Post by 50yardfan on Jun 25, 2011 23:25:41 GMT -5
SIFL playoffs: Columbus Lions' rivalry with Albany Panthers will hit overdrive in tonight's
www.ledger-enquirer.com/2011/06/25/1632813/sifl-playoffs-columbus-lions-rivalry.html
Rivalries can be formed for any number of reasons -- being in geographic proximity, being in the same division, playing a number of times.
One ingredient that is almost always necessary is that there must be a competitive equality, i.e., if one team dominates a rivalry for a decade or two, the rivalry will wane, at least for the team that is doing all the winning.
All of the above reasons can be found in the Columbus Lions-Albany Panthers rivalry. Those two teams meet tonight at 7:30 at the Columbus Civic Center in a Southern Indoor Football League semifinal.
The winner advances to the SIFL championship game. Houston is hosting Louisiana in the other semifinal Monday.
The Lions (12-1) and Panthers (11-2) have played six times in the 2-year-old SIFL and have split those games. But all of those were regular-season meetings. This one has far more on the line.
“It is a good rivalry,” Lions coach Jason Gibson said. “Every time we play, there is something on the line. We are either one game up on them or they are one game up on us. That can build animosity. We’ve got a lot of respect for them,”
Albany coach Lucious Davis agreed it is a good rivalry.
“It’s just the expectations going into it, where they want to win and we want to win,” Davis told the Albany Herald this week. “It’s never been where one team is awful and the other team is good. It’s never been that way. It’s always been either our records are identical, we both are undefeated, one is going for the first loss, we are playing for the conference, we are playing for the division or something.”
Each team is responsible for the other’s only losses this season. Albany won the first of three meetings 46-26 in Albany on April 2, while Columbus won the last two, 60-56 in Albany on May 14 and 58-39 in Columbus on June 4.
Gibson said the key to the Lions winning those last two meetings was winning the turnover battle.
“We have to eliminate turnovers,” Gibson said. “No matter if you are playing PlayStation, flag football or the NFL, if you don’t turn the ball over, you have a pretty good chance of winning. We can’t let their defense score. Last two times we have beaten them, their defense has not scored. We can’t beat ourselves. We can’t give them cheap points.”
It was that last win over Albany that gave Columbus the Southern Division title and home-field advantage through the first two rounds of the SIFL playoffs.
Notes: Columbus opened the postseason with a 62-60 win over Trenton, while Albany routed Erie 68-43. … If Houston beats Louisiana on Monday night, Houston will host the Albany-Columbus winner on July 4 for the SIFL championship game. If Louisiana wins, the Columbus-Albany winner will host Louisiana. Louisiana upset Albany last year in the SIFL semifinals, then Columbus beat Louisiana in the title game.
www.ledger-enquirer.com/2011/06/25/1632813/sifl-playoffs-columbus-lions-rivalry.html
Rivalries can be formed for any number of reasons -- being in geographic proximity, being in the same division, playing a number of times.
One ingredient that is almost always necessary is that there must be a competitive equality, i.e., if one team dominates a rivalry for a decade or two, the rivalry will wane, at least for the team that is doing all the winning.
All of the above reasons can be found in the Columbus Lions-Albany Panthers rivalry. Those two teams meet tonight at 7:30 at the Columbus Civic Center in a Southern Indoor Football League semifinal.
The winner advances to the SIFL championship game. Houston is hosting Louisiana in the other semifinal Monday.
The Lions (12-1) and Panthers (11-2) have played six times in the 2-year-old SIFL and have split those games. But all of those were regular-season meetings. This one has far more on the line.
“It is a good rivalry,” Lions coach Jason Gibson said. “Every time we play, there is something on the line. We are either one game up on them or they are one game up on us. That can build animosity. We’ve got a lot of respect for them,”
Albany coach Lucious Davis agreed it is a good rivalry.
“It’s just the expectations going into it, where they want to win and we want to win,” Davis told the Albany Herald this week. “It’s never been where one team is awful and the other team is good. It’s never been that way. It’s always been either our records are identical, we both are undefeated, one is going for the first loss, we are playing for the conference, we are playing for the division or something.”
Each team is responsible for the other’s only losses this season. Albany won the first of three meetings 46-26 in Albany on April 2, while Columbus won the last two, 60-56 in Albany on May 14 and 58-39 in Columbus on June 4.
Gibson said the key to the Lions winning those last two meetings was winning the turnover battle.
“We have to eliminate turnovers,” Gibson said. “No matter if you are playing PlayStation, flag football or the NFL, if you don’t turn the ball over, you have a pretty good chance of winning. We can’t let their defense score. Last two times we have beaten them, their defense has not scored. We can’t beat ourselves. We can’t give them cheap points.”
It was that last win over Albany that gave Columbus the Southern Division title and home-field advantage through the first two rounds of the SIFL playoffs.
Notes: Columbus opened the postseason with a 62-60 win over Trenton, while Albany routed Erie 68-43. … If Houston beats Louisiana on Monday night, Houston will host the Albany-Columbus winner on July 4 for the SIFL championship game. If Louisiana wins, the Columbus-Albany winner will host Louisiana. Louisiana upset Albany last year in the SIFL semifinals, then Columbus beat Louisiana in the title game.