This time a win was not enough
by David Holusha
Published on May 31, 2004 under Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
New York Dragons
Quarterback Aaron Garcia's five touchdown completions, 203 total passing yards and an overall dominating team effort led the New York Dragons to a 69-54 victory over the Philadelphia Soul on Sunday at the Nassau Coliseum. However, a 9-6 record and first place finish in the division was not enough to qualify them for the post-season.
Due to the slimmest of tie-breaking margins, the Dragons were edged out for the final playoff spots by the Los Angeles Avengers, who also finished with a 9-7 record, but beat the Dragons 58-53 on May 16. Tampa Bay also finished at 9-7, but qualified due to their best win-loss percentage against the three teams. Doesn't winning a division title mean anything?
"All the tiebreakers in any other league has a division winner getting a shot at the playoffs," said an understandably disappointed Aaron Garcia. "It's one thing if you're not up there with those other teams, but the way I see it is we were tied with those other teams and we all beat each other, so at some point first in your division should come into the mix," Garica continued. "If not, we shouldn't even have divisions. Just let everybody play everybody else and just go from there."
"I'm proud of these guys, though. They fought hard and fought to the end We talked about it, all the opportunities we missed like the Orlando and LA games. We also stepped up at times and beat teams like San Jose and Tampa Bay, that are in there." "It's hard to take not getting into the playoffs, but we've got to comeback and be ready to go next year," said Garcia.
Newly activated OS Kevin Swayne earned Offensive Player of the Game honors, scoring two touchdowns and dazzling the home crowd with blazing kickoff returns. After the Dragons defense held Philadelphia on a four and out on their first possession (with Soul kicker Ken Hinsley missing the field goal attempt), Swayne electrified the crowd showing the skills he brings to the arena game. Speeding down the left side of the field, Swayne slashed all the way across to the right side, eluding defenders to ultimately deposit the ball on the 17 yard line. Kerry Taylor punched the ball in for the Dragons first score. After Philadelphia tied the game at seven, Swayne again figured in the offensive explosion, catching a 20-yard Garcia pass to put the Dragons ahead to stay.
"You can see he's a real difference," said Garcia. "It's something to look forward to going into next year"
But what about next season? Does arguably the greatest quarterback in Arena football history still have the burning desire to compete for another year? From Garica there is absolutely no doubt in his mind.
"As far as I know, (team owner) Mr. Wang and coach Shell have made a commitment to me and I've made the same commitment to them", said Garcia. "I feel bad because we came up short again and I feel that responsibility falls on the quarterback. This is something that's going to be on my mind during the offseason. I'm going to work hard and comeback and try to be better than I was this year," said the standout quarterback.
Philadelphia's Todd Hammel passed for 228 yards and six touchdowns, including three to recently acquired WR Kenneth Solomon.
Dragons veteran WR Chris Anthony caught two touchdown passes, returned an interception 38 yards for a score, as well as recovering a fumble by Swayne for a fourth touchdown.
Anthony's fumble recovery was followed by an onside kick, then a 42-yard touchdown catch by new father Chuck Wesley that put the Dragons up by a score of 35-10. New York took a 42-25 lead into the half and extended the margin to 49-25 through three quarters.
Philadelphia kept gunning away, though, and cut the margin to 49-41 and then to 55-48, with some explosive offensive plays of their own. However, the Mike Trigg coached Soul team could get no closer: Swayne caught an 11-yard touchdown on the next possession, and Jerald Brown returned an intercepted pass 30 yards for the Dragons final score.
"The team had such an amazing game today." said Dina, one of the dynamically gifted Dragons Firedancers. "They played so well and could have gone into the playoffs with such energy to conquer all," Dina continued. "The fact that the team can raise a banner as Eastern Division Champions and still not make the playoffs is very depressing."
Head coach Todd Shell was not going to make excuses, however. "We knew going into Orlando last week we had to win the game. If you control your own destiny, you have a chance to be in the playoffs," said Shell. "You get in a situation where two weeks in a row we needed to win a football game and we didn't do it. We knew coming down the stretch that as long as we won we were going to be in it. But we lost to two playoff teams during that stretch and that's why we're not in it. Until we can beat those types of teams in those situations, we're not going to be a championship caliber team. That's what we're going to be working for this offseason. To put together a group of guys who are capable of beating the good teams in this league on a consistent basis."
As disappointed as the coach sounded, he still found time to praise the efforts of many of his players.
"When you look at it, we're one game better than we were last year, but we're not in it. There was some great play today by some players. A couple of guys really stepped up. Jerald Brown is a heck of a football player. He proved that he belongs in this league and should be a starter. Chris Anthony played an unbelievable game. Chris showed me something, and I was proud of the way he came out and played, continued the head coach.
For his outstanding play, Anthony earned Ironman of the game honors. Dragons teammate Jermaine Miles was named defensive player of the game.
"We've got some young guys signed who are the nucleus of this team. We're going to go from there and build this thing to where I think it should be â a team that can compete for a championship. That's why I came here and we're going to work in this offseason to get it done."
Comments or questions about this or any of my articles here can be addressed to david.holusha@verizon.net and I will be more than happy to get back to you.
Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from May 31, 2004
- This time a win was not enough - OSC Original by David Holusha
- Avengers stumble into playoffs - OSC Original by Tim Peterson
- 2004 regular season total attendance up 25 percent - AFL I
- Soul drop season finale, 69-54 - Philadelphia Soul
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
