Knights Show Promise in Last Second Loss
Keith Murphy
Saturday April 2, 2005
The first half was, to put it kindly, ugly. It was a textbook example of why the af2 should schedule preseason scrimmage games. Neither team was sharp, nor in-synch, and penalty flags flew like a late spring snow squall. Florida was flagged for 13 penalties for 66 yards; Macon was penalized 10 times for a staggering 126 yards. Macon Head Coach Mike Hold says that the lack of preseason games has an impact, "I can say that it did affect us; but, it probably affected them too. So, I’m not gonna use that as an excuse."
The first half was all Florida as the Firecats rolled up a commanding 21 to 9 lead and looked ready to blow the game open. Florida’s defense dominated the first half and pounded Macon quarterback Lionel Hayes. "We had trouble protecting in the first half and that killed us," Hold said. "I tell you what though, I’ve got a quarterback. He’s good. If we could have protected for him he could have been really good. But, again, was it bad protection as much as it was a great pass rush? They bring it and I credit them."
Hayes, who completed 20 of 34 passes for 253 yards and three scores, didn’t blame his lineman for the protection problems, "I was a little rusty. I won’t put it on my line. As a quarterback I know I’m gonna get hit. I’ve got to just stand back there and make the throws. Like I said, I hadn’t really got hit in two or three years so I was a little rusty; but, I think that by next game it’s gonna be all right."
In the second half, the Macon defense shut out Florida until only 1:23 remained in the game when Magic Benton’s 5 yard touchdown catch from Chris Wallace gave the Firecats a 27 – 26 lead. The Knights regained the lead when Hayes hit Matt Jackson with a 41 yard bomb with only 49 seconds remaining to give Macon a 32 – 27 lead. The Knights two point conversion attempt failed and left the door open for Florida. With only 7 seconds left, Magic Benton and Chris Wallace hooked up on an 11 yard scoring pass to give Florida a 35 – 32 win. Wallace ended the night completing 18 of 32 passes for 170 yards, 4 touchdowns, and one interception.
Hold’s post-game fury was not directed at his players but was reserved for the weak officiating. He singled out one official in particular, "Not two mention two horrendous calls by the back judge. Horrendous calls. Sickening. This is two years in a row that he’s sticking it to us and I’m pissed. I’m pissed. I mean how do you call face-guarding when there’s not such a rule in arena football? How do you call offensive pass interference on my guy when he’s getting pressed and he’s trying to run through him and the ball’s not even going to him? How do you do that? That’s my question. I’d like him to answer it for me and he can answer it for me."
Hold says that the Knights played a good game against a tough team and Macon fans have a lot to look forward to this season. "This is a good group of guys and we’re going to win football games. This is just one loss. This wasn’t a terrible game. It was a good football game between two good football teams. I’m proud as heck of the guys and the way they fought. We’re going to win football games, there’s no doubt about it."
Next weekend the Knights travel down I-75 to take on their new cross-state rival: the South Georgia Wildcats. Hold says that this match up has the makings of a heated rivalry, "I’m sure, being that they’re right down the road. They’re a well-coached team with Chris Siegfried. Unfortunately, they’re here watching the game and they’re going to see our film and we won’t be able to see anything on them. The bottom line is that we’ll do the same thing we did last year and they’ll do the same thing they did last year (as Cape Fear) so we’ll game plan based on that film.
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