Martinez Boots Speed To Win Over Wolves
David Chappell
Saturday July 12, 2003
With the win, the first for Richmond interim head coach Billy Jarvis, the Speed moved to 6-8 and remain mathematically alive for an arenafootball2 playoff berth pending the results of several games tonight. The Wolves dropped to 9-5, and would have clinched a playoff spot with a win plus losses by Norfolk and Birmingham tonight.
In their last possession of the third quarter, clinging to a 27-21 lead, Richmond was pushed backwards deep into their own territory by Mohegan’s number one ranked defense. After three plays netted a minus twelve yards, Martinez trotted onto the field with 3:50 remaining in the quarter to kick the ball away.
At that time, the Speed would have been well satisfied with a kick that pinned the Wolves deep in their own territory. Instead, Martinez provided Richmond points of their own.
Martinez’s long line drive kick, credited with traveling 55 yards, cleared the crossbar with only inches to spare and provided the Speed a two-score lead that the Wolves could never quite overcome the rest of the night.
The Speed’s previous longest field goal was a 49 yard boot by former University of Richmond kicker Mike White on July 1, 2000. Martinez’s field goal last night was also af2’s second longest this season.
“All I could do was line it up and give it a go,” Martinez said while commenting on his record-setting kick. “I just wanted to make sure I gave it a chance. That’s all Coach ever asked of me…just make sure I gave it a chance. I just lined up and hit it.”
Jarvis said that improved effort by Richmond’s special teams provided the difference in the contest.
“The thing that came through for us tonight, is that we had really good effort on all of our special teams,” Jarvis remarked. “That includes Pete [Martinez], our kickoff returns and our kickoff coverage.”
“I put pressure on Pete in practice this week,” Jarvis went on to say. “Pete had a really good week of practice. He worked hard. On the long kick, he put it on a line and just put a really good hit on it and drove it.”
Despite Martinez’s efforts, the Wolves nearly pulled out the game in the fourth quarter despite never leading in the contest.
After Martinez’s kick, the teams traded touchdowns for four straight possessions. For the Wolves, FB LaJhon Jones ran for a one yard score and quarterback Greg Smith threw a 36 yard TD pass to OS Mel Long. The Speed countered with two touchdown passes from quarterback Joel Gordon to OS Damon “Redd” Thompson, the second of which put the Speed up 44-35 with 8:25 remaining in the game.
Smith scored on a one yard run with 2:34 remaining to cut the Richmond lead to 44-41. The Wolves then apparently had the Speed stopped on a fourth and 20 just inside the one-minute warning.
Martinez lined up for a 38 yard field goal attempt on fourth down, which even if successful, would have given the Wolves the ball back with plenty of time to score and win the game. However, Mohegan jumped offside on the play, giving Richmond a critical first down.
Speed fans still had to sweat out the game officials, who had initially announced the procedure infraction as a false start against Richmond. When it was finally sorted out in the Speed’s favor, Richmond merely needed to run the ball twice to take the remaining time off the clock and secure the win.
The game started slowly, particularly for the Wolves who scored their first offensive touchdown with only :48 remaining in the half on a 45 yard strike from Smith to Long. That score cut Richmond’s halftime advantage to 21-14.
Smith said the slow start hurt the Wolves considerably. “We just have to come out of the gates,” Smith said. “We came out real sluggish in the early stages.”
“We knew Richmond had talent,” Smith continued. “We played them earlier in the season, and they gave us a run for our money at home. It took one of our best efforts to beat them at home. So we knew they’d come at us hard in front of their home fans and they’d be tough tonight.”
Jarvis suggested that the Speed’s defense also had a lot to do with Mohegan’s problems on offense.
“Our goal on defense was to make them drive the length of the field and make them take as many plays as possible to score,” Jarvis explained. “They hit a couple of big [plays] on us, but we were able to match them.”
“We got good pressure with our two defensive ends coming off the corners,” Jarvis said. “That let our linebackers set in and kind of stretch the box as much as possible. If they threw the ball and completed it, we were able to get the two linebackers into play and help make tackles.”
The Speed’s halftime lead was built principally around the play of Gordon, who started and played his first full game at quarterback since this year’s season opener. In the first half, Gordon threw two TD passes, and ran for a dazzling 46 yard touchdown with 1:46 remaining before intermission.
Gordon indicated that the success on the field last night was the result of a strong effort by the entire squad.
“It felt good to come out and play hard,” Gordon said. “We didn’t know if we were going to win, but all we wanted to do was to play hard. I think we’re happy with what happened tonight.”
“The players stepped up tonight,” Gordon elaborated. “It’s been a rough three weeks, but the coaches don’t go out on the field and play. The players have to get it done, and that’s what we did tonight. I think we just decided that we wanted to get it done and weren’t going to make any more excuses…we just came out here and did it.”
After Mohegan tied the score at 21-21 on the first possession of the third quarter, Gordon immediately answered by hitting WR Jeff Townsley with a perfectly thrown 46 yard TD bomb. That score put Richmond ahead to stay, 27-21. Martinez’s booming field goal came next.
Gordon was a solid, if not spectacular, 12-25 for 203 yards with one interception just before halftime. He finished with an impressive five TD passes on the night. Richmond’s QB also rushed for 50 yards and a touchdown. Thompson led the Speed’s receivers with six catches for 108 yards and three touchdowns.
For the Wolves, Smith was also 12-25 on the evening. He threw for 212 yards and two touchdowns, without an interception. Smith also rushed for a score, and LaJhon Jones ran for two more.
“I didn’t really play all that well tonight,” Smith admitted. “I got hit early, and my hand got split wide open. I was also playing on a sprained ankle, and was seeing stars for about ten minutes there.”
Smith’s favorite target on the night was Long. The fleet Long caught eight passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns for the Wolves.
“Mel and I were kind of clicking out there for awhile,” Smith said. “We put Mel in motion a lot. They played man-to-man all night tonight, and if they’re playing man I’m looking to Mel first.”
Jarvis was delighted with the effort of his squad last night, against a Mohegan team he characterized as a “well coached playoff team.”
“The big thing tonight is that I wanted our guys to come in here and play well and represent the Richmond Speed,” Jarvis explained. “The people in Richmond understand that we’re still here working. All this other stuff has happened, but these guys are at practice working hard trying to improve. The Richmond Speed want to put a quality product on the field that our fans can be proud of.”
“Tonight, our guys played hard and came on through for us,” Jarvis said. “I’m very proud of our kids.”
Richmond FB/LB Corey Middlebrooks said the Speed were tired of the off-the-field distractions and sick of the on-the-field losing over the last several weeks…and they finally decided to do something about it last night.
“With the emotions we’ve gone through the past three weeks, we had to turn it around and come out and play,” Middlebrooks exclaimed. “We took that frustration and brought it out on the field with us against Mohegan tonight.”
Middlebrooks then smiled and added, “After a certain point, losing just doesn’t feel good. With Coach Jarvis, we have a new attitude now.”
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.
