Post by fwp on May 13, 2010 11:27:22 GMT -5
www.albanyherald.com/sports/headlines/93649509.html
ALBANY — There’s a pretty good chance that ailing Albany Panthers starting quarterback Cecil Lester, who has led the team to a perfect 4-0 record in its inaugural season in the Southern Indoor Football League, won’t play Saturday against the Louisiana Swashbucklers.
So it’s a good thing all the rest of his teammates are playing as good as ever.
With Lester walking around Wednesday’s practice in a protective boot to keep pressure off his sore ankle (more on that later), word spread around the Albany Civic Center that — once again — the Panthers had been honored by the SIFL with awards the league hands out every week. Following each game the Panthers have played since the season started, at least one Albany player has garnered Player of the Week honors, whether on offense, defense or special teams.
And this time they swept all three of them.
Alton Pettway, for the second time this season, was named Defensive Player of the Week; Antwontis Cutts won it for offense and kicker Juan Bongarra, for the second week in a row, was named the SIFL’s special teams star.
“(Us coaches) didn’t even know until we got to the field Wednesday,” Panthers head coach Lucious Davis said of the honors, which are usually handed out by the league office early each Tuesday, though the SIFL oddly didn’t release the winners until nearly 11 p.m. Tuesday night this week. “When we got to practice, they were already (joking) on the guys who won, especially Cutts.”
Cutts, an Americus native who once played for Americus-Sumter High School, earned his first POTW honors after playing somewhat in the shadow of two of his teammates all year before his breakout game last Saturday in a 42-26 win against the Wildcatters.
After all, it’s hard to get much press in Albany when two of Cutts’ receiving mates, John Harris and Clenton Rafe, rank on the Top 5 in the SIFL in receptions. But Cutts made a name for himself this past week with his nine receptions for 73 yards and two touchdowns.
“He’s just been great to work with, great to coach,” Davis said. “And the interesting thing about Cutts is that we didn’t pick him up until our last open tryout.”
Pettway, meanwhile, won the defensive POTW honor for the second time this season (he also won it in Week 2), thanks to his great game against Lafayette. Pettway recorded two sacks, bringing his season total to 4.5, just one shy of the league leader, which is Columbus’ Franklin Lloyd.
“Alton is just relentless on the pass rush,” Davis said. “He’s one of those guys when he gets in the box, you can look in the eyes of some of the offensive linemen and tell they can’t believe how good he is sometimes. One minute he’s in the box, the next he’s around them. I’m sure (a lot of his opponents) are like, ‘Dang — where did he come from?’ ”
Pettway is a former Albany State star who was once named the SIAC’s Defensive Player of the Year before he went on to a brief career in the NFL. Davis said he had a gut feeling about what to expect when Pettway came to the team.
“You hear this saying a lot about guys: ‘His motor never stops.’ But to actually see it when Alton plays is amazing,” Davis said. “His motor truly never stops.”
And finally there was the SIFL’s Special Teams Player of the Week Bongarra, the former ASU kicker who just finished up his final college season less than six months ago, only to now find himself playing professional football — and once again for his hometown team.
After a rough start to the Panthers’ kicking game this season, Bongarra won the job during an open tryout just two weeks ago, and has since won over the coaching staff of the Panthers. Following his debut for the club back in Week 6, Bongarra has solved Albany’s kicking woes, including another stellar performance last Saturday night which included going 4-for-6 in PAT attempts and nailing two uno’s (single points achieved by kicking the ball through the opening of the net on the kickoff).
“Juan’s a real quiet guy. He just goes out and takes care of business,” Davis said. “The first day I saw him kick, I told (assistant coach Pat Cuff), ‘That’s my guy.’ And Juan’s been booming it ever since.”
---------------------------------
INJURY UPDATE:
Davis hasn’t been shy about voicing his displeasure this season with the number of bye weeks his team has already had.
“You win one, you take a bye, win another, take a bye,” he said earlier this year. “You can’t get into a rhythm like that.”
Unfortunately for the Panthers, this was the one week they could’ve really used that bye.
When asked Wednesday about any significant injuries to his team coming into Saturday’s game against the Swashbucklers, Davis’ reply was short and to the point.
“Man,” began the coach, “we are banged up.”
The biggest injury, of course, is to Lester, who Davis said likely won’t start Saturday, instead giving way to backup Jeffrey Aaron, who has only played in mop-up time during Albany’s 78-13 romp earlier this season against the Greenville Force. Davis said Aaron, a former UAB star, has looked “fine” in practice this week and the coach feels as long as he puts Aaron in manageable situations, the Panthers shouldn’t miss a beat without Lester.
“Jeffrey’s been told he’s probably going to be the start Saturday because Cecil may not play. Right now, we’re not sure exactly what’s wrong with his ankle, but the trainers are treating it like an ankle sprain and he’s walking in a boot,” Davis said. “So is (newly signed receiver) Antwone (Savage). He jammed all five of his toes on his first reception last week.”
Savage, the former Westover and Oklahoma University star, was signed by the team just before last week’s game, but he may now miss Saturday as well.
