SIFL The Tuesday After: Hebert's Near-Perfect Kicking Overlooked?
Published on May 19, 2009 under Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL) News Release
In a return-happy league - nine kickoffs and missed field goals returned for touchdowns so far - it's easy to overlook the kickers. Especially when they're all but automatic.
Such is the case of Louisiana's Tommy Hebert, who went 8-8 on PATs in the Swashbucklers' 56-35 victory over the Acadiana Mudbugs Saturday to improve to 29 out of 30 for this season.
His success rate of 96.7 is the best among the four indoor leagues, but the SIFL has completed five weeks of play compared to nine or ten for the others.So it is ``kind of early'' for the comparisons, according to LA coach Darnell Lee, not just for the title of best of sport, but even for best in Swashbuckler history. The name Whitney Hillin still comes to mind when to comes to kicking in Lake Charles.
``I will say he's young and exceptional,'' Lee said of Hillin. ``When he misses a kick, he knows exactly what happened. We're giving him the pat on the head, but the returners have kind of taken over the spotlight.''
INDOOR FOOTBALL'S MOST ACCURATE PAT KICKERS
Tommy Hebert (Louisiana, SIFL) 29-30 96.7 Erik Rockhold (Erie, AIFA) 55-60 91.7 Chris Nendick (Chicago, CIFL) 73-81 90.1 Peter Chrisofilakos (Bloomington (IFL) 54-60 90.0
TURNER TURNS TO DB ROLE :
Here's another advantage of staying in shape. If you play indoor football, you get to be a defensive back instead of a linebacker.
Austin Turfcats coach Chris Duliban, making some adjustments to his line-up with a change of rules in the new SIFL, took advantage of JR Turner's off-season weight loss to move Turner into the defensive backfield. Turner's responded with 15 tackles this season, including six in Saturday's 55-27 win over Houma.
``He's made a lot of big plays,'' said Duliban, who coached Turner last season with the CenTex Barracudas of the Intense Football League, where Turner played jack linebacker. ``He has a nose for the ball and a relentless desire. And if we need another linebacker, he can fit right in.''
STATS AND STUFF:
LA has scored 50 or more in all four games and Austin in its last three; Only four other teams in the sport have reeled off three 50-point games this season: Wyoming and Utah Valley in the AIFA, River City in the IFL and Chicago in the CIFL ... Alvin Bartie's 7 TDs against Acadiana were the league's best single-game total this season ... Austin's defense has registered a shutout quarter in each of its last three games.
GAME MVPS:
Week 5 Game MVPs are as followed: Acadiana-Louisiana Offense: Alvin Bartie (L); D: Damien Huren (L); Line: Lance Fremin (L); Special Teams: Tommy Hebert (L) Houma-Austin: Offense: Deron Ellis (A); Defense: Joseph Turner, Jr. (A); Line: Tim Cook(A) Special Teams: Darrick Wallace (A)
Bartie, Herbert, Ellis and Wallace will be the selections for the VIDSWAP.com player of the week balloting that concludes Tuesday night at www.southernifl.com
Southern Indoor Football League Stories from May 19, 2009
- SIFL The Tuesday After: Hebert's Near-Perfect Kicking Overlooked? - SIFL
- 2009 Tribute to Freedom Fighters - Louisiana Swashbucklers
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
