Prowlers Spoil Home Opener for Pioneers
Michael Balakier
Sunday April 7, 2002
However, for the Pioneers, a defeat seemed highly unlikely through the first half of play. On the Pioneers first offensive play of the game, quarterback John Knust hooked up with WR/LB Ky O’Day on a 32 yard touchdown pass to give the Pioneers an early 7-0 lead.
“Ky ran by his guy,” said Pioneers quarterback John Knust after the game. “The line did a great job. It makes my job really easy.”
Greensboro kicker James Thomas booted a 58-yard field goal, which set an af2 record, with 4:49 left in the first quarter to cut the Pioneers lead to 7-3.
In the second quarter, Knust landed another great pass to WR/DB Matt Jackson to make the score 14-3. Then, on a Greensboro field goal attempt, East Stroudsburg graduate Kevin Nagle blocked Thomas’ kick, which led to a 30-yard touchdown pass from Knust to OS Terrence Tillman to make the score 21-3.
The Pioneer had another opportunity to increase the lead when kicker Mark Kiefer attempted a field goal with 3:22 left in the half, but Greensboro OL/DL Tori Workman blocked Kiefer’s kick, giving the Prowlers the ball on the Pioneers’ 3-yard line. Greensboro FB/LB Sigmund Platt pounded the ball in for a 1-yard touchdown run to cut the score 21-10 at the half.
The Pioneers began the second half just as they did the first when Knust hooked up with O’Day again, this time for a 7-yard TD pass to make the score 28-10. However, on the ensuing kickoff, when Kiefer’s kick struck one of the speakers in the First Union Arena’s rafters, the Pioneers were never the same team on offense again, as Greensboro scored the final 32 points of the game.
After adding two touchdowns to make the score 28-23, Greensboro then capitalized off two crucial Pioneer errors. The first came with 10:00 remaining in the fourth quarter when a missed Greensboro field goal ricocheted off the end zone net and was misplayed by the Pioneers secondary. The ball bounced inside the end zone before being recovered by the Prowlers for a TD that gave them their first lead of the game.
The second mistake came on a fumbled snap by Pioneers’ QB John Knust with 8:00 remaining in the fourth quarter. The ball proceeded to be kicked and scuffled into the end zone before the Prowlers picked it up.
The Pioneers had one last chance to tie the game with :56 left, but Knust threw his second interception of the game, both of which were returned for touchdowns, to Greensboro DS Dee Jefferson to send the sold out crowd heading to the parking lot.
After the game, Pioneer’s head coach Terry Karg said that his team just couldn’t get the job done in the second half.
“We played well in the first and didn’t get the job done in the second half,” said Karg. “It’s a four-quarter game and you have to play for 60 minutes. Their defensive line started getting some pressure on us and it took the rhythm out of our passing game. The key of this game is to protect your quarterback and get theirs and tonight they were better at that.”
Pioneers’ QB John Knust, who threw 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions, believes that he just lost focus in the second half.
“I think mentally I lost focus,” said Knust. “You get up by a few points, you let yourself lack. Mentally, I need to stay sharp.”
FB/LB Kevin Nagle, who was playing in his first arena football game, also believes the loss was part of a mental breakdown.
“It was a lack of mental poise,” said Nagle. “I felt we were definitely the better team out there, but we just made some bad mental mistakes.”
However, Nagle knows that what happened tonight is not something that can become a recurrence. “We’re going to come back, look at the film, and fix the things that need to be fixed,” he said. “We have 15 weeks left.”
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton OL/DL Markevius Woods believe that some of the mental mistakes the Pioneers made can be corrected.
“We just have to learn how to carry on the first half effort throughout the game,” said Woods. “We have the athletes in this room to be just as competitive or more competitive than anybody in this league. We just have to put it together as a team. We will get better.”
Team effort
The Pioneers first interception of their existence came early in the first quarter, and it was definitely a team effort.
Greensboro quarterback Chris Weibel’s pass was originally deflected by one of the Pioneers linebackers. The ball then sailed over towards the sideline before being tipped up again by Pioneers’ DS Darius Ellison. After being tipped by Ellison, the ball twirled back towards the line of scrimmage before being picked off by OL/DL Markevius Woods.
Or was it?
The arena’s scoreboard and public address announcer gave credit to Woods for making the grab, but afterwards, Woods gave the credit to OS Opio Gary for making the pick. Woods tells his version of what happened
“I was pressuring the quarterback and my hand hit the opposing lineman’s shoulder. It [the ball] tipped up to me, and Opio caught it,” said Woods. “If they credited it with me, that’s fine, but I just wanted to make a play on the ball.”
However, Gary, when told that the initial credit for the pick was given to Woods, showed a look of surprise on his face.
“We have to talk about that,” joked Gary. “I worked hard for that interception.”
However, there is one question that might come to mind about this interception: why was Gary, who is an offensive specialist, playing defense?
“I just wanted to hit somebody,” explained Gary with a smile on his face. “I played defense in high school, but nobody ever thought that I liked to tackle. I love to hit. And here, the fans like it, so I get a charge off of it.”
The verdict is in
After only the first game of the season, Pioneers’ fans have already made an impression on the team.
OS Opio Gary expressed his thanks to the fans and what he and the team hopes to do in return for the fans.
“It feels so good just to come out here and see how much the fans care about this football team,” Gary said. “They gave us so much love and what we want to do now is return it back to them.”
The fans have also won the heart of quarterback John Knust.
“Coming out here before the game I was ear-to-ear grin,” Knust said. “It was just a blast. I had a great time tonight. This is the most amazing place I’ve ever played.”
Michael Balakier first discovered a knack for writing during his senior year in high school while reporting for his school`s newspaper. Aside from being an Arenaball fan, Michael is an avid Syracuse University athletics follower, which poses a problem for him, as he attends the University of Pittsburgh. Michael plans on using what he has learned through his Arenafan experience to remain as impartial as he can during future Syracuse/Pitt events. Michael also serves as co-Editor of the af2 section of Arenafan Online.
