Georgia Force improve to 9-5 with 63-34 win over Columbus Destroyers
Sunday June 8, 2008
COLUMBUS, OH – The Georgia Force set a franchise-high with their sixth consecutive win with a 63-34 victory over the Columbus Destroyers. The win also marks the first time in franchise history that the Force has produced back-to-back winning seasons after going 14-2 last year. Head Coach Doug Plank tallied his 42nd win of his career, which gives him the most wins by a head coach in his first four seasons on the job in AFL history. Georgia’s ninth victory of the season was spearheaded by a defense that tallied three sacks on the night and an outstanding offensive performance by Offensive Player of the Game WR Troy Bergeron. LB Will Thompson led the Force defense with two sacks, 3.5 tackles and one forced fumble on the night. Bergeron hauled in six grabs for 165 yards (27.5 avg) and tied a season-high with four touchdowns. With Bergeron’s first nine receiving yards on the night, he became only the third player in AFL history to record 1,000 receiving yards in each of his first three seasons in the league (Corey Fleming and Kevin Nickerson) QB Chris Greisen was distributing the passes to Bergeron and finished with 270 passing yards on 18 of 26 passing with seven touchdowns in the win.
Following the first quarter of action, the Force led the Destroyers 14-7. Georgia opened the contest by scoring on the opening possession of the game on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Greisen to Bergeron. Columbus responded with six-yard score from QB Matt Nagy to WR Derek Lee to tie the game at seven. The final points of the quarter came when Greisen found rookie WR Tiger Jones from six yards out to take the lead.
The scoring picked up in the second quarter as the two teams totaled five scores and the Force led the Destroyers 35-20. Georgia opened the quarter with a defensive stop and quickly capitalized on a 34-yard strike from Greisen to Bergeron. Columbus FB Herold Wells tallied two scores for the Destroyers in the quarter. Greisen would connect with WR Carl Morris and Bergeron for Georgia’s final two scores for the Force in the quarter. Georgia’s defense produced another stop after a sack by LB Will Thompson and an interception by DB JoJo Polk to stop the Columbus scoring chance at the end of the quarter. Bergeron hauled in five catches for 141 yards with three scores in the first half and Greisen completed 11 of 16 passes for 208 yards and five touchdowns.
The Force defense continued to halt the Destroyers offense in the third quarter as they recorded two stops, including a sack by Thompson that forced Nagy to fumble and NT Ernest Allen recovered the ball in the endzone for a Force score. Greisen found Jones for an eight yard score for Georgia’s only offensive score of the quarter. Georgia’s second stop came at the end of the quarter giving the Force first down and ten to begin the fourth quarter.
Georgia’s defense continued to perform well in the final quarter of action by adding another sack (DE R-Kal Truluck) and producing one defensive stop. The Force opened the quarter with a xx-yard touchdown pass from Greisen to Bergeron, marking the fourth time the duo combined on the night. Morris would add a rushing score from one-yard out to cap off Georgia’s 63-34 win.
