Not the Outcome the Command Wanted

Sharon Soares
Sunday April 17, 2011

Saturday night's game for the Kansas City Command against the Arizona Rattlers did not have the outcome Kansas City had hoped, as they fell 63-49.  With a small crowd of 4,166 fans, the Command dropped to 1-4  loss without really understanding why. 

Rich Ranglin stated after the game, “We're going to have to go back and look at the tape.  Both teams seemed to just be flat.”  Coach Danton Barto seemed to have a similar response.  He stated, “We were slow.  It looked like we were running in the mud.  It just seemed slow, tired and slow.”

The crowd was quiet and about 1500 fans short of last game.  What has in the past been an exciting arena, a full-of-energy crowd, became a quiet group of people that were there to watch a dull game.  Neither team seemed to enjoy the game tonight.  The warm ups that Arizona participated in were slow and lifeless.  The Command seemed a little more positive and thought they stood a shot against the undefeated Rattlers but never really felt completely right.

Highlights of the game included an awesome touchdown catch by Aaron Hosack in the first quarter and a kickoff return for a touchdown by Christian Wise at the start of the second half.  Both plays seemed effortless and had hope that the Command would set a little fire to get on top.  Wise's touchdown took little time off the clock and the Command was able to start the second half by tying the score.  They never led the game but tied several times.  The score remained close until the final quarter., wgich proved to belong to the Rattlers.  They woke up while the Command still played slow.

What hope does the team have?  “I think we are two players away from where we want to be.”, Danton Barto stated, “Guys are going to have to compete for their jobs.” 

The Command has already released on recall assignment fullback J.J. Payne and signed Tommy Saunders, a former receiver from University of Missouri.  As a local favorite, he could help boost the low attendance.  There is no guarantee that the players on the team today will be there next week or the week after.

Coach Barto as well as Coach Brian Hug made comments that they have had worse records and still made the playoffs.  They both expect a turn-around with players that have a desire to play the game.

With tonight's game behind them, the players are looking ahead to the next Friday in Chicago against the Rush, another very tough team.  Quarterback J.J. Ratterink will be going home and playing against some of his previous teammates. 

Kansas City has a lot of reviewing of tonight's game to do.  Several changes are expected to be made in the line up.  Hopefully the fire that fans saw in the team last week and in previous games will come back.  When the heart is gone, the fun is taken out of it, and the game ends up flat.  The team needs to find their heart again.  A loss is only bad if you don't learn how to win afterward.