Knights Sack Wildcats, Take Governor’s Cup
Keith Murphy
Sunday May 7, 2006
Macon Head coach Derek Stingley says that this win, and every win, is important to his team, "A win, by itself, is important to us. A win at home, that’s more important. You know, our last big win was against South Georgia last year. So, I’ll take it anyway I can get it just to get us moving in the right direction."
He also says the addition of the Governor’s Cup makes the win even more important: "It’s always great to do something extra to get the fans involved. Not only will the fans be involved here; but in Albany, Georgia, as well and it’s just something to add on to the excitement of the game. They’re fighting for something other than just wins and losses. I think the Governor’s Cup is a good thing for both teams."
Story of the Siege
During the 2005 season, the Knights win over South Georgia in the two team’s first meeting in Albany was a pivotal victory for the team. It was a game in which the team first began to a fighting spirit, that sense of controlled-yet-righteous-fury that was to lead them, under Stingley’s guidance, to the promised land of football: the playoffs. At this season’s end, we may look back at this game through a similar lens.
This game’s story was told in the first half. During a painfully slow first quarter, in which South Georgia tried to establish, of all things in arena football, a running attack. The results of this wayward attempt were somewhat successful in that they kept the Knight’s offense off the field during the course of the first half. On the negative side, in 15 rushing attempts, they were held to negative 15 yards net rushing on the night. Not exactly a night to keep the tapes for the highlight reel.
Despite the outcome, Stingley says he understands the Wildcat’s attempted strategy and that he was trying to do the same thing (with a bit more success, however as Macon ran 12 times for 28 net yards and three touchdowns): "It’s always good to do that in this league because you really don’t get a lot of runs in this game. I was trying to establish it [a running attack] myself; but we were just getting a lot of big plays and quick hitters. I really wanted to establish the run just as well; but, I just had to go with the flow of the game. We were doing a lot of stuff to get pressure on them and that is why they wanted to slow the game down on us. I choose to run the ball because I think that [FB] Derrick Lloyd is a great runner in this league."
Grown Men Running Backward and Evil Zebras Sighted
The Knights were also slowed by some rather philosophically interesting officiating. Although I am certain the gentlemen in question are the utmost professionals and above reproach, their pattern of calls in the first half looked as if they either hadn’t read the af2 rulebook (which I somehow doubt is true) or that they had heard voices from "on high" telling them to "keep this game close." In a very short stretch, after Macon had "jumped" to a 13 – 2 lead, the officials (actually one gentleman in particular): completely mangled a call on a South Georgia fumble that was the result of a Kentrell Blatcher sack. The fumble was mysteriously blown dead; unfortunately, it would have been returned for a Macon touchdown. Then a number of horrid penalties prolonged long ugly South Georgia drives in the first half. Some of those drives led to Wildcat points; one after a significant first down by penalty. If nothing else, by prolonging drives, they kept Macon’s offense on the shelf.
This is the second home game in a row that Macon has gotten "homered;" as Stingley explains, perhaps the league needs to follow the NFL’s lead and spend more time and money training and evaluating officiating to insure the quality of the product the af2 is providing consumers. "In my opinion, the only way this is going to get better is if we get guys who I think actually know the rules. I understand that the officials that we get come in from, where-ever and they have to learn the game in a couple of months. However a person like myself, who has been playing this game forever, I know the rules and the officials shouldn’t be spending a lot of time huddling over their. They should be able to figure it out. It is what it is. They’re not letting us, as coaches, come out to at least challenge the call just to let them know what just really happened. They’d rather figure that out on their own and seventy percent of the time, they’re wrong [with the call]. We can write in [to league officials], we can challenge and it’s still the same old thing; but, we’ve got to deal with what we’ve got. If they [the current officials] won’t do it; who else is going to do it? Someone else who doesn’t know the game as well as they do. They are human. Hopefully, the league has cut down on the crews and hopefully by the remaining crews doing more games they can see more situations and become better officials. Now, we’re not always going to get the calls we want; unless they do something silly like instant replay in arena football, which they probably won’t do because it’s too expensive. . . ."
How big of an impact did these factors have? Despite Macon’s offensive domination, the halftime score was only Macon 13 – South Georgia 2. In the second half, the official focus seemed to shift as South Georgia faced the brunt of several bad calls. I guess it does "even out;" but that doesn’t make the matter any more correct.
