Speed Start Fast, Hold Off Brigade For Third Straight Win
David Chappell
Sunday May 11, 2003
But the fastest start last evening belonged to Richmond DS Troy Wright--out of necessity. Wright received his college degree in Pennsylvania yesterday from West Chester University, and then raced back to Richmond, barely making it before kickoff. Wright explained, “I spent six hours in the car coming back to Richmond. I made it here at 6:30 p.m. (30 minutes before kickoff) and had to quickly warm up.” Wright pulled his groin slightly in the first half, and attributed that to not being able to warm up as normal. “The importance of warming up is key,” Wright said.
Speed head coach Richard Davis said Wright had a day to remember yesterday, both on and off of the football field. “Troy made his degree proud tonight. He ran on the field right before we kicked off, ready to go, and he played a great ball game. He shut (Rochester) out; he made some big plays. We’re proud of Troy.”
The Speed’s fast start on the scoreboard last night was spearheaded by LB Sledge, who trapped Brigade starting quarterback Kevin Carty in his end zone for a safety at 13:14 of the first quarter for a 2-0 Richmond lead.
Sledge said Richmond’s intent last night was to come after the Brigade right away. “We came out with a game plan to jump on them early defensively, and to keep on pounding their quarterback.”
The Speed’s fast start petered out soon thereafter, though, and Richmond (3-2) found itself with a razor thin 17-11 lead with :48 remaining in the first half, and with Rochester having a second-and-goal at the Speed one, poised to take the lead into halftime. Speed WR/DB Marcus Richardson admitted that all the pre-game talk of starting fast had evaporated by this point in the game. “We talked all week about starting strong from the get go; coming out and trying to put them away. But we had some periods tonight where we were sluggish, so we need to keep the momentum up,” Richardson said.
Enter “momentum,” by the name of Rodney Sledge. As Carty pulled away from center from the Speed one yard line with 48 seconds remaining in the half, the Rochester QB fumbled and Sledge recovered at the Richmond eight. Of his big plays, Sledge said, “I was out [injured] for a couple of weeks. I really needed to get out here and make some plays. I’m feeling good now.”
At that point, Rochester (1-5) was not feeling good at all. And things would quickly get worse for the Brigade.
After the Sledge fumble recovery, Richmond marched down the field quickly on the strength of four straight completions by quarterback Roy Johnson. The last of those was a ten yard TD strike to Damon “Redd” Thompson with 27 seconds remaining in the half that gave the Speed a 24-11 lead.
On Rochester’s ensuing possession, the Speed registered their second safety of the night when the shotgun snap to Carty was not handled and went through the Brigade end zone at :20 of the half, giving Richmond two more points.
Thanks to Richmond’s WR/DB Richard Holland, the Speed were not through before halftime. Holland returned Vinnie Corasaniti’s free kick 30 yards to the Brigade’s 24 yard line. On the next play, Holland hauled in a 24 yard TD pass from Johnson at :06 to give the Speed a 32-11 halftime lead.
About the only thing that went badly for Richmond in their 27 point second quarter was a knee injury to standout OL/DL Terry Dixon. Dixon did not return to the game, though he was on the sidelines in the second half with an ice pack on his knee.
Richmond pulled away further at the beginning of the second half, stretching its lead to 39-11 on a Johnson to Richardson 13 yard touchdown pass with 13:00 remaining in the third quarter.
The Speed matched their biggest lead of 28 points with 7:34 remaining in the game when Johnson threw his eighth TD pass of the game, this one to rookie WR/LB Marc Bacote, for a 59-31 Richmond advantage. Backup QB Matt Hicks finished up the game for Johnson at that point. While Hicks did not complete a pass in four attempts while playing at quarterback, Hicks still had an impressive stint in the second half as a blocker on offense, and as a linebacker on defense. Hicks even recorded a sack on Brigade backup quarterback Jason Visconti late in the fourth quarter.
A veteran of many arena football teams in the past, Hicks said he is delighted to be in Richmond and loves playing wherever he is asked to play. Hicks went on to say, “I love this team. I’m so happy to be here. I would rather be playing the roles I’m playing here on this team, than starting for any other team in the league. Anywhere Coach needs me, I’ll line up there.” Davis smiled when speaking of Hicks and said, “I’m proud of Matt. He showed some Richmond Speed character out there tonight. Every team needs kids that when they’re called on, they go out and get it done regardless of [the circumstances]. Matt fits in perfectly with the Richmond Speed.”
