Whatchoo Talkin’ ‘Bout? Gooch Helps Douse Fire
Kevin Sedelmeier
Tuesday May 27, 2003
The Central Michigan product had seven catches for 120 yards and three touchdowns and was often able to slide behind a Louisville secondary, which was not having its best night of the season. While Quad City QB Tony Zimmerman didn’t look particularly sharp, all he did was run for a touchdown, throw five more, and win the game. Amazingly, for the season, he has thrown 45 touchdowns with only two interceptions. Needless to say, when a team protects the ball that way, good things will happen. And the Steelwheelers’ 6-2 record speaks to that.
The Fire, on the other hand, didn’t do a good job protecting the football. Two interceptions and a fumble proved costly again – as they often do. The Fire were also penalized eleven times. For a moment, it looked like the University of Louisville football team under John L. Smith was playing on the Freedom Hall turf. Many were offsides penalties, and while it may be unfair and simplistic to call them concentration mishaps, the Fire has been prone to such blunders recently. So, while it is fair to say that Gooch and Zimmerman had a big part in the Quad City victory, it could also be said that a solid team like that doesn’t need the extra help the Fire gave them.
Take away, the turnovers and penalties, and the Fire win this one. Not too profound but true. It’s got to make Head Coach and former star defensive back at the University of Alabama Tommy Johnson scratch his head, which might be difficult for him to do while he simultaneously shakes his head at some of the less than tight coverage his secondary played Saturday. This was a unit that started off the season – I apologize for the obvious choice of words – on fire. But lately, they haven’t looked the same. Perhaps it was injuries that he incurred in the first and forth quarters that hampered Defensive Specialist Arkee Thompson, who didn’t play at his normal level versus the Steamwheelers. Thompson hit the walls hard in both instances and appeared to be favoring his hand. To his credit, the tough back stayed in the game both times.
The game, however, wasn’t all yellow flags and gaffes. Despite – as Assistant Coach Oscar Brohm described last week’s Xplorers game “a snow ball going downhill” and getting bigger and bigger – the debacle known as the game in Memphis, the Fire came out loose and spirited. They played hard and gave a solid effort. They didn’t hang their heads, but instead looked like they had something to prove. Their goal line defense was also impressive, making a leviathan stand early in the game, shutting Quad City out on numerous attempts from the one-yard line. And perhaps the biggest bright spot was the offensive line, which gave QB Josh Rogers plenty of time to stand in the pocket and make reads. Mammoth lineman Greg Perdue said, “We protected our butts off.” He also was quick to give the credit to the coaches, noting that the line made adjustments during the game that paid off.
The Fire (3-5) face an unusual week of practice and plane travel as they prepare to head west to Hawaii to take on the Islanders. Indeed, the Quad City loss hurts in the Midwest Division standings, but the season is only half over. There is plenty of time to work on the penalties and turnovers, and if anything the Quad City game suggests is that this team still wants to play football. They bounced back from the 48-point loss to the Xplorers positively. And just as on Diff’rent Strokes when Arnold stood up to The Gooch (sometimes with Willis’ help), you can expect Tommy Johnson to face the penalty and turnover problems that are plaguing his team, address and correct them, and get ready for the second half of the season.
Smoke Signals
While Corey Kelley had seven catches for 70 yards and a touchdown, he drew the biggest response from the crowd when he committed an unnecessary roughness penalty. Late in the game, Quad City’s kicker Paul Savich had a field goal attempt blocked. Doing his best Garo Yepremian imitation, he picked up the ball and tossed it back to holder and backup QB Ronnie Gordon, who scrambled only to find Savich open on the other side of the field. Gordon fired a bullet to Savich who couldn’t hang on to it. Although the play was over, Kelley didn’t think so. Instead, he slammed the stocky kicker down to the turf in his best pro wrestling move. Savich – a smaller version of the Raiders’ Sebastian Janokowski (minus the nasty criminal habits) – had a tough time all night. He missed three of four field goals, two of five extra points, and was mercilessly summoned by the Fire fans in the lower second deck. Taunts of “Kicker Boy” were relentless. Perhaps solely because he was a Peoria Pirate just until a couple weeks ago irked these vocal fans.
There are some things you don’t expect in life: Michael Jackson acting normal; pro boxers acting modest, and The Courier-Journal running stories on the Fire in back to back papers. They had a brief preview of the game in Saturday’s edition, and a recap in Sunday’s paper. This is a start, and despite some flimsy excuses from the CJ’s sports editor as to why the Fire isn’t covered more, this is better than nothing.
There are some things you expect in life: Celine Dion to dramatically warble some bombastic number on an awards show, political ads bashing opponents, and officials to make numerous questionable calls at Louisville Fire games. And this doesn’t mean they are all against the Fire, either. A couple of Fire fumbles in Saturday’s game were not called, yet TV replays show that they should have been. If called, that would have made five Fire turnovers for the game. Inconsistency with their pass interference calls was evident. And an in-the-grasp safety no-call on Josh Rogers – while appreciated by Fire fans – was really questionable. On a positive note, officials are calling the game both ways. And to be fair, no one would say it’s an easy job. As head Coach Tommy Johnson has said, “I don’t feel like every time a flag hits the ground I have to yell and scream … I can’t make them pick it up.” He’s exactly right. Fans can only hope in the future they are thrown for the right reasons.
Kevin Sedelmeier is a native Louisvillian. A graduate of the University of Louisville with a B.A. in Communication and M.A. in English, he works as a technical writer and has written fifteen screenplays and numerous short
stories. He lives with his wife Elizabeth, son Lukas, and their dog Springsteen.