Thompson-less Speed Fall To Prowlers
David Chappell
Monday July 21, 2003
Riding an eight touchdown performance by quarterback Caleb Slover, the Prowlers (8-7) handed the Speed their ninth loss of the season by a 61-49 count in front of an announced crowd of 3,401 at the Richmond Coliseum.
Greensboro’s win was their first ever victory over Richmond (6-9), and kept the Prowlers in contention for arenafootball2’s Atlantic Division championship heading into the final week of the regular season.
Thompson went down for the Speed less than ten minutes into the game with a knee injury, and did not return to action. Thompson entered the contest second in the league in number of catches, and led af2 in total receiving yards and average receiving yards per game.
Before getting hurt, Thompson already had two catches against the Prowlers, including a 29 yard reception. He also had a spectacular kickoff return for a touchdown that was called back due to a holding penalty.
Thompson said immediately after the game that based on his start, he believed he would have continued to play well against the Prowlers. “The way I was starting off, I was going to have a big game tonight,” Thompson commented. Thompson also indicated on Friday night that his injury was a MCL injury and that he was not expected to have to undergo any type of surgery. Thompson is scheduled to have a MRI today.
Playing without Thompson, Richmond struggled in the passing game, generating only 156 passing yards during the remainder of the contest.
But what ultimately doomed the Speed were fumbles on three of their four second quarter possessions. FB/LB Chris Field explained, “We pretty much shot ourselves in the foot. We made a lot of mistakes tonight. That’s a summary of the season for us.”
With the score tied 7-7 with 11:45 remaining in the half, Richmond drove 46 yards in eight plays to the Greensboro one, only to have quarterback Joel Gordon fumble into the end zone for a touchback.
Greensboro then capitalized on the critical fumble, quickly driving 45 yards for the go-ahead score on a three yard TD run by Slover with 3:58 remaining in the first half.
Richmond pulled even for the last time when quarterback Joel Gordon hit OS Jeff Townsley on a 30 yard scoring pass with 1:09 remaining in the first half, to tie the score at 14-14. Townsley assumed the OS role for Richmond in place of the injured Thompson.
The Prowlers regained the lead for good at 21-14 with 39 seconds remaining in the half, when Slover hit OS David Hill on a 23 yard TD strike.
Greensboro then benefited from Richmond’s third fumble of the quarter, when P.J. Winston coughed up the ball against the boards and Greensboro’s DB Victor White recovered. White then ran the fumble into the end zone for a Prowlers TD with :09 remaining in the half, expanding the Prowlers’ lead to 28-14 at the intermission.
Speed interim head coach Billy Jarvis said his team’s turnovers in the second quarter were the difference in the game.
“The turnovers in the second quarter were the turning point in the game for us,” Jarvis said. “We don’t get our touchdown at the one to go up 14-7, and instead they take it down and score. Then we have a chance to tie it up at 21-21 before the half, but we fumble again and boom, we’re behind 28-14. Those two turnovers really hurt us.”
Jarvis went on to say that while turnovers hampered the Speed, the play of the Prowlers had a lot to do with Richmond’s difficulties.
“We hurt ourselves in this game, but I don’t want to take anything away from Greensboro,” Jarvis said. “They have a good team. In fact, they might be the most talented team from top to bottom that we’ve played this year. They’ve been on a roll the last three or four weeks, particularly on offense.”
“We knew we had to take care of the ball against them going in, but we didn’t do it tonight,” Jarvis continued. “We didn’t play the way we needed to in order to get a win tonight…we just came up a little bit short.”
Behind the arm of Slover, the Prowlers appeared to be close to putting the game away midway through the third quarter. When Slover connected with WR Shannon Gainey on a 15 yard TD pass with 6:01 remaining in the third quarter, Greensboro had their biggest lead of the night at 42-21.
However, the Speed fought back…immediately. On the ensuing kickoff, Townsley dazzled the Coliseum crowd, weaving through several would-be Prowler tacklers in route to a 56 yard TD return. That score, along with a Gordon to WR Marcus Richardson touchdown pass moved the Speed to within 42-35 entering the fourth quarter.
Townsley had a spectacular game for the Speed, picking up the slack for the injured Thompson. Townsley ran back two kickoffs for touchdowns, tying arenafootball2’s single game high this season. And on his four kick returns, Townsley amassed an impressive total of 175 yards.
Townsley noted that good blocking was the key on his kick returns Friday night. “On the kickoffs, we did a good job of blocking up front,” Townsley said. “They gave me holes to run through, I saw them and ran through them hard. [Greensboro] didn’t adjust to what we were doing, so we just kept running the same returns.”
