Taking the new show on the road
Published on February 4, 2005 under Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Georgia Force News Release
Force Head Coach Doug Plank notched his first win last week in his head coaching debut over the reigning division champion New Orleans VooDoo. While certainly no stranger to opening days in his extensive playing and coaching career, he did have his own concerns and expectations for his first time on center stage with a new team.
"Before the game, and in training camp, we were just a bunch of individuals who came together," says Coach Plank. "I was hoping that during the course of the game either through adversity or just the flow of events that a real chemistry would start to develop and that's exactly what I felt happened. We entered that game as a group of individuals and finished it like a team."
One of the bigger notables from the season opening win was the stand-out play of rookie Offensive Specialist Troy Bergeron. While Bergeron did not even enter the game until the second quarter, he quickly won the focus of quarterback Jim Kubiak and went on to lead the team in receptions with six and a total of 116 yards receiving, while leading all performers in the game with three touchdowns and 74 yards on three kick returns.
Bergeron began the game behind fellow rookie Scottie Montgomery who injured his ankle and was placed on the injured reserve Wednesday. He will get his first AFL start this Friday night.
After the VooDoo left town the developing Force found their second adversary without a moment's hesitation - a shortened week due to the inclement weather postponement of opening day. Staring down the barrel at a Friday night contest just five days later on the other side of the country gives Coach Plank another opportunity to see how his team responds under less than optimal circumstances.
"It did hurt us from the standpoint that we had one less day to prepare. We really only had two days of practice â Tuesday and Wednesday, so we had to condense what would be a three-day work week into two. That made it more difficult, and then any time you have to travel across the country there are always those travel concerns; from a lack of focus to physical preparation."
Playing a potent opponent both the Force and Coach Plank are well familiar with should help bring that focus back. In 2002 the Force traveled to Bakersfield, California, to play the Avengers in their first ever pre-season contest, winning the exhibition in overtime. The Force have also battled the Avengers in the regular season each of the three years the Force has existed holding the 2-1 margin with the road team winning all three contests. As a member of the Arizona Rattlers staff, Coach Plank prepared for L.A. twice a year as a division foe.
This year, however, the Avengers sport a slightly different image, with the off-season loss of some of its most prolific offensive weapons. Quarterback Tony Graziani, who played as a backup for the Atlanta Falcons before leaving to join L.A., enjoyed three very successful seasons, finding a home in the arena game quickly with a three-year average quarterback rating of 119.68. As possibly the most highly-courted player available in the off-season, he departed for Philadelphia in free agency last October. Offensive Specialist Chris Jackson took his 2004 125 catch, 1,803 yard, 44 touchdown season and has made a new home in Grand Rapids, while their number four receiver, WR/LB Joe Douglass, found his fortunes lied in Las Vegas.
Coach Plank, however, does not take any comfort in the pieces L.A. has lost.
"When you start analyzing the personnel that is on this team they still are a very gifted and they have a quarterback in John Kaleo who can distribute the ball. They still have receivers with the ability to stretch the defense. It's one of the characteristics of their head coach that they've been able to find players to work in this system. For example Greg Hopkins, who has been in this league for a long time and can consistently make plays. He's a relatively big kid at 6'2", 205 pounds, Kevin Ingram is also a good size at 6'1" and Jerome Riley, their offensive specialist is 6'2" so what they've been able to do over the past several years is continue to go out and find big, tall receivers that generally have a matchup advantage."
Kaleo, who turns 34 this Saturday, is an eleven year AFL veteran, two seasons removed from an ArenaBowl championship with the Tampa Bay Storm. He was acquired in a trade with the Austin Wranglers who relied on him last year for his veteran leadership to build an expansion franchise. This year, however, he is looked to as the seasoned veteran to step in and guide an already established offense.
Coach Plank has had plenty of opportunities to study Kaleo in past films, but only one game worth of film, from L.A. 's opening loss in Las Vegas, to study how Avengers Head Coach Ed Hodgkiss intends to incorporate him.
"As far as how he fits into their system, it appears, after a one game performance that they are going to continue running the offense which they implemented in Los Angeles several years ago, so I don't think we will see anything new, at least from a schematic standpoint."
Friday's contest will be broadcast on the flagship station of the Force, Sports Talk 790 The Zone (WQXI-AM 790) and will be carried on television locally in the southeast on Fox Sports Net South, beginning at 10:30pm EST.
Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from February 4, 2005
- Wal-Mart and Colorado Crush team-up to promote youth football - Colorado Crush
- Colorado Crush game notes - Colorado Crush
- AFL final injury report - AFL I
- Taking the new show on the road - Georgia Force
- Preds trounce Rattlers, 51-40 - Orlando Predators
- Predators hold off Rattlers, 51-40 - Arizona Rattlers
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