Sports

As most of af2 rests, Wildcats hit road for rare Monday game

• South Georgia promises it’s not looking past the struggling, 0-2 Thunderbirds even though Daytona has been blown out in its first two games of the year.

Paul Dehner Jr.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.  — For the South Georgia Wildcats, reasons to overlook the Daytona Beach Thunderbirds, who they travel to play at 7 p.m. today, are obvious:

• The Thunderbirds have been outscored 116-26 through two games.
• Only four days ago, Daytona introduced new coach and director of football operations, Gary Compton.
• The Thunderbirds are an af2 expansion team and last year the Wildcats were 2-0 against expansion franchises.

Yes, the reasons are there.

But don’t expect South Georgia coach Derek Stingley to care.

“It is only one game we are focusing on,” he said. “Daytona had a lot of guys hustling, being around the ball, they just had some missed opportunities. In this game, you should never say we should beat the crap out of them. If that’s the case, you will lose.”

Losing would disturb a Wildcats team that already had nine days to stew over a frustrating defeat in the home opener against the Louisville Fire.

Mistakes marred that game as the Wildcats (1-1) committed costly penalties in the final minutes and turned the ball over three times.

So, no matter how great or terrible Daytona Beach (0-2) played to this point, it is far from the mind of this team.

Erasing the memories of the Louisville game remains all that matters.

“We are thirsty for a win,” receiver Buchie Ibeh said. “Just when you blink or turn your head, we want to come in and blow the doors off.”

The Wildcats offense has already battered the hinges through the first two games. Led by quarterback Cecil Lester, South Georgia ranks first in af2 in total offense and Lester most passing yards. Receiver P.J. Berry ranks second in average receiving yards per game.

Still, South Georgia only ranks 12th in total scoring.

That inconsistent gap can be attributed to mistakes in the red zone and on third downs.

Last week against Louisville, the Wildcats entered the red zone twice and only came away with three points.

Thus far on the season they are only 7-of-19 on third- and fourth-down conversions.

“We need to minimize mistakes,” Lester said. “The main focus is getting better. We’ve been slapped in the face. We have good players on our team, we have to get some chemistry, pull together and become one of the best teams in the league.”

Against Daytona Beach, the plan of attack will be undefined. With Compton on the sidelines for the first time this season, it is unclear what defenses or offenses the Thunderbirds will employ.

Compton served as head coach and director of football operations for the af2’s Bakersfield Blitz the past two seasons. He led the Blitz to a playoff berth in 2006 after a 9-7 regular season record.

“This is the type of game we are going into as if it is Week 1,” Stingley said. “We can only play our game, play our own rules, then react to them.”

The Wildcats will be well rested with the long week and only linebacker James Harris, who was put on injured reserve and will be eligible to return in four weeks, will be missing from the lineup.

The gap is filled, however, by the addition of former South Georgia star Joe Woolridge, who was recently released by the AFL’s Kansas City Brigade.

Woolridge led the Wildcats in sacks last year in just 12 games.

The long week last week will make for a short week this week when the team returns home to play Green Bay at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

As for how Stingley plans to deal with the short week?

He has no idea.

“I haven’t made a practice schedule or anything,” he said. “It probably will cross my mind on the way back. Will there be a day off? I don’t know, I don’t even know what time we play next week. It all depends how we come out of Daytona.”

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