For the second time this season, the Omaha Nighthawks rallied to beat the Hartford Colonials. The Nighthawks intercepted Hartford quarterback Josh McCown twice and rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to beat the Colonials, 19-14 Saturday before 14,056 fans at Rentschler Field. Earlier this season, the Nighthawks erased a 13-point halftime lead and won by one point with a touchdown with six seconds left in regulation. The win lifts Omaha into a first place tie with Las Vegas at 3-1 while the Colonials (1-3) slip into a last place tie with Sacramento with its third straight loss. Hartford turned the ball over three times in the second half. McCown threw two interceptions and the Colonials turned the ball over with 2:29 remaining when center Keith Gray snapped the ball over McCown's head and the Nighthawks recovered the ball on the Hartford 46 yard line. Omaha took a five-point lead on a three-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jeff Garcia to Jeb Putzier with 6:43 remaining in the game. Garcia scrambled to keep the play alive and found Putzier in the back of the end zone. The two-point conversion pass failed. Omaha got the ball after Nighthawks linebacker Alex Lewis intercepted McCown and returned the ball 41 yards to the Hartford 11 with 7:52 remaining in the game. It came one play after Omaha's Cato June dropped a potential interception from McCown. After Omaha took the lead, Hartford responded with a strong drive. Beginning at the Hartford 32, the Colonials marched to the Omaha 29-yard line on the strength of six consecutive running plays to Lorenzo Booker. But on first and 10, Gray snapped the ball over McCown's head and June recovered to snuff out Hartford's hopes. Garcia completed 18-of-34 passes for 185 yards and 2 touchdowns. Ahman Green led the Hawks with 76 yards on 16 carries while Robert Ferguson caught six passes for 88 yards. McCown completed 13-of-26 passes for 142 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions for Hartford. Lorenzo Booker ran for 89 yards on 16 carries and caught four passes for 30 yards. Omaha cut the Colonial lead to four,14-10, with a 23-yard field goal from Jeff Wolfert with 3:55 left in the third quarter. After Hartford punter Jy Bond hit a 24-yard punt into the wind, the Nighthawks took over on the Hartford 34-yard line. A key play in the nine-play drive was a nine-yard completion by Garcia to Robert Ferguson to the Hartford 14. The Nighthawks drove to the Colonial four but Hartford stiffened to force the field goal attempt. A potential 46-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Hartford's Simoni Lawrence early in the third quarter was waved off as an incomplete pass. Garcia threw a pass that Devard Darling dropped. Lawrence scooped it up and ran unopposed to the end zone, doing a flip into the end zone. Hartford looked sharp in the first half. McCown threw a pair of touchdown passes to Taurus Johnson and Syndric Steptoe to give the Colonials a 14-7 halftime lead. McCown threw a 18-yard touchdown pass to Johnson with 10:29 left in the first quarter to give the Colonials a 7-0 lead. McCown's 10-yard pass to Steptoe with 10 seconds left in the second quarter gave Hartford a 14-7 halftime lead. McCown has thrown eight touchdown passes this season to eight different receivers. He completed 8-of-15 passes for 84 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. Tied at 7-7, the Colonials marched 80 yards on 11 plays to take the lead. Booker ran for 15 yards on a key third down and two at the Colonial 40-yard line to keep the drive alive. Omaha tied the game at 7-7 thanks to a drive of nearly eight minutes with Garcia completing six of 10 passes, including a six-yard touchdown pass to Devard Darling with 9:51 remaining in the first half. A key play in the drive was a third down fumble recovery by Omaha's Andrew Brewer after Garcia scrambled and was stripped of the ball by Hartford's Danny Lansanah. Brewer recovered at the Omaha 47-yard line for Nighthawk first down to keep the drive alive. Hartford took a 7-0 lead on its initial drive, an eight-play, 57-yard march that included the Colonials converting twice on third down and long with passes from McCown to Booker. On third down and 10 from the Omaha 47-yard line, McCown found Booker in the open field for a 14-yard gain to the Nighthawk 33-yard line. Hartford's Kevin Jones took advantage of sharp blocking to burst up the middle 15 yards to the Omaha 18. On the next play, McCown scrambled and found Johnson open in the end zone for the 18-yard touchdown pass with 10:29 left in the first quarter. The Colonials lost two offensive starters due to injuries in the first half. Starting left guard Rueben Riley was hurt with two minutes left in the second quarter. He left the field on a cart after injuring his left leg. Starting fullback Asaph Schwapp hurt his knee with in the first quarter when he was hit by Omaha's Eric Green after catching a short three-yard pass. Schwapp didn't return. Press Conference Quotes Omaha head coach Jeff Jagodzinski "It's hard to win in any league. It's always going to come down to the last minute of the game." "Hartford gave us a really, really good game. It was a hard-fought game. Very physical." "We've had good and bad happen in our secondary today. We had guys coming free, but we made enough plays at the end to win the game." "The wind was a big factor again today, and we both tried playing it." "I'm proud of our guys, and proud of Ahman Green. I remember seeing that a lot when we were up in Green Bay. He told me to feed the beast. He's a heck of a guy, and really a good running back." "This league, you look at this league, there's no blowouts in this league. It's highly competitive, and you have a lot of the same types of players." "We thought that we had to be here at this point. The only team we need to beat is compete with Omaha. If you can win the turnover battle and win the big play battle, you're going to win the game 90 percent of the time." Omaha running back Ahman Green "It was kind of like the first game. It came late in the first game. The creases kind of opened up. Once we got the lead, it was about playing four-minute offense and making them use their timeouts." "All the teams, we're there. There's not much difference. It's hard to just go out there and run the ball every play. We were in a situation where we were in control." "Before I signed with the Nighthawks, I was on the internet last year watching highlights, watching game. Once I got here, (I saw) this was a legit league. This has got great talent." "You see Hartford, they have a strong defense. You have good coaching and solid talent on each team in the league." "I don't know many guys that can say I played pro football in my home town. I'm one of the few guys who can say I played professional football in my home town." Hartford head coach Chris Palmer "Again, we continue to hurt ourselves. We had four turnovers today. We cut down on the penalties. I thought it was a hard-fought game. The wind was a factor in the game." "It was high and hard. We didn't handle it. It was a critical mistake at a critical time in the game." "The field was in pretty good shape. They did a good job with it." "It wasn't his best performance. His accuracy was OK. We had a couple balls dropped on him." "The linebacker did a good job reading his eyes. He kind of stared down the receiver. He made a good break on the ball and made the play." Booker - "It's a pretty good day. I thought Jones played well." "I still think we have the makings of a pretty good football team. We just self-destruct." "I can't question their effort. They're playing hard. They're trying to make plays." "Joe did special teams, he did linebacker and when Asaph went down, he had to go in and play some fullback. For the last three weeks, he's been doing some of that. To his credit, Joe is a true professional, and he did a good job."
