Believe what you just saw
Matt Eichenblatt
Tuesday May 13, 2008
Let’s just go ahead and get this out of the way before you scurry over to your Tivo, DVR, or whatever recording device you may have—the Georgia Force did beat the Philadelphia Soul on Monday Night Football.
For those of you that went to bed with 7:25 left in the game and a Philadelphia lead, I am sorry. There is no way to describe missing what just happened on national television to you, that you would grasp the magnitude of the game, or the unbelievable path the Force took from being down 21, to up by 1 with 16 seconds left.
Ah, but don’t fret fellow AFL fan because you are not alone!
Out of the 10,278 people that came to watch the formerly 9-1 Philadelphia Soul take on the home team force on Georgia Bulldog night, the rough estimate of the people that got their money’s worth might be a little over a thousand and that’s being extremely generous.
To be fair, everyone in the arena had a right to leave, no matter how die-hard a fan they might be. The Force offense was sputtering, the penalties were adding up, and lady luck was clearly rubbing the shoulders of everyone not wearing a black and blue jersey. There was simply no reason to stay, unless you wanted to embrace the horror of another Atlanta professional sports team, taking a swift kick right in the teeth.
Then, the wand was waved.
I don’t know how, or what happened, but the pendulum of fortune at around the 7:25 mark swung to the Georgia sideline, and the rest is history.
As the Force began their unbelievable comeback, there had to be a few things that would happen—the first, getting the offense in gear and quick. Insert a laser precise drive capped off by a 1 yard run by quarterback, Chris Greisen, and you have your start.
Oh, but the second recipe to this magical comeback was a bit more difficult, you see, the nearly perfect Philadelphia kicker, Connor Hughes, had to shake off that pesky tendency to make every kick. And with 47 seconds left in the game, he did. And for the record, he’s not done yet.
But out of all the necessities the Georgia Force needed to cap off the season’s greatest comeback, it needed their Kicker, Carlos Martinez, to uncharacteristically boot a perfect onside kick.
You guessed it, it happened.
Said Georgia Force head coach, Doug Plank, of the unusual chain of events happening late in the 4th quarter Monday night up to that point, he asserted, “I’ve been in football a long time, and never has anything like that ever happen to me in my life.”
But the magic wasn’t quite done yet.
In Tom Brady-esque fashion, the suddenly red hot Greisen led a time consuming drive that consummated in a touchdown with 16 seconds left on the clock, and then, the go ahead two point conversion to put the Force up, 63-62.
With only 16 seconds left, the Soul had a chance to drive down the field and kick the game winning field-goal, but it died when the 43 yard field goal attempt of Connor Hughes sailed right and was recovered by Georgia.
To the naked eye, this game was a season-saver for the Georgia Force. Win, and you’re right in the thick of a playoff race in one of the strongest conferences in recent memory. Lose, and you fall to 4-6, and face the daunting task of having to nearly win out to make the playoffs.
But the idea that this game was a season-saver did not sit well with Coach Plank.
“I think of things one week at a time,” remarked Plank.
“This win gets us back to an even record. I don’t know if this win saves our season, because it’s what matters next that actually determines our fate.”
No truer words have ever been spoken.
After getting robbed in the first meeting with the Orlando Predators earlier in the year, and then losing a heartbreaker to them again a few weeks later, the Force were convinced luck was not on their side—until today.
“It’s a win like this that can jump start a football team,” asserted Plank.
“If we can come back from a 21 point hole against a great team like Philadelphia, then why can’t we do it against anyone else?”
Hopefully coach, you won’t have to.
Great win, Georgia.
Matt Eichenblatt is a free-lance writer from the Atlanta area. He has followed Arena Football since 1999 and has been attending Georgia Force games since they moved from Nashville five years ago. As well as being a football enthusiast, he is also looking forward to graduating from the University of Alabama with a degree in Finance and Communications.
