Riptide Face Winless Louisville
Keith Antigiovanni
Friday May 3, 2002
Even though the season is still young San Diego must win to keep pace with the first-place Bakersfield Blitz in the Western division race. The Blitz are currently two games on the Riptide and are likely to get another win over the winless (0-4) Fresno Frenzy this week. For the Riptide it’s a bitter-sweet feeling because they had the Blitz down by 24 points in week one and seemed to be the superior team only to watch the lead evaporate and eventually lose in overtime. A win would have put San Diego in a first-place tie today. But life is full of woulda-should-coulda and the Riptide have to concentrate on winning its game from here on out.
Despite the loss last week to the Twisters the Riptide’s level of play improved significantly from the previous week, especially on the line. Last week against one of the top teams in quarterback sacks the line played much better and allowed QB Kane Claunch more time to find his receivers and with leading receiver Marty Graham out other players stepped it up and had big games including Ryan Smith, Jerry Garrett and Scot Nicholson. The pass rush was another story as it allowed the Twisters to march up-and-down the field. This week the Riptide will be without its sack-leader Ryan Cuthbert. “I expect our pass rush to improve. Were making some adjustments to clean it up, “Morris said. He will be out another 1-2 weeks.
The Riptide will get a lift this week with Graham coming back from injury. “He’ll be okay, right now he’s just resting,” Morris said. After Smith’s outstanding performance at kick-returner he can relieve Graham. Nicholson will be out for this game as well but his injury doesn’t appear to be long-term. “He has rib injury. Were going to sit him for this game but he should be back next week against Hawaii,” Morris said.
An interesting matchup will be if Louisville’s DS Delvecchio Walls can cover Graham. Walls leads the Fire in tackles and ranks in the top 10 in passes defended. Graham, of course, is in the top five in almost every major receiving and yardage category. Before his injury last week he led the af2 in all-purpose yards.
The key to the game for San Diego is the pass rush as it faces the af2’s worst-ranked team in giving up sacks. Louisville has given up 19 sacks in only 4 games. If the Riptide can contain the Fire’s offense it will allow its explosive offense on the field.
After kicker Brad Bohn was released this week the Riptide held kicking tryouts for a possible replacement. Today they will decide between the final two candidates.
“Right now the guys are upbeat and ready to go. Were due to have a breakout game and tomorrow is the time for us to do that,” Morris added.
Keith Antigiovanni is a free-lance writer in San Diego, California. He has worked for several local newspapers covering sports, government and business. Keith started writing in 1995 after graduating with a Bachelors Degree in Mass Media Communications from the University of San Diego. Aside from working as a sportswriter he has a side business of providing marketing assistance/research for small businesses and also directs,produces and hosts a regular public access television show on Time-Warner Cable named "San Diego Yesterday". Antigiovanni is also a member of the San Diego Sportswriter Association.
