Lions Look to Remain #1
May 15, 2015 - Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL)
Columbus Lions News Release
COLUMBUS, GA (May 14, 2015) - Four career meetings, four career losses. That stat is what awaits the first place Columbus Lions (5-2) of the Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) when they travel to the Music City to face off against their arch nemesis, the defending champion Nashville Venom (4-2) in a Sunday matinee at 3:00 PM ET.
In order to be the best you have to beat the best, and right now the Lions know that their current half game lead in first place means nothing until they can get this monkey off their back that is the Nashville Venom.
"Those guys are getting hot at the right time," says Lions Head Coach Jason Gibson. "They basically did the same thing last year, started off slow but by midseason hit their stride en route to a championship."
Sunday's matinee test will see how much the Lions secondary has improved since allowing a PIFL single- game high record 410 passing yards by Venom QB Charles McCullum including 220 along going to WR Jordan Jolly. In the previous four matchups, Jolly has owned the Lions going over the 200-yard plateau in half those meetings reaching the end-zone eight times.
In back-to-back meetings against Lehigh Valley, the Columbus secondary vastly improved holding the Hawks under 300 yards of total offense in both meetings. It marked the first time the Lions had done so in back-to-back games.
Coming off a bye week, the Venom have won three straight beginning with that Week 5 come from behind win over Columbus in which Nashville K Christian Reed nailed an 18-yard game-winning field goal as time expired. After this week they will have another bye before closing out the year with a split home and away schedule.
Last week, for the first time in three outings Lions QB Casey Kacz did not throw three or more interceptions in a game. In their Week 5 meeting, Kacz had three interceptions as well as two fumble including one as he was just about to cross the goal line for a would be touchdown while managing to complete 17 of 31 passes for 236 yards and five TD's.
In their first two road games Columbus combined to turn the ball over three times, both games ended in a Lions W. Their last road game back in Week 7 in Lehigh ended with three turnovers and a loss.
"When playing on the road it's all about protecting the ball," continues Gibson. "If we can play mistake free football we should be in it in the end with a chance to win the game."
Catch all of Sunday's action by logging onto www.columbuslions.net and clicking on the Listen Live icon. Kickoff will be around 3:00 PM ET.
Following Sunday's contest the Lions will close out the year with two of their remaining three games at home, including the regular season home finale on June 13th featuring guest speaker and former University of Georgia Head Coach Vince Dooley.
To find out how you can purchase your tickets to both dinner and game, contact the Lions front office at 706-322-3336.
Professional Indoor Football League Stories from May 15, 2015
- Nashville Venom Battles Columbus Lions Sunday - Nashville Venom
- Lions Look to Remain #1 - Columbus Lions
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