Final Four: A Look at the Semi-Finals
Keith Murphy
Wednesday August 13, 2003
American Conference
Thursday night, the newly anointed af2 coach of the year, Kevin Guy, will lead his top-seeded Tennessee Valley Vipers (15 – 2) against Southern Division foe Macon (12-6). The Vipers and the Knights split a pair of regular season meetings, each winning at home. The Vipers fended off an upset-minded Mohegan squad to earn a berth in the semis. The Knights roll in on a four game winning streak which includes wins over second-seeded Albany and a win over Tennessee Valley.
Tennessee Valley is paced by their line play with all-af2 lineman Wes Stephens leading the charge. During the regular season, Tennessee Valley camped out at or near the top of most of the league’s offensive statistical categories. The Vipers were 3rd in Scoring Offense, 4th in Total Offense, and 3rd in Pass Offense. With tough line play and a prolific offense, the Vipers present a problem for most of their foes (as evidenced by their 14 – 2 regular season record). If the game is a shootout, then the advantage goes to the Vipers.
Macon enters the game on what may be the hottest streak in their franchise history. During their two playoff wins, the Knights have averaged 50 points per game while holding their opponents to an average of 41. The Knights passing attack has been second to only Albany during the playoffs. With the offense finally coming together, under the leadership of quarterback Jermaine Alfred, the defense is able to take more chances and this has resulted in a defense that is producing more stops in the playoffs than they were able to generate during the regular season. If the Macon defense can find a way to continue to produce stops and generate turnovers, the advantage reverts to the Knights.
National Conference
Saturday night, the Tulsa Talons (14 - 3) will host the Arkansas Twisters (11 - 7) to determine the Conference crown and arena cup representative. It is no surprise that the Talons, second seed in the National conference, are in this game. The real surprise is the 4th-seed Arkansas Twisters who earned their berth in this game with a last second upset of Quad City.
The Talons’ three losses this season were all at the hands of playoff bound teams. Unfortunately, one of those teams was Arkansas who handed them a 16 point loss in late June. During the regular season the Talons were dead-last in total defense. However, the defense proved it was playoff caliber last week when the defense held Hawaii scoreless when it counted as the Tulsa offense scrambled back into the game and past the Islanders. If this is a relatively low scoring game, the Tulsa defense may find itself in a similar position: being asked to hold the line as the offense plays catch-up. However if quarterback Craig Strickland has a hot hand, then the advantage will be Tulsa’s.
Arkansas, with seven losses, is this round’s enigma. This team lost twice to Macon and Wichita and a single game to Tulsa, all playoff-bound teams, however they also posted losses against non-playoff teams Birmingham and San Diego. The Twister’s are a team that can play well in all facets of the game. If they can play a team evenly then their special teams, led by Lennie Johnson, may provide enough big plays to allow them to win a close game at the end. That was the formula against Quad City and, if the Twisters can hang with Tulsa, their special teams may give them the advantage.
arena cup Scenarios
The highest surviving seed will host the championship game. If Tennessee Valley beats Macon, then the championship game will be in Huntsville. If Macon wins, then the focus shifts to Tulsa. If Macon wins and Tulsa wins, the championship game will head to Oklahoma. If Macon wins and Arkansas wins, then the championship will be in beautiful downtown Macon.
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
