Riptide Travel to Tulsa
Keith Antigiovanni
Friday May 9, 2003
“I had hoped we would be more consistent at this point in this season. We’ve been a Jeckyl and Hyde team so far. Hopefully we can find ourselves this week and put together some wins,” Riptide Head Coach Cree Morris said.
In the first and only head-to-head meeting last year, Tulsa dominated San Diego 54-34, and tomorrow San Diego will have its hands full trying to stop Talons QB Craig Strickland. He’s currently the af2’s 9th-ranked QB and fifth in total offense averaging just over 238 yards per game. If the Riptide are able to contain Strickland they still will need to find an answer to DL/OL Greg Taylor. Last season as a member of the Arkansas Twisters he terrorized San Diego QB Kane Claunch for 4.5 sacks in two games. “We’ll try to throw some screens at him and cut-block him when we get a chance but he’s still going to difficult to stop. He’s a very impressive pass rusher,” Morris said.
Despite the inconsistency, Morris is pleased with the balance on offense. “We like to keep the ball moving around to different guys so the defense cant key on any one guy.” Jesus Reyes leads San Diego with only 23 receptions for 299 yards and five touchdowns after five games, while second-year OS Marty Graham has 21 receptions for 240 yards. “We spread the ball around by design.”
The Riptide (3-2) are in second place, one game behind Wichita (4-1). They will be home next week to face the expansion Cincinnati Swarm at the San Diego Sports Arena.
Keith Antigiovanni is a free-lance writer in San Diego, California. He has worked for several local newspapers covering sports, government and business. Keith started writing in 1995 after graduating with a Bachelors Degree in Mass Media Communications from the University of San Diego. Aside from working as a sportswriter he has a side business of providing marketing assistance/research for small businesses and also directs,produces and hosts a regular public access television show on Time-Warner Cable named "San Diego Yesterday". Antigiovanni is also a member of the San Diego Sportswriter Association.