Hicks could not help but smile when talking about his sack on fellow QB Visconti last night. Hicks commented, “I’ve always liked playing defense better than offense, because you stand back there and take hits as a quarterback. But on defense, I can actually go hit somebody. So, it’s a lot better to hit somebody than to get hit.”
Visconti played gamely and impressively for Rochester in the second half, completing 12 of 17 passes for 166 yards and five touchdowns. His 28 yard TD strike to OS Martino Theus cut the Richmond lead to two scores, 59-43, with: 30 remaining. Nathan White kicked a 28 yard field goal for the Speed with 12 seconds remaining to end the night’s scoring.
For Rochester, WR Derek Baker caught seven passes for 69 yards and three touchdowns. Theus contributed four catches for 93 yards and two TDs. On the rushing side of the Brigade ledger, FB LaMonte Coleman ran four times for 50 yards, including a 45 yard TD run in the second quarter.
Though disappointed by the outcome, Visconti was heartened by the Brigade’s resolve to continue battling despite being down by 28 points late in the game. Visconti said, “We just kept fighting. That’s the only thing you can do when you’re down by that much. You just play hard, and hope things will work out for you.” Commenting on Rochester cutting the Speed lead from 28 to 16 with inside of a minute left in the game, Visconti noted, “A couple of plays here and there and we’re right back in it. But we played hard and we fought to the end.”
Johnson had his third successive outstanding game for Richmond, connecting on 18 of 25 passes for 219 yards and the eight TDs. Johnson also rushed two times for 20 yards. The Richmond quarterback spread out his throws to several receivers. Thompson led the Speed with eight catches for 115 yards and two touchdowns. Richardson was nearly as productive, hauling in six passes for 69 yards and two TDs. Bacote caught his first two passes as a member of the Richmond Speed, and both went for touchdowns. Holland only caught one pass last night, but it was the backbreaking touchdown right before the half. All told, the Speed out gained the Brigade 241 yards to 200 yards.
Davis characterized the Speed victory as “a big win,” and used the word “methodical” to summarize Richmond’s overall performance. The Richmond coach indicated that the Speed only played to their potential in spurts last night, and played poorly late in the game providing Rochester a glimmer of hope at the very end of the contest.
Commenting on the high points of the Speed’s performance, Davis said, “Right before the end of the half we had a little adversity and we got a little jacked up, and all of a sudden we played to our potential. We made some things happen, and that carried over to the third quarter and through until the second half of the fourth quarter.”
In addition to Troy Wright, Davis commented that Richardson and Bacote were among other Speed players that had fine games against the Brigade. Davis was particularly glad to see the youngster Bacote do well. Davis noted, “I was very happy for Marc Bacote to get out there and do some things. Nice little rookie debut, two catches [for] two touchdowns.”
The downside of this game, according to Davis, was the Speed’s poor play late in the fourth quarter. Davis said, “I am upset at the ball club for losing their focus in the fourth quarter. We gave up two amazingly cheap touchdowns at the end. That will get you beat down the line. We’re going to get that addressed this week.”
But overall, the Speed seem to be upbeat about the win over Rochester and their progression after the 0-2 start. Wright stated, “We’re coming together; we’re starting to find a unit we can play with. A lot of people are starting to play into the schemes and are becoming comfortable. We’re going to be okay this year.”
Davis’ thoughts on the progress of the 2003 Speed mirror Wright’s. Davis related, “We weren’t going to panic at 0-2. We’re still progressing. I felt from the word go that we had a lot of potential on this ball club, and I still believe that. This team has the ability to go very deep into this season. But we can’t afford to lose focus and quit doing what we do well. When we play well, we’re a pretty good football team.”
David Chappell is a native of Richmond, Virginia. He has closely followed local sports in Richmond and vicinity for over thirty years, and Arena Football 2 since its inception. David currently writes extensively for a website that he co-founded which documents professional wrestling in Virginia and surrounding areas from 1974-1986. A former elected prosecutor, David is currently a practicing attorney in a large downtown Richmond law firm.
