Macon Fends off Feisty Tomcats
Keith Murphy
Sunday May 5, 2002
“It’s always good to win,” said a deadpan Porter about the second-half slide.
Byron Douzart was more critical of his team’s play. “I guess we just got a little lax, but we’ve got to learn to finish the whole game. If we let a team stay in it long enough they’ll get enough confidence to think that they can play with us. If we ever get it in our head that we’ve got to take it all the way we’ll be all right.”
Knights’ Quarterback John Rayborn attributed the second half slide to a series of mistakes. “One mistake led to another and another and another. Pretty soon they were back in the ballgame. We’ve got to be smart enough that when we make a mistake not to let it lead to another. We ended up winning it, but I’m disappointed about our performance in a few series’. The win is great, but I’m not real happy.”
Rayborn had a good night under center, completing 20 of 27 passes for 247 yards and four touchdowns and one rushing TD. “I threw a lot better. I didn’t have to think as much. I knew the plays. I think we did well at some points. It’s just the little things that beat us down. To be a good football team we have to correct that pretty quick.”
Rayborn says that the Knights must work toward offensive consistency. ”They were a good football team but we should have scored every time we stepped on the field. We didn’t do that. For us to beat the really good teams we have to score every time we step out onto the field. We have that capability, we’re just not there yet.”
The Knights were without Gabe Amey who was on the sidelines with a groin injury. “We missed Gabe a lot,” said Porter. “It’s really difficult when you don’t know a guy’s not going to be able to play until game-time. Gabe’s a huge contributor on our team; probably one of our top two receivers. When you don’t play with one of your top guys it throws your rotation off.”
Backup quarterback Renotto Solomon picked off a Rashard Casey pass and was named the defensive player of the game. Porter says he is impressed by Solomon’s development. “I thought Renotto played a great ballgame tonight. It’s a credit to him. He’s a quarterback by trade but he wants to play football and any role that we put on him he accepts.”
Solomon chalks his success up to hustle. “It’s all physical on defense. No matter what position I play I give it one hundred and ten percent.”
Byron Douzart, who picked up seven solo tackles and caught a touchdown pass from John Rayborn, managed to make big plays when his team needed them.
“The coach is looking at me to be a leader,” Douzart said, “so when it comes time to step up you gotta just step up under the pressure.” About Douzart, Porter says, “Byron’s been steady. Byron’s gonna do what Byron does”
Offensively, the Knights were led by Jaques Rumph who caught eight passes for 115 yards and Martez Wesley who caught three of Rayborn’s touchdown tosses.
Next week the Knights travel to Augusta to battle the unbeaten Stallions for the Eastern Division lead.
Dr. Murphy has nearly 20 years of media experience ranging from radio to the Internet. He has served as webmaster for two AF2 teams and the football team at Fort Valley State University. He is a professor at FVSU and directs www.bunniwerks.org, a non-profit rabbit rescue organization. He has been commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel. Murphy is also serving as a first party editor of af2 stories for ArenaFfan. For more information about Dr. Murphy see: www.keithmurphy.info
