Knights Scratch Out Win Over Wardogs
Keith Murphy
Saturday May 15, 2004
Knights’ quarterback Cecil Lester emerged as the offensive star of the game, completing 16 of 32 passes for 239 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for Macon’s other three touchdowns. Hold said that Lester’s performance was, “Much, Much better. He did some things this week that last week he didn’t do. One time we had a broken route on the call side and as soon as it broke he knew to come back to the wall and get it to Jamaal [Garman]. When he starts doing that all the time he’s going to be much better. I could have done a better job of putting him in better situations, sometimes. I think sometimes I made some difficult calls and a couple of times he got me out of difficult calls by making some unbelievable plays. If nothing else, now everyone is going to believe that Cecil Lester can do it.”
Lester chalked up his improvement to hard work and his offensive line. “I think I’ve improved a lot. We weren’t on track but last week we had a great week of practice and I worked my tail off. But I have to give credit to my O-line and the guys around me. They made it happen. All I had to do was throw the ball and make a couple of plays and that’s what I did.”
Knights’ TE/DE, Andre Slappey, said that Lester did an excellent job. “As any good quarterback knows, you can’t bite the hand that feeds you so he has to give his linemen props. I really appreciate that. It’s the sign of a leader.”
Against the Wardogs, the Knights displayed a hard-hitting aggressive style that had been lacking in their four losses. Lester said that the Knights entered the game with a bit of a chip on their shoulder. “We wanted to show that we are a much better team than we’ve shown. The Columbus guys, over the tv, they’ve been talking a lot of smack and that got up under a lot of the guys’ skin. So, we just wanted to make a statement.” Knights’ DE/TE, Jason Lemay, chalked up the higher level of intensity to the team’s desire to salvage the season. “We knew that we just had to win. There’s no losing.”
With the win, the Knights go to 2 and 4. They travel to Albany next weekend to take on the Conquest. Columbus falls to 1 and 5.
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
