Complete Dominance

Eric Tabor
Monday April 20, 2009

There really is no need for a recap for this game...It can be summed it up in two words: COMPLETE DOMINANCE!

Offense, defense, and even special teams for the South Georgia Wildcats played outstanding. This was the reason for the blowout win.  South Georgia’s defense forced six turnovers, while the Tri-City Fever team sputtered like an old jalopy. Let's put the game into perspective.

Offense: Quarterback Darnell Kennedy, although he did not have a big day and only completed eight passes in the entire game, made a couple of big touchdown runs; breaking tackle after tackle to roll in for scores.

“Kennedy played like a champ, he spread the ball around to his star receivers, Antwan Savage, Clenton Rafe, Kelvin Dickens, and Alvance Robinson, who ended up being open a lot,” said Wildcat Fan Edward Dyson. “Tight end, Andre Slappey, for the second week in a row, caught a 12 yard pass.”

“The receivers are interchangeable,” Wildcats head coach Rodney Blackshear said. “They all do what it takes to win. All of them are able to make big catches, so we try to get it into everyone's hands.”

Savage caught a two TD passes and backup QB Cecil Lester was very effective in the cleanup role.  Even lineman like Victor Mann and Andre Slappey caught a couple of big passes.  Although this game was not as balanced offensively, both the run and the pass were successful against the physical Tri-City team.

South Georgia rushed for just over 16 yards as a team, while they passed for nearly 200 yards.  Everyone expected the Wildcats to come out conservative in this game, but they did just the opposite.

Although the offense didn't have an outstanding amount of total yards, the play of the defense, and field position helped South Georgia’s offense pile on the points.

“It was one of those games where everything we called worked,” said South Georgia coach Rodney Blackshear

Defense: What more can be said about this defense, than that they played the huge Fever offense tough, and won the battle of rush and pass defense.

South Georgia put pressure on the Fever qb’s all night, and after the Wildcats went up 26-6, Tri-Cities realized that they would have to pass to stay in this game, which is exactly what Tito Hannah and company wanted. Aside from the one, long drive that Ayoob put together for a touchdown, South Georgia’s strategy of making the Fever beat them through the air worked to perfection.

The inability for Tri Cities’ line to push South Georgia’s front five around kept the Fever to a low score in this game. Tri-Cities had no confidence in their quarterback, and actually switched to a different quarterback because Joe Ayoob was playing so badly, he led the Fever to a touchdown on its opening drive and a 6-0 lead, completing his first four passes. But he connected on just one for his next eight before the change was made to Jimmy Collins. By that time the score was 26-6.

The defense, along with the offense, was able to keep the crowd out of the game with stellar performances.  Eric Turner continued his dominance as he got a couple of sacks. Linebacker Mike Lane had two forced fumbles, one that was recovered by Lavance Richmond.  The defense forcing turnovers helped the Wildcats offense on their way to putting up 84 on the scoreboard.

There is an old saying for a game like this, Jam up, Jelly tight!

Cats WIN!