Destroyers Hold On To Lead...Finally
Tom Ando
Saturday May 12, 2001
The game would feature some of the league`s premier players in Jim Kubiak, Kevin Mason, and Willie Latta of the Destroyers and Curtis Ceaser of the Bobcats. Those stars would take turns shining as Buffalo earned it`s fifth straight home victory, 56-48.
Kubiak and Mason started out on center stage, connecting on two touchdowns. The first was a 42-yard pass that Mason turned into a personal highlight real, juking out and then carrying a Florida defender into the end zone. The Bobcats struck next with a pass from quarterback Rickey Foggie to Ceaser. Mason`s second score was a 15-yard reception from Kubiak.
Next came Latta`s turn, on a pair of one-yard touchdown runs that increased Buffalo`s lead to 18. Last week in Carolina, the Destroyers blew a 19-point lead to the Cobras, and although they were trying to avoid doing it again, the Bobcats did come back.
Other than another Latta touchdown run before half, the Destroyers wouldn`t score until the fourth quarter. Buffalo found themselves trailing by 1, but they took the lead back on a touchdown reception by All Arena receiver Carlos James. Trying to make their lead an even seven, the Destroyers lined up and threw a quick pass to James for the two-point conversion.
Florida answered right back with a Foggie to WR/DB Bernard Holmes touchdown pass, but the kick by Joe O` Donnell was no good. Buffalo`s next score came on a 10-yard reception by WR/LB and team captain "Downtown" Eddie Brown, who was named the Ironman of the game. Florida answered again with another touchdown by Holmes. Their two-point pass attempt was incomplete in the back of the end zone giving Buffalo a two-point lead. With a Scottie Nicholson touchdown, the Destroyers took a game-ending eight-point lead, which was too much for Florida
After the game Buffalo was modest about their victory.
"It`s good to get on the winning streak again. We needed this win big time," said Jim Kubiak, who was 22-38 for 275 yards and five touchdowns. "I think we need to clean some things up. We`re not where we need to be yet to be a championship team, but we`re going to work on it. We did some good things and the other team played hard, but we pulled it out. We`re 3-2 and that`s all that counts."
Bentley was glad his team could finally close out a game with the lead. "It felt real good to actually get a win, because that was a heck of an effort their football team put forth. They played very well," he said. "We got up early like we seem to be able to do lately and we finished it off and that`s so important for the football team to develop that killer instinct. We had it tonight and finished the game."
Bentley applauded the Bobcats efforts, which forced them to made the Destroyers work harder.
"They have good football players, so what they did was put it on us pretty good. It was not anything as far as mental breakdowns that we had. They were just whooping our but for a little while there," said Bentley. "When that happens, boy you better respond to that, or you`re not going to win. And our guys took it upon themselves that they weren`t going to allow that to happen anymore. We did some things in terms of trying to get rid of the ball quicker, so that would help slow that tempo down a little bit, and they responded and ultimately gave Jim enough time to get the ball down and we scored when we had to."
Destroyers’ players also credited Florida for their game, including DS Pretnice Taylor.
"Their defense played good. They brought some problems to our offense, but we have a real good offense that`s explosive," said Taylor. "They accepted the challenge and they came out and played hard."
Latta was the game`s MVP for the second consecutive home game with four runs for five yards and three touchdowns and five catches for 80 yards. He continues to make an impact for the team.
"I`m just having a good opportunity,” said Latta. "Whatever I can do for my team, that`s what I want to do. Tonight I had a good first half, but came out the second half banged up and I just had to finish the game."
Bentley feels that they didn`t play their best game, which makes this win a good sign of the potential for the team. "I don`t know that we played that well to be honest with you,” said Bentley. "I saw a lot of mistakes out there, things that we can definitely improve. So maybe we didn`t play so well, but we won and that`s important."
Some of the players agree with their coach on that thought.
"Ugly. It was an ugly win," said rookie Hassan Probherbs. "We`re not closing the door on people when we have the opportunity; we`ve got to learn how to do that. That`s a great sign of a good football team (winning the ugly games). Once we get it all put together, all phases of the game, we should knock people out."
The surprising thing about this game was Buffalo`s much improved kicking game with Brett Gorden playing his first game as a Destroyer.
"First game for Brett and he did OK. He did good," said Bentley. "He`ll be back next week. I`m glad I don`t have to go looking for one again this week." A couple of Gorden`s kickoffs appeared to be squibs, but Bentley cleared things up. "If I ever call a tactical squib kick in arena football, that means that I am done. It means that it`s time for Mr. Hammister to find a new coach, I promise you that."
Next week the Destroyers will host the Houston ThunderBears, and try to build off of this momentum.
"We have high expectations still to get over that .500 mark and now we`re 3-2, so we don`t lose any ground to anybody in the division. That`s very important to us," said Bentley. "It also gives us some momentum. We won five in a row at home now. That`s something that you have to do, I believe, and we`ve continued to do that. Now we can go and be positive this week and we can get better, work harder, and come back and play at home again next week. That`s good."
"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.
