Another Kansas City Loss
Sharon Soares
Monday May 2, 2011
The Kansas City Command experienced a high of being ahead of the competition by three scores for the first time this season. The 3502 fans in attendance, the lowest in franchise history, were there to see the Command win their third home game of the season. The players were excited to show the Dallas Vigilantes that they could win against them; the first loss was a fluke.
Aaron Hosack started the game with a touchdown after just three plays. Dallas returned the score promptly in one play with DeAndrew Rubin. Then Kansas City went on a scoring spree and started playing an awesome game. A traditional touchdown by Bret Smith was followed by a net recovery on the ensuing the kickoff by Eric Harris. Defense stepped up and Bryan Robinson forced a safety. It was then Steven Savoy's turn at the endzone and he scored the next touchdown. Kansas City seemed to take turns with their players and everyone was in on the scoring action.
The second quarter was not as successful as the first, but the Command retained the lead going into halftime. Smith scored another touchdown and Tyus Jackson forced a safety. Kansas City seemed to have everything together and it looked like the third home game would produce the third win of the season. Dallas coach Clint Dolezel was not happy with the way the Vigilantes were playing and he was certain to give Dallas the pep talk they needed. Kansas City seemed to become relaxed during halftime and the second half became a challenge instead of a slam dunk.
The third and fourth quarters challenged both the Command offense and defense. The defense couldn't defend the Dallas passing game and the offense had trouble converting downs and making receptions. Dallas' Derrick Ross and Matt Fields came into the third and fourth quarter with renewed energy and out-played the Command's team. The ending was not what the Command wanted with a final score of 72-63. Safeties in this game proved to be such momentum changes. Each safety for the Command fueled them in the first half. The game ended with Dallas' safety made by James Bear.
Key players were National Guard MVP Aaron Hosack, Russell Athletic Offensive Player was J.J. Raterink, Ridell Defensive Player was Tyus Jackson, and JSL Ironman was Christian Wise. Each had a great game of touchdowns, exciting passes and runs, safeties and yards ran. Command kicker Brian Umstead missed points after touchdowns, but they did not affect the outcome of the game. He also made two tackles on Dallas kick returns. If he had not been the last line of defense and made those tackles, 12 more points would have been on the board. The whole team had some problems with making plays in the second half or stopping plays. The whole team lost the game.
Red zone coverage has not been good all season. Dallas went five for five scoring in the zone. For the season opponents score on Kansas City in the redzone 84.2% of the time. Kansas Cityoffense is only score in the red zone just 72.7% of the time. Both these numbers need improvement.
As they head into week 9 of the season, another home game on Saturday and another chance to prove to Kansas City that the team can play 60 minutes, the team will be focused on what they did right, what they did wrong, and the difference between the first half and the second half. The difference was the focus and fun the players had. The first quarter was fun, exciting, dominant, and as if the players were thinking of happy thoughts. The second quarter became serious, stressful, and the players focused on every missed opportunity. They need to go back to their happy thoughts and win this next game.
