Mason and Jones Lead Fire to Opening Night Victory
Marc Viquez
Sunday March 30, 2003
Two new faces on the Fire squad this season are QB Pookie Jones and WR/LB Norman Mason. Mason is so new to the roster that he is nowhere to be found in the team’s media guide. Mason is with his fifth Af2 team in three years and, if he performs the way he did tonight, may find himself in the AFL pretty soon.
“He is a play maker, as you can see,” said Jones played against Mason in high school and, almost, again at Kentucky. “He is also fun to watch”
Mason was a one-man wrecking crew in the first half scoring on a long pass, a short dump pass and an interception in the first half. His 45-yard charge was what highlight reels are made of, fending off would be defenders and gasping for a few more extra steps as he headed to the end zone.
All Head coach Wally English could say was that he was pretty good out there. Mason’s interception return seemed to come out of nowhere. Cincinnati’s QB Danny Smith never saw him coming as Mason walked in with the touchdown with 50-seconds left in the first half.
Mason could have ended the night with 6-touchdowns if he had been able to shuttle back into the end zone on another long scamper and stay in bounds on a pass reception. His performance earned him Ironman and Game MVP awards.
“There is a lot of conditioning that we have to work on,” said English. “There are rough edges, but I was pleased with our conditioning. I thought we hung in there pretty well and it looks like we are not in that bad of shape for this time of the year.”
English used his two quarterbacks throughout the game with Patrick Rinard getting the start and Jones coming in the second quarter and then on and off throughout the game. In the stats category, Jones finished with 155-yards and 2-touchdowns, while Rinard threw one touchdown on 44-yards passing.
According to English, Fire fans should get used to this combo in future games this season. “I’m a brand new coach and they are brand new quarterbacks. It is really difficult to try and see what they can do in three weeks of practice. You really do not get a chance to have a lot of scrimmages up front. We couldn’t tell anything on what it takes to evaluate your quarterback when you have only two weeks at hand.”
Jones he was happy to be back on the field of play after spending the last decade in minor league baseball, the Canadian Football League, and retired from the game of football.
“I felt really loose out there. That is what is really shocking to me since I have not been in a game situation in ten years; the last time was the 1993 Peach Bowl. I felt really good out there. This may be the game that I was meant to play.”
Jones looked comfortable on the field for his first game indoors and had a lot of help from special teams, defense, and receivers to make his job a lot easier. Jones is content right now in the platoon role of quarterback and understands that he still has a lot to learn in this game. “Trust me, I am a competitor and I want to start, but I not a hypocrite and don’t want to bring the other teammates down. I want to support them, I’ve always been raised that way, but I want to make sure that coach English feels comfortable with me. I support Patrick [Rinard] when he is out there. Coach is going to make the best decision for the team.”
English should feel comfortable with his teams’ performance. In the 4th quarter, Louisville trailed 25-23. Cincinnati had taken over the game in the previous quarter and looked to be adding to their lead, but it was Mason’s play on special teams that helped give Louisville the advantage. Jones connected with Mason for a 9-yard pass and took a QB keeper in for the game’s final score.
“Patrick started, but Pookie came in and played pretty well,” added English. “We just have to keep it going really well. You always have to have two quarterbacks ready so, that was by design. To have that, we played them both.”
There is no telling when English will settle on only one quarterback as he eluded to Tom Racius, who has a ham string injury, as another possible starter down the road this season.
Last season the Fire went 2-14 and now already have one win this season. It is still a long season; but, tonight was a good night for two homegrown players making their way back to where it all began as youths. Mason will be a player to watch in the future and Jones may be seeing some starting nods at QB in the upcoming weeks.
The Fire travel to Cape Fear next weekend to battle the Wildcats and hope to match last season’s victory total.
A fan of the sport since 1990 Marc has covered both the New Jersey Gladiators and Cincinnati Swarm (Af2) for Arenafan Online. Marc now resides in Indianapolis after graduating with a Masters in Sports Management from Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Ind. When not at a Firebirds game Marc can be found traveling the Midwest covering sports for various Internet and print publications.
