Maynor Off his Game; Buffalo Takes the Win
Tom Ando
Sunday April 22, 2001
In front of an announced 10,212 fans, the Buffalo Destroyers took the field against the New Jersey Gladiators on Friday. The game was a back and forth defensive battle, and the team that wanted it more came out on top.
ArenaBowl XIV MVP Connell Maynor took the field after last week`s humiliating 52-21 loss to the Carolina Cobras in which the Gladiators didn`t score in the entire second half.
The Destroyers, were a completely different story, coming off an exiting 61-54 victory in Toronto. The Destroyers found success in their best player, offensive specialist Bobby Olive, and an unlikely hero, veteran WR/DB Willie Latta. In Toronto, Olive had 11 receptions for 137 yards and three touchdowns, and Latta had three receptions for 20 yards and two rushes for three yards, and two touchdowns. Darrick Branch, who was inactive last week, was also a huge factor.
A fumble on New Jersey`s opening possession led to a touchdown for Buffalo, then on the next drive Maynor`s trouble`s continued as he fumbled the ball and the Destroyers recovered. Olive capitalized just a few plays later on a six-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jim Kubiak.
Maynor, now officially in a slump, was benched in favor of backup Todd Bankhead, but that only lasted one series. From that point on, Maynor appeared to be his usual self, connecting on passes all over the field including touchdown strikes to Jeroid Johnson and two to Michael Brantley. These antics, the same ones that make Maynor one of the most dangerous quarterbacks in the game, got New Jersey on top 28-20.
Right before half time, on what seemed to be a normal incomplete pass by Kubiak, the Destroyers were in dismay to see their star player, Olive, lying on the turf. After a few minutes, Olive was helped by teammates off the field, but the Destroyers just weren`t the same, at least not right away.
"My injury kind of put everybody in a little shock," said Olive. "They came out a little flat in the third quarter, but I`m just glad they were able to overcome that, and play good."
From that point on Buffalo had to turn to unlikely players to come back from the eight-point deficit. Branch was placed into Olive`s offensive specialist position, which earned him Offensive Player Of The Game honors, and rave reviews from his teammates and coaches.
"Darrick Branch came in and he played that offensive specialist spot in the second half, and he did a nice job," said Coach Ray Bentley. "Obviously we weren`t anticipating on having to do that, and Branch didn`t practice at that at all, all week long, yet he was able to step in there and get the job done. That tells you a little bit about Darrick Branch and what he brings to the table."
Nobody appreciated Branch`s performance more than Kubiak, however. "Darrick was inactive last week, but he`s a heck of a player. He did a great job in there for us."
As Branch continued to pick up first downs for Buffalo, they gained momentum, and just as the name Willie Latta was beginning to slip everybody`s mind, he popped back up. Latta, who has a tattoo on his right arm of Popcorn, which is his child nickname given to him by his Grandmother, made a catch on the sidelines and broke tackles en route to a 28-yard touchdown. Latta would add another spectacular touchdown catch, this time 39 yards over the shoulder with a defender on his back, and along with a Kubiak run, the Destroyers led 39-28, and that`s how it would stay, but not before Maynor could make himself get noticed.
Now, Maynor was hot, until Latta and the Destroyers caught on fire picking up momentum and bringing the crowd to their feet. Normally when Connell Maynor wants to get noticed, he will scramble around and make plays at will, resulting in his usual yelling into the camera post touchdown celebration, but on Friday night, it was different.
At several points in the game, Maynor had miscommunications with his receivers, which wasn`t to his satisfaction. One time he even went as far to get in the face of his receiver, which resulted in a shoving match. Not really ArenaBowl MVP material.
Late in the fourth quarter, on a desperate fourth down attempt, Maynor appeared to overthrew his receiver, and then looked for a flag afterwards, and the only one he got was for losing his temper at the referee, and kept going at it, so he got another one, for a total of 20 yards in penalties.
"No, I don`t [regret losing my temper]," exclaimed an irate Maynor. "The man held our receiver; he had a step on him and he held him back until he was in front of our receiver. When our DB`s touch them, they throw the flag, they`re DB pulled our man and they didn`t call it."
The fact of the matter was, Connell Maynor was off of his game, and that is exactly the way Bentley planned it.
"Our game plan was to get all over his skin and we did. We had great pressure. We had some guys that put a heck of a rush on him," explained Bentley. "When he scrambled out, we had a guy sitting there waiting for him, and they took care of the business as well. We did a nice job containing him."
Early reports say that Olive likely tore his ACL, possibly ending his season. If that is the case, then Buffalo will have to rely on players like Branch and Latta more than expected.
Latta was named the game`s MVP, but to him, that was secondary Friday.
"It feels good getting a win. Extracurricular awards are good, but I would have traded them all in for a win tonight."
Luckily for Latta, he got both.
"Touchdown" Tom Ando is a free lance writer from South Buffalo, NY and has been covering the Arena Football League in one capacity or another since the 2000 season, when he was 17 years old. Tom Currently writes for Sports & Leisure Magazine in Buffalo covering the NLL's Buffalo Bandits and NCAA Division I football. In 2001, Tom was the only writer in the country to cover the Houston "Travelin' " Thunderbears, where he befriended his mentor John F. "Hondo" Hahn.
