 1-yard scoring dive by Hampton - to take the lead, 22-21.

But again, New York misfired on a two-point conversion as Brown threw incomplete.

What did Erickson think about that 18-point lead? “I couldn’t believe how fast it disappeared,” he said. “In this game, there’s no safe lead.”

The Seahawks didn’t completely falter, however.

And with Warren sidelined after aggravating an ankle injury from last week, the Hawks used Lamar Smith to carry them on a 10-play drive down to the Giant 5, where they had to settle for a 23-yard Peterson field goal to take the lead 24-22.

They then added another 41-yard Peterson field goal with 13:33 left in the game to make it 27-22.

But an impressive 50-yard kick return by Walker gave the Giants a short field, which resulted in a 1-yard score by Hampton to make it 28-27.

Another Giants’ two-point conversion went awry, though, as Brown’s pass to Arthur Marshall was alertly batted down by Hawk Corey Harris.

“People won’t even look at it, but I think those two-point conversions were the biggest plays of the game,” Robinson said.

On all three, Seattle blitzed linebackers to put pressure on Brown.

Seattle’s final drive was keyed by an 8-yard completion to Galloway on a third-and-2, and a 15-yard facemask call against the Giants.

“We were in a position where we didn’t need a touchdown,” Mirer said. “We just needed to go down and get some points. We had enough time so that we could just try to get first down after first down and not have to make big plays.”

“I was hoping we’d get a touchdown, of course,” Peterson said. “But they put me in position and the kick went through. The offense did a great job to get us down there.”

New York’s offense did a great job, too, in the final two minutes, setting up Daluiso for a 48-yard attempt.

But it flew at least 10 feet wide of the right upright.

“I pushed it wide right and I feel bad,” Daluiso said. “I feel bad that I let my teammates down, but that’s why there’s always next week.”

Robinson said he could hardly watch Daluiso’s kick. But through squinted eyes, he saw it miss. “I thought, oh man, finally. Finally something good happens for us. It’s about time.”

Seahawks 30, Giants 28

N.Y. Giants 3 19 0 6 - 28

Seattle 21 0 3 6 - 30

Sea-Blades 33 pass from Mirer (Peterson kick)

NY-FG Daluiso 23

Sea-Blades 44 pass from Mirer (Peterson kick)

Sea-Galloway 89 punt return (Peterson) kick)

NY-Walker 8 pass from Brown (Daluiso kick)

NY-Sherrard 28 pass from Brown (run failed)

NY-Hampton 1 run (pass failed)

Sea-FG Peterson 23

Sea-FG Peterson 41

NY-Hampton 1 run (pass failed)

Sea-FG Peterson 32

A-42,100.

NY Sea First downs 26 24 Rushes-yards 31-117 32-138 Passing 286 248 Punt Returns 2-29 4-105 Kickoff Returns 6-151 5-106 Interceptions Ret. 1-3 0-0 Comp-Att-Int 20-41-0 17-31-1 Sacked-Yards Lost 3-13 2-5 Punts 6-42 3-46 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1 Penalties-Yards 8-81 6-53 Time of Possession 33:14 26:46

Individual statistics

RUSHING-NY, Hampton 18-54, Brown 3-28, Wheatley 7-23, Walker 3-12. Sea, L.Smith 19-84, Warren 7-24, Strong 2-10, Galloway 1-8, S.Smith 2-7, Mirer 1-5.

PASSING-NY, Brown 20-41-0-299. Sea, Mirer 17-31-1-253.

RECEIVING-NY, Sherrard 6-128, Calloway 4-59, Marshall 3-49, Pierce 3-26, Walker 2-15, Hampton 1-14, Cross 1-8. Sea, Blades 6-153, Galloway 4-35, Warren 2-13, Crumpler 1-13, Thomas 1-13, McKnight 1-11, L.Smith 1-10, Fauria 1-5.

MISSED FIELD GOALS-NY, Daluiso 48.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo Graphic: Hawks 30 Giants 28