The Good, The Bad, and The Ugliest
Michael Balakier
Saturday May 24, 2003
The Good
The Pioneers arguably played their best overall game of the year against the Prowlers, as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton scored on all but one of their possessions. Pioneers’ quarterback Chris Boden, who finished 16-32 for 138 yards and 5 touchdowns, relied on the receiving duo of Cosmo DeMatteo and Terrell Johnson to propel the Pioneers to their second victory of the season.
“(This victory) was huge. It was absolutely huge,” said DeMatteo, who finished with six receptions for 58 yards and 2 TDs. “One of the most fun games I’ve ever played in my life. To get that win and hopefully go on the road to Richmond next week and get another win, that’ll be good.”
Boden also agreed with DeMatteo, saying that the victory was indeed a huge one. “We needed to get one, and when we get one we can concentrate on next week,” Boden said. “We hung in the game and kept fighting until the very end and we came out on top.”
Johnson, who hauled in five receptions for 48 yards and 3 TDs, said that the team talked all week about how they needed to turn things around and get things done. “We stepped up to the plate and got it done,” Johnson said.
The Bad
Although Wilkes-Barre/Scranton edged the Prowlers by three points, Friday night’s outcome may have been quite different had the Prowlers not committed a gaudy amount of penalties, 23 to be exact. Moreover, Greensboro nearly gave up as many yards in penalties (134) as the Pioneers had in total offensive yards (149).
“It was the sloppiest game,” said DeMatteo, who last week said that his father told him it was better to be lucky than good. “I don’t know what the deal was, if we were just lucky or what. But, Dad’s right, it’s definitely better to be lucky than good.”
Pioneers quarterback Chris Boden shared his thoughts on the Prowlers penalty fiasco after that game. “They’re a very undisciplined team,” said Boden, “and I don’t know whether that comes from their coaches or wherever.”
Greensboro head coach Steven Jerry, whose team is now 1-4 on the road, said there’s a reason that the home team wins in this league. “A lot of those times it’s tough traveling on the road,” said Jerry. “You ride a bus eight, nine hours the night before you get there and you have to get ready to play a ball game. You get on the field, play your ass off and get a discrepancy in penalties and it’s tough to overcome all of that. You can overcome the road, but overcoming a discrepancy like that, that bad, it’s kinda tough.”
No doubt the penalty plagued Prowlers helped the Pioneers win the game. On five occasions, the Pioneers would have been faced with a fourth down situation had Greensboro not committed a penalty on the play. On the Pioneers final offensive play of the game with :14 left on the clock, faced with a fourth and ten from Greensboro’s 15-yard line, Boden tried to connect with DeMatteo in the endzone, but the pass went incomplete. However, a Greensboro pass interference penalty gave the Pioneers a first down and ended any hope of a Prowlers’ comeback.
Would the Pioneers have won Friday night’s contest without the aid of 23 Prowler penalties? DeMatteo gave the politically correct answer: “I don’t know.”
The Ugliest
As if 23 penalties on the Prowlers weren’t enough, Friday night’s game took an ever-uglier spin following the Pioneers’ final offensive play of the game. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton TE/DE Rich Butcofski and Greensboro’s Cranston Johnson got into an altercation at midfield in which Johnson threw a punch at Butcoski. That prompted several players and coaches from both benches to head onto the field to try to seize control of the situation. Then, as the Greensboro defensive back was leaving the field after being ejected, Johnson leapt up to a heckling spectator in the front row and took a swing at the fan, which pressed officials to call the game.
Earlier in the game, fans seated behind the Pioneers bench allegedly heckled and threw beverages at the visiting Prowlers. Then to top it off, dozen of squad cars and police officers were called to the players’ entrance of the arena, which is located in the back of the building, to break up an alleged brawl that took place between members of both teams. During the altercation, Butcofski suffered a head injury and was taken to a local hospital for stitches and a CAT scan.
Greensboro head coach Steven Jerry commented after the game about the actions that took place. “Of course I’m not happy with my guys losing control,” said Jerry. “It’s almost like an animal that’s back into a corner; you can only back that animal into a corner for so long and poke it until it actually comes out fighting, and that’s what happened tonight. Some of my guys have a higher tolerance level than others. And we can only control that so much until it becomes the job of the people on the field who are controlling the game to actually help control that. I felt like we did a pretty good job of containing our guys frustration all night until at the very end when it got really out of hand. Granted, we may not have acted properly or withheld our restraint like we should have, but I feel like we did as much as we could for as long as we could before we lost control.”
As for the sport of arena football still being a family-oriented affair, Pioneers’ quarterback Chris Boden shares his view. “It’s entertaining,” said Boden. “I don’t know how much the fans can actually hear on the field, but it’s definitely entertaining.”
Michael Balakier first discovered a knack for writing during his senior year in high school while reporting for his school`s newspaper. Aside from being an Arenaball fan, Michael is an avid Syracuse University athletics follower, which poses a problem for him, as he attends the University of Pittsburgh. Michael plans on using what he has learned through his Arenafan experience to remain as impartial as he can during future Syracuse/Pitt events. Michael also serves as co-Editor of the af2 section of Arenafan Online.
