Macon Figuring Out What Went Wrong
Keith Murphy
Sunday August 11, 2002
Firecat head coach John Forcade says that his team has been this good all season, but no one would give them any respect. “Nobody would give us any respect because we were 9 and 7. These guys fought hard. You know we didn’t change our roster all year long. Kept the same players and said ‘let’s go play.’ What a great defense we have. I tried telling people this defense is the best in the league. Now we’re going against a good opponent next week and, hey, we never died. Our goal is to win it all. Our motto is: ‘Are we done yet? No we’re not.’”
Forcade says that the Firecat defense what drives his team. “We live off of our defense. What the defense does dictates how we’re going to play. If they’re playing their asses off then the offense picks up their play. . ..When our guys are aggressive they are the best.”
The ADT Defensive player of the game was Firecats’ Defensive Specialist Roy Stabler who shut down the most prolific passing game in the league. “My hat’s off to them. They came out still fighting in the second half, but we came here with a purpose. Nobody gave us a chance. We were the underdogs and we just wanted to come out, fight, and get a victory. We did that.” Stabler says that the key was that his team kept their heads when they fell behind early. “We just had to fight. The guys came out fighting and nobody gave up.”
Macon WR/DB Gabe Amey summed up the frustration felt by the entire squad, “I’m baffled right now. They had a good game plan and they executed it well and we didn’t. When we got down, we just didn’t make the plays. I really can’t explain it. I’ve got to look at the films to see what was going on. I’m just real frustrated right now.”
The Firecats held Macon QB John Rayborn to only 19 of 39 passing and just four touchdowns. “They just beat us. We made too many mistakes. We had things going in the first half but a turnover on a kickoff killed us. We couldn’t get anything going offensively. They were getting their hands up and knocking balls down.”
Macon Line Coach, Webby Burnett, gave the Firecats all the credit. “They played a great game. They really brought everything to the table. They just outplayed us. They capitalized on our mistakes.”
For Macon, the long wait begins as the organization begins to consider “next year.” For Florida, the dance continues as they travel to Fayetteville to take on the Cape Fear Wildcats. Anyone who would have, in March, picked Florida and Cape Fear to be squaring off in the Conference Championship would have been considered a dreamer. But, as Forcade reminded the gaggle of reporters who surrounded him after the game. “This is Arena Football. Anything can happen.”
Dr. Murphy has nearly 20 years of media experience ranging from radio to the Internet. He has served as webmaster for two AF2 teams and the football team at Fort Valley State University. He is a professor at FVSU and directs www.bunniwerks.org, a non-profit rabbit rescue organization. He has been commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel. Murphy is also serving as a first party editor of af2 stories for ArenaFfan. For more information about Dr. Murphy see: www.keithmurphy.info
