Knights Defeat Steeldogs
Keith Murphy
Friday April 15, 2005
Birmingham appeared to have the upper hand early in the game after the Steeldogs held the Knights short of a first down on Macon’s first series and then blocked Wesley Wilson’s long field goal attempt. Taking advantage of the short field, Ray Nelson ran the ball in from seven yards out to give Birmingham their first lead of the night at 6-0. The teams matched scores and then Macon jumped out to a lead they would never relinquish by scoring three consecutive times including Anthony Collins’ 33 yard fumble return for a score. When the barrage ended, Macon was up 28–13 and remained in control for the rest of the evening.
Macon head coach Mike Hold says that he is just thrilled to pick up the win. "You just never know in arena football. And the way we started, I thought, ‘Oh. Lord it’s going to be a long night,’ but, they fought back and we had fun. But they’re (Birmingham) such a high-powered team that we just could never seem to get comfortable. A 23-point lead, to me, wasn’t comfortable against a high-powered team like that. I’m just thankful we got the ‘W’."
After a rough first series, Macon quarterback Lionel Hayes settled down and had an impressive night at quarterback. Hayes completed 17 of 23 passes for 274 yards and six touchdowns. He also rushed for a touchdown.
Hold says that Knights’ fans can expect even more from Hayes. "Each week he’s going to get better and better because we’re out there getting the reps," Hold said. "That’s all it is now it’s just doing the things we’ve been doing over and over again. The timing is just coming together now. We got a great effort by the line. The line protected well tonight."
Hayes says that he sees gradual improvement with each game. "I’m still a rookie. I’m learning the game. Each game, things get slower and slower."
Hayes does believe that Knights’ fans have a lot of offensive fireworks to look forward to, "We have an explosive offense. I think we have the best receiving corps in af2; maybe in af1. I think we’re right up there with the best of them. With the line blocking the way they’re blocking right now we’re going to do wonders."
The Steeldogs’ quarterbacks also had a productive evening. Ray Nelson started and was five for five for 48 yards and both a passing and rushing touchdown. Andrew Zow replaced Nelson and completed 20 of 36 passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns. He threw one interception and rushed for a score.
Chris Johnson set a Macon franchise record for single game receiving yardage. He caught 11 passes for 216 yards and four touchdowns. Another Knight who had a breakout game was Matt Jackson who returned a kickoff for a 57-yard touchdown, picked off an Andrew Zow pass, forced a fumble and racked up 4 tackles. Jackson credits his performance to a meeting of the secondary: "As a secondary, we had a meeting yesterday with coach Sting and we made sure everybody is on the same page. We kind of went out there without thinking and let our natural abilities take over and we was able to make plays. We pride ourselves on being able to make plays."
The Macon defense was impressive forcing three turnovers on the night. "We made some big plays," Hold explained. "Coach Stingley did a great job of preparing. He had those guys ready. We made our stops and they got their plays and they’re going to do that with a team that’s got that much team speed. Holding Birmingham to fifty points is a good job, I think." Veterans Hosea Laney and Jamal Garman led the defense with 6.5 and 6 tackles respectively.
With the win, Macon goes to 2-1 on the season. The Knights next travel to Green Bay to tackle the Blizzard. Birmingham falls to 0-2 and plays host to the Memphis Xplorers on April 23rd.
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
