Garcia is Tough to Beat
Marc Viquez
Friday July 6, 2001
“It might look easy, but out there in this game, things happen so fast and so quick,” said Aaron Garcia after leading New York over New Jersey by the count of 59-36. Garcia threw for 309-yards and added 7 more touchdowns to his résumé on his way to 100 for the season.
The modest Garcia gave all of the credit to his teammates. “This offense, my receivers do such a great job of being at the right place at the right time and the offensive line is playing great for us this year. They’re making it look easy and my job a lot easier.”
New Jersey came in with the nineteenth ranked defense in the league, while New York was averaging 60 points per game for tops in the league. The Gladiators couldn’t rattle Garcia and force him to make a mistake. They were able to sack him late in the game, but New York had already secured their fifth win by then.
It was New York’s first road win of the season, from a team that has always been a better team on the road during its days in Iowa. Garcia had a field day Saturday night as he found receivers with large real estate in front of them for huge yards and quick passes that resulted in large gains as well. The offensive line for New York was a brick wall and all New Jersey could pray for was to pick Garcia off. They came close twice, but failed to grab on. Kevin Swayne’s cat-like leaps led the way with 11 receptions for 146-yards and 2 TD’s. Ironman of the Game Todd Doxson picked up two touchdowns too.
“To me, Aaron is Aaron and he has all the components that he’s the best quarterback in my mind. It’s just the same old Aaron Garcia,” said Kuharich.
New Jersey was able to keep pace with New York up until the disastrous third quarter where everything fell apart for New Jersey. “I thought Aaron had an outstanding day. He came out and read the zones and found the open receivers. He stayed patient and we got the victory,” said Gregory.
What is it like to watch Garcia perform as an opposing player?
“Its tough, because he makes it look so easy, such a great quarterback with such great people around him that make him real so good. You have to score a lot of points to beat that guy,” said New Jersey QB Todd Bankhead.
Garcia joined Todd Hammel as the only other man to pass for over 20,000-yards in Arena Football League history. The win also catapults New York back into the race for first place. Perhaps even greater was that the victory came in New Jersey, the state where Garcia found some playing time in 1997 and 1998.
“Every time I come here I try to have one of my better performances and kind of make them regret that they let me go. I know it’s a different organization, but that’s still my mind set,” said Garcia. This was the second week in a row that a former New Jersey quarterback came in and beat the Gladiators. Two weeks ago it was Rickey Foggie for Florida.
New Jersey proved valiant in their loss to New York and could not stop Garcia in keying the upset. They had to focus on the Dragons’ QB, but it seemed too easy for Garcia as he moved down the field. There were no late quarter mishaps for New York this time around and now they face Carolina next week with first place up for grabs. All we can do, now is wait to see if Garcia can hit the century mark in touchdowns this season.
A fan of the sport since 1990 Marc has covered both the New Jersey Gladiators and Cincinnati Swarm (Af2) for Arenafan Online. Marc now resides in Indianapolis after graduating with a Masters in Sports Management from Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Ind. When not at a Firebirds game Marc can be found traveling the Midwest covering sports for various Internet and print publications.
