Augusta to Keep Slate Clean in Macon?
Keith Murphy
Friday May 31, 2002
Right now, the undefeated Augusta Stallions are also proving that they are one of the best teams in the league as well. “Augusta’s got a good football team all the way around,” Porter explained. “Our rivalry with them is one that I think is built upon mutual respect. We’ve got a lot of respect for those guys. They’ve been good for a long time. Every year that they’ve been in the league they’ve been one of the top teams. We expect that they’ll come out and do what they always do -- which is play hard, play solid, mistake-free football. We’ll just have to go out and match their intensity and hopefully get it done this time.
Ending the Stallions’ hopes of an undefeated season and climbing closer to the division lead should be plenty of incentive for the Knights. Porter argues that his team doesn’t need any incentives to play their best week in and week out. “Our guys are looking at every game that we go into as a game that we’ve got to win. I think we’ve played some very good people and I think we’ve been tested throughout this season so we’ve just got to go out, eliminate mistakes, and play well.”
The Knights come into the game after besting a tougher than anticipated Columbus Wardog team 63 – 46 last weekend. Knights’ coach Kevin Porter holds that last week’s tough game was a good preparation for this weekend’s showdown, “It was a good game last week for us. We played the game without our leading receiver [Jaquez Rumph] and without our leading tackler on defense [Tremaine Neal]. We played the game with only three receivers so it’s good to be able to go out and not be at full strength and still win the game.”
Porter believes that last week also gave Knights’ quarterback John Rayborn the chance to build confidence in receivers other than Macon’s leading receiver Jaquez Rumph, “One really good thing that came out of our game last week was that John was able to develop a rapport with different people. Martez Wesley caught twelve balls for 152 yards. John’s developing confidence in a lot of different guys and that’s always good for us when the quarterback has a bunch of different guys he can count on to catch the football.” That diversity may be critical Friday as Rumph’s playing status will be a game time decision.
Despite having the second playoff division in the conference in a virtual headlock, Porter keeps looking to improve his roster. This week the team signed former Fort Valley State University wide out Kent Schoolfield Jr. to the practice squad. Schoolfield, a 5’ 9” 170 pounder from Jacksonville, Florida, was a Harlon Hill Award (the Division II Heisman) finalist and, last year, was named first team all Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference both as a wide receiver and as a return specialist. Porter says that, right now Schoolfield is still going through the learning phase. “The transition from playing outdoors to playing indoors is relative to the athlete. Kent is a smart player and he really just has to keep working.”
Friday night’s game against the Stallions is another “Black Friday” game for Macon. Fans are urged to wear all black to show their support for the Knights and in mourning for the opposition. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 pm at the Macon Coliseum.
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
