Respected and Feared
Eric Tabor
Monday August 6, 2007
It must be Christmas in August. Kids are going back to school, high school and college football teams are in camp, grass is green…
And the South Georgia Wildcats are winning playoff games.
The Wildcats kicked off their 2007 playoff season last night with a win over the Florida Firecats at Germain Arena. Quarterback D. Bryant (six touchdown passes) continued his appeal to be the af2 offensive player of the year, all under the tutelage of guru Rickie Foggie and grandmaster Derek Stingley, as the Wildcats win its first playoff game since moving to Albany.
“I think our best game is still out there,” said Wildcat General Manager Darren McPhail.
This must be what it felt like when Vince Lombardi called the shots at Lambeau Field in the 1960s. Now the torch has been passed to a new generation of champions and it is clear that in the 21st century, or at least the 2007 season, Albany, Georgia, is the site of the af2's feared frozen tundra.
The Wildcats need to win two more games to advance to their first ever Arena Cup and South Georgia's next test comes on the road in Tulsa, Oklahoma. South Georgia lost at Tulsa in the last regular season game. The 14-2 Tulsa Talons beat the Wildcats, 64-54, in that contest.
But that loss was in the regular season, a couple of football lifetimes ago, back when South Georgia was struggling to get healthy and Coach Stingley was trying to integrate new players into his system.
Florida was supposed to provide some competition. The Firecats went 11-5 in the regular season, winning one more game than the Wildcats, but South Georgia felt somewhat disrespected when most fans and writers urged the Wildcats to do whatever possible to bring a home game to Albany for the first-round contest. By beating Tulsa last week, the Wildcats could have summoned Florida or Bossier to Albany for the playoff opener, but the Wildcats went into the tank (making it look good, of course) and got the team they wanted for first-round fodder. Once again, Stingley knew what he was doing.
Florida was the pigeon he wanted.
The Firecats failed to score on their first two possessions while the Wildcats went on back-to-back 49 yards drive to take the 13-0 lead at the end of the 1st quarter.
South Georgia and Florida traded scores before kicker Scott Hode booted a 28 yard field goal with one second left on the clock to take a 30-13 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Wildcats picked up in the third quarter where the left off scoring the games next 13 points to give themselves a 43-13 advantage. Florida would battle back however to head to the forth quarter down 43-27.
Florida nearly pulled off the come from behind victory when they scored to make it 52-50 South Georgia, but the Wildcats scored the games final points with just 28 seconds to go to put the game out of reach. Florida moved the ball downfield but ran out of time.
You can be sure folks in Tulsa noticed. The Wildcats may not be favored next week, but they will be respected and feared. Bottom line Wildcats 59 Firecats 50.