Sweet Revenge

Ah, how sweet it was last night when the Vipers pummeled the firecats! Call it sweet revenge for the past few years of them beating the Vipers mercilessly in Huntsville, starting fights, and pretty much giving every Vipers fan a good reason to hate them unconditionally. Well, the Vipers did everything I said they needed to finish strong and continue on their way to the Division title, the playoffs, and possibly the arenacup. Kevin Eakin a solid 14 of 20 for 124 yards, 4 touchdown passes, and 25 yards rushing with no interceptions. The running game was big with a little over 80 total yards on the night with I believe 4 touchdowns on the ground(2 for McDowell, 1 for Blanchard, and 1 for Webber). And speaking of rushing, congratulations to Travis Blanchard for now being tied for the Vipers single season rushing touchdown record at 12 on the season thus far(tied with Reggie Worthy). The defense played huge keeping Florida 0 for 5 on 4th down conversions and added a pair of sacks on the night, a fumble recovery on a kickoff, and an interception as well. Nick Hayes played well starting the scoring off with a 31 yard field goal and only botching one PAT on the night. Alonzo Nix led the receiving corp with 71 yards and 3 scores, and Michael Johnson in only his 2nd game with the Vipers since coming in to replace the injured Mo Brown and Gary "G-Force" Elliott played well on both sides of the ball contributing some tackles and a touchdown score as well. The Vipers now 10-5 will host what I predicted would be the biggest game since 2004 next week when Division rival and current leader South Georgia comes to town. If the Vipers win this they will secure the division title and a home playoff game. Let's hear it for Dean Cokinos and his more than astounding job of turning the Vipers around this year after 2 embarrassing seasons of a total combined 10 wins. Tony "the last samuri" Colston got to see a little playing time last night when the Vipers were up 58-21 and unfortunately went 0 for 4 killing his perfect attempts-completion ratio. Oh well, even the Samuri himself is prone to make a few mistakes. Bet on next week being game of the week and definitely an intense matchup for the South Division Title.
Until next time, Go Vipers!
Vipers beat South Georgia in a fairly close one next week.....

Playoff Bound

Well, we're just two games away from the strong possibility of hosting a playoff game at home for the first time since 2004 when the infamous Kevin Guy was running the show. This isn't surprising considering Dean Cokinos(present Vipers coach) was a mentor/coach to Kevin Guy back in his college days at West Alabama. It's nice to finally be a contendor again and not the joke of the af2, after so many years of dominance in the league. Strange that the Vipers, who prior to the past two seasons were one of the winningest af2 teams in franchise history, have never won an arenacup championship. Remember the days of Jerrian James, Wes Stephens, Ronnie Daniels, Andy "Playmaker" Fuller, Joe Minnuci, Travis McAlpine, Kelly Fields, Xavier Patterson, Josh Kellet, Matt Sauk, etc...? I do. Remember the seasons when the Vipers were 14-0 in the regular season? What about the years when the Vipers actually dominated the Firecats and not vice versa? Those were truly the good ol' days. Well this season seems to be a turn around back to those good times. Of course the brief snag of losing to a 2-10 team in Stockton doesn't help erase the memories of Vipers teams with very little talent and even worse coaching. But what can help erase that defeat to Stockton will be a win on the road against the struggling Firecats, and a win for the division title against the fired up South Georgia Wildcats. As long as the Vipers get past the Firecats this weekend less than two weeks from now the lucky Viper faithful may get to watch the biggest home game since the 2004 playoff game against the Firecats(when we lost on a very questionable call....jerrian james touchdown that wasn't called due to his knee being down??). I don't know about anybody else, but as a diehard longtime Viper/AF2 football fan I'm thrilled about this opportunity for our team. Some keys in the Vipers finishing the season strong and even making a very strong run in the playoffs will be Kevin Eakin playing up to his potential and not making mental mistakes. Defensive End Eric Scott playing like the madman we all know he can be(17.5 sacks, 1st in the league currently and a single season record in Vipers History....also 1 full sack away from being the all-time career sack leader in Vipers history), Nick Hayes stellar kicking game has to continue(who remembers Steven Lee and his more than poor and consistently horrible play for years with the Vipers....it's amazing to actually have a good kicker who is in the top 5 and top 10 in every kicking category in the af2 currently), Terrance Ford and Rico Reese must continue to dominate up front and at the linebacker position, the receiving corp must continue to play consistently and make big plays(hopefully Maurice Brown can come back for the end or at least the playoffs), and the running game in the red zone must continue to play big like they have just about all season. These all seem like things that any team in the af2 would need to work on and excel at, BUT...if the Vipers can do these things along with outcoaching the other teams then they can serioulsy have shot at going all the way. Well, that's it for now. Signing off. Until next time. Go Vipers!
Vipers beat Florida this weekend by at least 10.