Bad Blood Between Mustangs and Rampage
Kevin Sheller
Saturday April 22, 2000
“There is some bad blood between these two teams,” said WR/DB Sean Riley, Ironman of the Mustang’s 52-47 loss on Thursday night, “I think Grand Rapids took it a little bit too far, with a lot of cheap shots. I think a couple of those guys should have been thrown out of the ball game.”
“[Grand Rapids is] the biggest game on the schedule.” Said OL/DL Terry Grooms, “ You go a little harder in practice, you run a little faster. They got a couple of guys over there that don’t know how to act. The game is supposed to be professional, but they still think it’s Pee-Wee, and that’s just ridiculous. We’re taught by the coaching staff and amongst ourselves about how to be professional.”
Grooms even heard rumors that his name in particular was the object of some disdain, “I heard going in that they were keying on me. I heard my name a lot. I don’t know why. But I’m a grown man, I can take care of myself.”
Head Coach Rick Frazier didn’t want to see his team make mental mistakes based on the animosity between his team and the Rampage, “I challenged [my players] at half...I said, `Don`t get goaded or baited into the 15-yard penalty or get thrown out of the game on national television,’ and I was proud of the way our guys responded.”
Milwaukee’s line allowed 3 sacks, one for a safety, and would have allowed another if Quarterback Kevin McDougal hadn’t wildly tossed a ball over his shoulder to avoid the safety, only to see it picked off and returned 5 yards for a touchdown by WR/LB David Andrews. Many times during the first quarter, Milwaukee’s offensive line provided no time for McDougal to survey the field, but by game’s end, they’d given him time enough to throw 6 TD passes, and almost come back for the win.
“I was extremely proud of the way our guys came back,” said Frazier, “Our second line group got an initiation that was unbelievable tonight, because those three guys are first year guys going up against a pretty good group. And they got a pretty good lesson tonight, but they learned...and they got better. You get proud to see players that don’t lay down.”
McDougal echoed his coach’s sentiments, “Man, our line learned a lot tonight and they really turned into veterans… That second half...I could just feel that I could just stand back there and throw, and that’s when we started throwing touchdowns. I have all the confidence in the world in my front line.”
“We have a lot of young guys. Tonight they took a big step. You can’t expect these first year, defensive guys to go in there and pass block against the monsters they got over there.” Added Grooms.
Kevin McDougal took the blame for the loss, despite throwing 6 touchdowns, he made a few costly mistakes.
“I put this game on my shoulders. If I don’t throw the two picks and one for a touchdown, then we win the game. I’m going to take the blame for this game.” The last interception came with 1:00 to go in the game while the Mustangs were trying to regain the lead, only down by 5 points. “I should have zipped it in there a little more. As I was throwing the ball I saw [OS Lamart Cooper] kinda lose his balance, and at that split second of releasing it, I laid it out there for him to get up under it, but he lost a lot of speed tripping.”
During the press conference, Frazier was emotional when talking about the way his players responded to adversary. “He wanted this game,” said McDougal, “We started out 0-5, and 1-3 the past couple years, and to come so close for this team to bounce back and take the lead…he really wanted to win this game. It really didn’t have anything to do with Grand Rapids. We’re just tired of coming out and going 0-1.”
Frazier added, “This is a marathon, not a sprint...We’ll get back to work and we’ll get better.”
Kevin Sheller ia founder of Arenafan Online and was the principal owner until 2004. Kevin graduated from the University of Akron with a degree in technical writing, and has been a member of the Arena Football Internet community since 1993. He has worked as a professional web programmer and is also the executive producer for a computer/video game company. The most recent Xbox title to his credit is called Hunter: The Reckoning.