Despite the closeness of the score it was evident that the Wildcats were mentally "checking-out" of the game. On my walk back to the press room at half time, I over heard one South Georgia player, who looked drawn, worn, and bloodied, say to an equally exhausted teammate, "Well, we should be glad we at least got three points." That’s a bad sign for a coach or a fan because that’s a sign of a team that has surrendered the flag. Even the Wildcat math was bad as they had actually only scored two points.
In the second half, the Wildcats waved the white flag, as Macon romped to a 60 – 22 win. South Georgia attempted a weak surge early in the third quarter when LB Chris McKinney ran back a Byungwoo Yoon kickoff for a touchdown cutting the score to 30 – 16. The rally was instantly stamped out by Matt Jackson who took the ensuing kickoff from Dan Burnett 56 yards for a touchdown. South Georgia scored again, but the Knights then rolled off 23 unanswered points to close the matter.
New and Improved Defense
Macon was led by their much-improved play on defense. The Knights defensive line dominated the line of scrimmage. Macon racked up six sacks, three by DE Ed Wangler (the others were by John Harris, one and ½ for Kentrell Blatcher who shared a sack with Andre Slappey), two others were called back by *ahem* questionable penalties. In addition to the sacks, the defense tacked on six tackles behind the line of scrimmage (two and ½ by Matt Jackson), two Matt Jackson interceptions, the defense recovered two fumbles, broke up five passes, and spent most of the night getting very acquainted with the South Georgia quarterbacks.
Stingley says the defensive play was much improved and that in scouting South Georgia, the coaching staff saw a lot of opportunity: "Well, we saw a lot of things we could do against them that could probably help us to get some pressure. Coach Leindecker, my line coach, he knew exactly what to do. He was in my ear a lot tonight on what blitzes to run and we was getting a lot of pressure. But then, they started [QB] Dondrial Pinkins, he’s new to the [arena] game and he’s going to hold on to the ball a lot longer. They also brought in a new quarterback, Julian Reese, who is new to that system, new to that center and receivers, so he may also hold on to the ball a little longer. So, was it perfect timing for us to get a big win? Yes. Somewhere in the future with Reese, they may end up being a great team."
Contrast in Offensive Results
On Offense, the Knights were led by WR James Hickebotham’s ten catches for 102 yards and four touchdowns. Hickenbotham also ripped off a beautiful 13 yard touchdown run for Macon’s second score of the night. WR Jamaal Garman added seven catches for 76 yards for the Knights. QB Chad "5:30" Elliot completed 22 of 31 passes for 226 yards and four touchdowns. The offensive line deserves kudos as Elliot was not sacked all night; but as Stingley explains, the enormous kudos go to Matt "Action" Jackson whose play tonight served as a warning to all upcoming teams on the Macon schedule: "To me, this was Matt’s ‘coming out’ game for this year. It shows why they call him ‘Action Jackson.’ He was everywhere: offense, defense, and, including special teams. He told me, before the game started, that he was going to do three special things today. Then he had two interceptions and a kickoff return for a touchdown."
After praising the play of his teammates, especially WR James Hickenbotham, Matt Jackson was quietly pleased with his play on the evening. "I needed it. I told the coaches before the game that I needed to make at least three big plays and I knew we would win the game. I came away with three of them [a kickoff return for a TD and two interceptions]."
For South Georgia, WR Chris McKinney also caught 10 balls for a whopping 145 yards and the Wildcats’ only passing touchdown. Julian Reese completed 15 of 25 passes for 171 yards and a score. He was sacked three times, he fumbled once. Dondrial Pinkins started the game for South Georgia, he only completed four of ten passes, was intercepted, and was sacked three times. Sorry to say, Macon’s new and improved defense made Saturday a rough night for the Wildcats.
Next week, the Knights travel to the bastion of professional football and the home of the "frozen tundra" of NFL Films lore: Green Bay, Wisconsin, to play the 2 – 4 Blizzard. Green Bay was blown out Saturday night, at home, by Wilkes-Barre-Scranton 42 -27. Despite the Blizzard’s struggles, Stingley says this will be a tough game for his squad, "It’s going to be tough. Green Bay is always tough. I know they just lost pretty big against Wilkes-Barre; but, even though, it’s a week-to-week deal. We’re traveling and it’s a long trip for us. They have a great offensive coordinator and a great head coach, so, It’s going to be a dog-fight. If it is one of those low scoring fights like we had last year; I’ll take that with us coming out on top."
The next Macon home game is May 20th at the Coliseum when the Knights play host to the undefeated (5-0) Pioneers of Wilkes-Barre-Scranton. WBS leads the Eastern Division and has a two game margin over Albany.
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