Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
Eric Tabor
Tuesday July 24, 2007
The Alabama Steeldogs kept their playoff hopes alive Saturday night with an upset victory over the South Georgia Wildcats at the Albany Civic Center on Cooper Tire Field.
As usual the Wildcat offense ran like a well oiled machine. With South Georgia quarterback D. Bryant completing 27-of-32 passes for 315 yards and nine touchdowns. However; he was outdone by Steeldogs quarterback Mitch Tanney who completed 28-of-40 passes for 324 yards and five touchdowns, in addition to four rushing touchdowns on the ground. Recently signed South Georgia wide receiver P.J. Berry had an outstanding game replacing the injured Chavis McCollister, finishing with seven catches for 78 yards and four scores.
“I feel that (our two teams) just match up pretty well,” Wildats head coach Derek Stingley said. “(Alabama coach Ron) Selesky being an old vet in the AFL coaching ranks, by him knowing (offensive coordinator Rickey) Foggie and him knowing what I’m capable of. When you have two good arena coaches going against each other, it’s going to always come down to a good game.”
Unlike the mental mistakes and the turnovers that plagued Alabama during their six game loosing streak. The Steeldogs played error free football.
“I think we’ve got a pretty good team when we take care of the ball,” said Steeldogs quarterback Mitch Tanney. “More than anything we needed to correct the mistakes that we made the past few weeks and the biggest thing was not to turn the ball over. The past six weeks we lost the turnover battle and as a result we had six strait losses. We focused on that made sure we took care of the ball and we finally got a win.”
Even though the Cats got a defensive stop in the first half, it was negated by a controversial onside kickoff recovered by Alabama. On the attempted kickoff one of the Wildcat players tried to field the ball but was tackled by two Steeldogs before the ball got there. The onside attempt by Alabama did not sit well with Wildcat coach Stingley. He constantly talked with the officials about the kick. I asked coach Stingley about what he said to the officiating crew.
“The rule is we are suppose to get an opportunity to catch the onside kick without them (the kicking team) hitting us,” said Coach Stingley. “They (Alabama) actually blocked us and we did not have an opportunity to get the ball. I told them (the officials) I’ll go get the rulebook and show them that. We got a league wide email about that play right there. There is nothing they can do about it once they make that call. I just wanted them (the officials) to know if they (Alabama) do that again that it wasn’t right.”
The one thing South Georgia did not need was an injury on the line. The Wildcats did not dress any extra lineman (only six for the game). Courtney Young got hurt on a tackle and this caused problems late.
“I think we got a little tired at the end,” said Wildcat assistant head coach Randy Leindecker. “We dressed one less lineman than we normally do, and when Courtney Young went out with a neck injury early on in the second half, that really put us down so we had guys going both ways the entire second half and I think we got a little tired at the end.”
Let me relive the turning point of this game. With South Georgia trailing, 62-55, and just more than three minutes remaining, the Wildcats started on a drive to tie the score. Considering that both teams scored at will all night, everyone expected another touchdown.
Instead, as Bryant stepped out of the pocket he was tackled by Alabama’s Rico Reese. The ball popped out and a scramble for it carried the ball into the end zone, where the Wildcats’ Derrick Lloyd fell on it for a critical safety.
“I new eventually they would get tired,” said Steeldog defensive lineman Rico Reese. “So I kept working and gave them a move and I got there.”
Even though it was a loss, coach Stingley reiterated to me that his goal was to win the Arena Cup, not win the division. He continued by saying winning the division would be great but that is not his primary goal. Coach Stingley is a very smart man and I see where he is coming from.
After Coach Stingley’s words, I thought about a phrase my grandmother once told me “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize”, as the Cats fall 71-61.