Home cooking not enough for Wildcats
Eric Tabor
Wednesday April 9, 2008
The atmosphere surrounding the home opener was everything the South Georgia Wildcats head coach Derik Stingley envisioned. Cooper Tire Field was packed with fans, player’s families, and supporters. Corporate sponsors had signs on the barrier that surrounds the playing surface. There was the Wildcat Marching Band. Excitement was in the air as the home portion of the 2008 season began.
Unfortunately, Stingley’s worst visions of how his team might begin the campaign played out with equal accuracy.
It was a homecoming of sorts for several players and coaches on both teams.
“It was a great game, even though the weather was bad... This has become a rivalry, you see Wildcats head coach Derik Stingley and Louisville head coach Tommy Johnson have been good friends and were roommates during their AFL football days playing for the Albany Conquest in the AFL,” Wildcat fan Edward Dyson said.
The Wildcats had more than their share of moments, but couldn't sustain the momentum the crowd provided in a 50-43 defeat at the hands of the Louisville Fire on Saturday night.
“But they're a very young team with a great coach,” said all af2 wide receiver, local high school standout, and Wildcats co-captain Antwone Savage. “We're still trying to jell right now.”
The Wildcats have built some definite strength, but the level of execution wasn't there in the game. South Georgia had several good chances early, but couldn't convert. The Louisville defense stayed tough, and Fire linebacker Tavoris Horton, from Macon, Georgia, racked up two of the four tackles on goal line stops in the Cats initial drive.
Brandon Register, a Fire defensive back from Donalsonville, Georgia, lead the Louisville defense with five tackles and one interception.
Symbolically, it was a questionable no-call by the af2 officiating crew that ended up giving the Fire the lead for good, Louisville’s defensive end Keller Speaks drifted from his spot into the flats and intercepted a Cecil Lester pass and ran for the endzone to put the nail in the coffin. (af2 rules state that the three down lineman must rush the quarterback and not drift into coverage.)
Lester finished the game 21-of-33 for 283 yards and six touchdowns.
On the final series of the contest, the Cats seemed to tie it up on a 47 yard pass to a diving PJ Berry. The play was nullified by a holding call. There was a fumble on the following snap that, after some confusion got recovered by Louisville’s Demetric Forney.
The one place South Georgia seemed all together was on defensive coverage. When the game was settled, the Cats prevented Louisville from attacking with deep throws. Pierre Lee had two interceptions and two pass breakups, Cory Bailey had nine tackles, and Ronald Cola had eight. Most of Louisville’s offensive output came from broken plays, as evident by quarterback Matt Bassuener rushing for 56 yards and four touchdowns, the Fire QB also went 25-for-37 for 254 yards and two TD passes.
“Sometimes you just have a bad game, but it's all about how you bounce back,” Antwone Salvage said. “Obviously we'll try and make up for it in our next game.”
That next chance comes on Monday, April 14, when the Wildcats take on the Daytona Beach Thunderbirds.
South Georgia’s next game at home won't be for another two weeks, but that just gives the Wildcats a chance to build up another event like this one on April 19, when the Green Bay Blizzard come to town.
Hopefully for the Wildcats, the play will live up to the billing.