Firecats Rout Knights
Keith Murphy
Saturday May 1, 2004
Hold also questioned his team’s desire. “I think some guys laid down at the end. I won’t tolerate that. So, we’ll make corrections and keep working to get better. There’s a lot of room for improvement. We need some guys that will fight to the end. I think we had a few guys who didn’t have that same desire tonight.”
The Firecats dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and head coach Ben Bennett says that strong line play was crucial to their success. “We preach that, every week, to protect your passer, get after theirs, and limit turnovers and I think we did two of the three pretty well tonight. Our big guys up front played as well as we have all season.”
That powerful line play allowed Florida to develop a running game that kept the Knights on their heels all evening. Led by Steve Gorrie, who rushed 9 times for 57 yards and 3 touchdowns, the Florida running attack proved to be a critical component in their second win of the season. Bennett says that, “Most teams in this league will run as a change of pace. We do it as much to slow down the pass rush as to pick up yards. It just happened that it was a surprise that our guys got loose a little bit tonight.”
The Firecats’ defensive line pounded Macon quarterback Caleb Slover, holding him to 14 completions for only 192 yards. Hold attributed Slover’s inefficiency to both the Florida defense and indecision on behalf of the Macon quarterback. “This game is about pressure, but you’ve got to make quick decisions sometimes. Tonight we saw a little bit of both, some bad protection and some bad decision making.”
Bennett says that the win, was important for the Firecats. “Well, we’re still 2 and 2 so we haven’t set any land speed records. But it is a division game which is all the more important.”
The game was a successful homecoming for former Knight Anthony Snead. Snead played limited minutes as he is coming off of an ankle injury, but he still managed to catch two passes for 20 yards. Snead described his return to Macon, “I feel like I’m coming back to a family reunion but I’m not part of the family anymore.”
With the loss, the Knights fall to 1 and 3 and next travel to Birmingham to play the Steeldogs. Florida’s next game is at Columbus.
Dr. Murphy has nearly 20 years of media experience ranging from radio to the Internet. He has served as webmaster for two AF2 teams and the football team at Fort Valley State University. He is a professor at FVSU and directs www.bunniwerks.org, a non-profit rabbit rescue organization. He has been commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel. Murphy is also serving as a first party editor of af2 stories for ArenaFfan. For more information about Dr. Murphy see: www.keithmurphy.info
