The San Diego Surge came into the home opener of their final season with the Nevada Storm in their way of a 2-0 start. The Surge coming off a dominating 72-8 victory in Los Angeles over the Bobcats. With the momentum of a Dominating win and the reduced stress of being at home for this game,  it was the Surge’s time to show what they were made of.

San Diego started the game with the ball. Their drive wouldn’t last long as Nevada intercepted a trick play pass that was underthrown and returned it to the Surge 24-yard line. With Nevada is plus territory to start their drive, it was time for the Surge defense to continue their dominance from the last game. Nevada failed to get a first down and San Diego stopped the Storm on 4th down at the 23-yard line. The Surge drove down to the 20-yard line. Adriana Gutierrez capped off the Surge drive with some amazing reads on a 20-yard touchdown. San Diego led 7-0 with 6:53 left in the 1st. The Surge defense came up big again in the quarter as they recovered a fumble at the Nevada 35 with 2:31 left in the 1st. The quarter ended with San Diego leading Nevada 7-0.

San Diego opened up the game in the 2nd quarter as Melissa Strother scored on a quarterback keep to double the Surge lead to 14-0 with 11 minutes left in the 2nd. Nevada returned the following kickoff into Surge territory. Despite great field position, the Storm came away with nothing as San Diego held Nevada on 4th down. The Surge drove down the field and scored on a 4-yard touchdown run by Deana Guidry with 2:57 left in the 4th for a 21-0 lead. San Diego got another stop and drove the ball into the red zone with seconds left. The Surge made one more attempt for the end zone but Strothers pass was incomplete and the Surge went into halftime up 21-0.

The Nevada Storm started the 2nd half with the ball. The Surge defense did what did the whole first half and stopped Nevada, giving their offense back the ball. The Surge drove down to the 2-yard line but a fumbled snap ended the drive and Nevada took over at their own 2-yard line. The Surge turned their mistake into points as the defense stormed the Storm in the end zone for a safety with 8:14 left in the 3rd, Surge leading 23-0. Nevada now had to punt the ball to the Surge following the safety. The Surge had great field position after returning the kick inside Nevada Territory. A few plays later, the Surge were back in the end zone as Melissa Strother connected with Melanie Quijano to increase the Surge lead to 30-0 with 7:16 left in the 3rd. Quijano scored for the 2nd time in the game as she scored on a 9 yard touchdown run. San Diego led 37-0 after 3 quarters.

With the game in hand, all that was left for the Surge to do was keep the shutout alive. The defense recovered a Nevada fumble at the Storm 17-yard line early in the 4th. The Storm had a chance to stop the Surge slip through their finger when a player had an interception in her found but dropped and bobbled the ball into an incomplete pass. The next play, Melissa Strother later found Melanie Quijano for her 2nd TD pass of the game, Quijano’s 3rd TD of the game. The Surge led 44-0 with 12:47 left in the game. The Surge continued to stop Nevada’s drives throughout the quarter. The Storm would have one more chance to put something on the board. The Surge defense came up with another 4 down stop to secure a shutout in a 44-0 win.

The San Diego Surge improve to 2-0 with the win and have outscored their opponents 116-8. The team will travel to Pheonix for their next game against the Pheonix Phantomz on Saturday, April 28th. San Diego is off to a great start in their final season as an organization but there is a lot of season left to play in The Final Surge.