2001 Arena Cup Preview
Michael Vergane
Monday August 6, 2001
The game will be televised live on TNN at 7:00pm C.D.T.
The National Conference held a 17-5 record in interconference play against their American Conference counterparts, yet the Richmond Speed defeated two National Conference teams to work their way into the Arena Cup.
In the quarterfinals, the Speed came from nine points behind in the 4th quarter to beat the Birmingham Steeldogs, 67-60. Then on Saturday, Richmond went on the road to upset the Tennessee Valley Vipers, 51-50.
The Quad City Steamwheelers knocked off two American Conference foes to get into the Arena Cup. They outscored Macon in the quarterfinals, 80-55, and then defeated the Carolina Rhinos in a defensive battle, 35-16.
For Richmond, their run to the Arena Cup actually began five games into the 2000 season. It was then that Speed owner Harry Feuerstein fired Head Coach Durwood Roquemore and brought in Richard Davis to lead his franchise. Though Davis came in with no Arena experience, Feuerstein felt Davis had what it took to make an immediate impact and salvage what remained of the 2000 season.
And that he did. The Speed finished the season 7-9 and won six of their final seven games.
One of Davis’ first moves was to bring in former AFL back-up QB Bob Bees to lead his offense. This season, Bees had a solid season playing in all 16 games and finishing the season with 3579 yards passing and 73 TD’s. 73 is also the number of TD passes thrown by Bees’ counterpart in this Friday’s Arena Cup match-up.
Quad City Steamwheeler QB Jay McDonagh is just one reason the Steamwheelers are returning to the Arena Cup. McDonagh finished the regular season after game 15 (he sat out the season finale) with a league leading quarterback rating of 131.9.
Perhaps the most important reason for McDonagh’s success is his protection. Spencer Stevens, Damon Williams, Jason Berger, Jamaar Ward, Corey Brown and Christopher Smith all combined to allow only 9 sacks of Steamwheeler quarterbacks.
The only meeting between these two teams occurred on June 9th, 2000. The Steamwheelers traveled to the Richmond Coliseum and knocked off the Speed, 61-30. The game was close in the first half, but then the Quad City defense took over in the second half allowing only one Richmond touchdown and picking off two Bob Bees passes. One pass was returned for a touchdown by Steamwheeler DS Clarence Thompson.
Although there has been only one meeting between the Speed and the Steamwheelers, there is a ‘verbal’ history that has been recorded in the papers. Albeit a one-sided verbal history coming from Richmond.
Seems that Richmond Head Coach Richard Davis has had several comments about Quad City Head Coach Frank Haege over the past two years. Most of them concerning Davis’ perception of Haege’s lopsided victories.
The first comment came one week before their only meeting. This quote appeared in the June 3, 2000 edition of the Richmond Times Dispatch:
“I can’t believe Frank Haege allowed it to happen. He made a serious mistake for the credibility of this league. That’s embarrassing for him. Was it so important to him, on a personal basis, that he scored 103 points (against Greensboro in 2000) against a team that could only score three? Take one for the league, Frank. For the health of all of us who are on the bottom.”
Davis’ second comment was a more veiled reference to Haege that came ten days after the Steamwheelers defeated the Memphis Xplorers 97-7. This quote appeared in the April 26, 2001 edition of the Richmond Times Dispatch:
“We’re a league of young coaches, and we, as a fraternity of coaches, have got to grow. There’s an unwritten rule that coaches don’t pile on coaches who pay their dues. Apparently, our league hasn’t learned that yet.”
In fairness who Davis, he also singled himself out for running up the score in early season game against Norfolk.
There are always stories behind the game that add intrigue to the contest. However, I don’t believe either coach will have the opportunity to run up the score in this one.
Michael Vergane was a writer for ArenaFan Online from 2000 to 2002.
