The Stockton Lightning franchise began with a losing season, as many expansion teams do. The Lightning lost two one point contests to Everett and Spokane. On the bright side, the team won on the road at Green Bay in overtime. Green Bay would go on to win the Eastern Division. Penalties at bad times killed the team all year, but the team was usually quite competitive. The 2007 Lightning tied for last in the seven team Western Division at 6-10. Stockton won five of seven in the middle of the year, but could not keep the winning ways going. The 2008 Lightning were not much of an improvement on the first two years. The team played five of their first seven games on the road, winning their first game of the season at Tri-Cities before losing six straight. Four players spent significant time at quarterback, and none were very effective. The Lightning finished at 5-11 and again missed the postseason. The team did win three of its final four games, though, which gave promise for 2009. The promise was short-lived, as the Lightning won just one of their first six games. Andy Collins and Chad Cavendar quarterbacked the Lightning, combining for 85 touchdowns and 26 interceptions. The team produced two 1,000 yard receivers in Troy McBroom and Justin Taplin. Opponents outscored the Lightning 264-137 in the thid quarter of games, which led to blowouts in several games that were close at halftime. Despite the losing record, the team easily qualified for the playoffs, finishing three games ahead of Central Valley and Amarillo for the final berth. The team would travel back to Spokane for a first round match. Surprisingly, the Lightning built up a 21-7 lead and were on their way to shocking Spokane and the af2 community. However, five consecutive second half interceptions led to a 55-0 Spokane run. The final score was 62-21.