Of his 30 yard TD reception from Gordon, Townsley smiled and reflected, “It felt good to catch a long one like that again.”
Despite being down by only a touchdown entering the fourth stanza, the Speed could not stop the Prowlers’ offense from making big plays down the stretch.
WR Bobby Sippio caught two TD passes from Slover inside the first five minutes of the fourth quarter to build Greensboro’s lead back up to 55-35. From there, the two teams exchanged scores until the game’s end.
Richmond DS Charlie Robinson said the Prowlers’ offense is predicated on big plays, and Greensboro made more of them than Richmond did Friday night.
“Greensboro looks for big plays, that’s how they score,” Robinson explained. “They haven’t had a lot of third downs during the course of the season. Both teams have good players on both sides of the ball, but they won a couple of more plays than we did tonight.”
The best player on the field Friday night was Slover, who was 22-32 for 337 yards and seven touchdowns without an interception. Slover also ran the ball six times for 67 yards and a TD for Greensboro.
Slover was quick to give credit to his offensive line for his outstanding performance. “Our offensive line played great tonight, “ Slover remarked. “I think we only gave up two or three pressures tonight. We were very solid up front, and that helps me out a lot.”
The Greensboro quarterback feels his team is on a roll now, and is hoping his squad will get to continue their season in the playoffs.
“The last three or four games we’ve really played hard, and we’ve played really good together…so that’s the biggest turnaround we’ve had,” Slover commented. “We have a shot for a playoff run here; we just need a little luck. We just need to win out…all we can do is control our own destiny. Tonight we came out here and put together a great game against Richmond.”
Jarvis was impressed with the play of the Prowlers’ QB. “You have to give credit to [Slover],” Jarvis maintained. “He played really well tonight. When he takes off running, he runs like a running back. He was tough on us both running and throwing tonight.”
For Greensboro, Sippio caught six passes for 86 yards and two touchdowns. WR Bobby Graham caught five passes, with three going for TDs. Graham caught a 49 yard TD pass from Slover in the first quarter. WR Andrew Layton also hauled in five passes for the Prowlers.
On defense for the Prowlers, DS Adrain Jones intercepted three of Gordon’s passes, tying a single game high in arenafootball2 this season.
Gordon was 20-35 for 191 yards on the night. The Richmond quarterback threw for three touchdowns to go with his three interceptions. Gordon also ran for two scores. Winston led the Speed with nine receptions for 72 yards. Veteran Tim Jones chipped in with five catches for Richmond.
Defensively for the Speed, DS Dashane Dennis led the Richmond tacklers with eight unassisted tackles.
While the Prowlers continue their playoff push against Norfolk on Saturday, the Speed will be traveling to Charleston to conclude their season against the Charleston Swamp Foxes (8-7), who are still in the running for a playoff berth.
For the first time in three years, the Speed’s season will end in July without a trip to af2’s August playoff derby. Robinson does not believe that fact renders the matchup at Charleston meaningless to the Speed.
“Charleston is vying for the playoffs, so of course they’re going to come out hungry,” Robinson offered. “Everybody wants that bonus money at the end of the season, and of course they want that championship ring. It’s our last game of the season, and we want to go down there and end on a good note. We’re all looking forward to that.”
Jarvis agrees with his defensive specialist, and believes that his team will play well at Charleston.
“Our guys have stuck together well as a team in a tough situation,” Jarvis said. “This season hasn’t gone the way any of us thought it would, but I’ve been very proud of our young men to this point.”
“We’re still positive and working hard, and we’re looking forward to going down to Charleston,” the Richmond coach continued. “I know [Charleston] has a lot of fans down there that are really into it, and they are shooting for the playoffs. But we’ll be ready to step into their building and go after it. If we play the way we are capable, we can beat Charleston.”
With the loss to Greensboro, the Speed finished the home portion of their 2003 schedule at 4-4. OL/DL Lawrence Lewis indicates that the Speed had positives for the future emerge from their final home game, particularly where the crowd was concerned. The crowd was more than twice as large for the Greensboro game as it was for the Mohegan game the week before, and was probably the most vocal of the entire year Friday night.
“This was a tough one tonight, being the last home game,” Lewis said. “I hated that we had to end it with a loss.”
“But I was glad to see that people came out and that they wanted to support us,” Lewis added. “I just hope everybody sticks with that same support and doesn’t think that this is a one-game thing…because we will be back next year—one way or the other.”
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.