The injury to Savage, said Davis, is as strange as he’s ever seen.
“I mean, all five of your toes? Jammed? How does that happen?” the coach half laughed. “I’ve never even heard of that. But it happened. He was in a boot (Wednesday), too., to keep pressure off his foot.”
But Lester and Savage aren’t the only ones. Wideout Rafe is still sore from his knee injury he suffered two weeks ago, while lineman Desmoine Ware and DB Demetrie McCray were all “pretty banged up,” Davis said.
------------------------
THE UNKNOWN:
There is just one team the Panthers have yet to play this season, and it’s this weekend’s opponent, the Swashbucklers.
Louisiana is a franchise in turmoil right now, having fired its head coach Shadrick McAfee last week and replacing him with defensive coordinator Michael Warren following a 2-3 start to the season. The Swashbucklers were off last week, giving them time to adjust to a new point man.
And that makes Davis nervous about Saturday.
“Well, here’s the thing: We’ve seen film of Louisiana, but we don’t have any idea how the team will change now under a new coach,” Davis said. “I don’t know anything about (Warren), or what he’ll bring in. And we won’t find out what kind of transactions the team has made in the last week until Friday. So we’re coming in kind of blind.”
ALBANY — There’s a pretty good chance that ailing Albany Panthers starting quarterback Cecil Lester, who has led the team to a perfect 4-0 record in its inaugural season in the Southern Indoor Football League, won’t play Saturday against the Louisiana Swashbucklers.
So it’s a good thing all the rest of his teammates are playing as good as ever.
With Lester walking around Wednesday’s practice in a protective boot to keep pressure off his sore ankle (more on that later), word spread around the Albany Civic Center that — once again — the Panthers had been honored by the SIFL with awards the league hands out every week. Following each game the Panthers have played since the season started, at least one Albany player has garnered Player of the Week honors, whether on offense, defense or special teams.
And this time they swept all three of them.
Alton Pettway, for the second time this season, was named Defensive Player of the Week; Antwontis Cutts won it for offense and kicker Juan Bongarra, for the second week in a row, was named the SIFL’s special teams star.
“(Us coaches) didn’t even know until we got to the field Wednesday,” Panthers head coach Lucious Davis said of the honors, which are usually handed out by the league office early each Tuesday, though the SIFL oddly didn’t release the winners until nearly 11 p.m. Tuesday night this week. “When we got to practice, they were already (joking) on the guys who won, especially Cutts.”
Cutts, an Americus native who once played for Americus-Sumter High School, earned his first POTW honors after playing somewhat in the shadow of two of his teammates all year before his breakout game last Saturday in a 42-26 win against the Wildcatters.
After all, it’s hard to get much press in Albany when two of Cutts’ receiving mates, John Harris and Clenton Rafe, rank on the Top 5 in the SIFL in receptions. But Cutts made a name for himself this past week with his nine receptions for 73 yards and two touchdowns.
“He’s just been great to work with, great to coach,” Davis said. “And the interesting thing about Cutts is that we didn’t pick him up until our last open tryout.”
Pettway, meanwhile, won the defensive POTW honor for the second time this season (he also won it in Week 2), thanks to his great game against Lafayette. Pettway recorded two sacks, bringing his season total to 4.5, just one shy of the league leader, which is Columbus’ Franklin Lloyd.
“Alton is just relentless on the pass rush,” Davis said. “He’s one of those guys when he gets in the box, you can look in the eyes of some of the offensive linemen and tell they can’t believe how good he is sometimes. One minute he’s in the box, the next he’s around them. I’m sure (a lot of his opponents) are like, ‘Dang — where did he come from?’ ”
Pettway is a former Albany State star who was once named the SIAC’s Defensive Player of the Year before he went on to a brief career in the NFL. Davis said he had a gut feeling about what to expect when Pettway came to the team.
“You hear this saying a lot about guys: ‘His motor never stops.’ But to actually see it when Alton plays is amazing,” Davis said. “His motor truly never stops.”
And finally there was the SIFL’s Special Teams Player of the Week Bongarra, the former ASU kicker who just finished up his final college season less than six months ago, only to now find himself playing professional football — and once again for his hometown team.
After a rough start to the Panthers’ kicking game this season, Bongarra won the job during an open tryout just two weeks ago, and has since won over the coaching staff of the Panthers. Following his debut for the club back in Week 6, Bongarra has solved Albany’s kicking woes, including another stellar performance last Saturday night which included going 4-for-6 in PAT attempts and nailing two uno’s (single points achieved by kicking the ball through the opening of the net on the kickoff).
“Juan’s a real quiet guy. He just goes out and takes care of business,” Davis said. “The first day I saw him kick, I told (assistant coach Pat Cuff), ‘That’s my guy.’ And Juan’s been booming it ever since.”
---------------------------------
INJURY UPDATE:
Davis hasn’t been shy about voicing his displeasure this season with the number of bye weeks his team has already had.
“You win one, you take a bye, win another, take a bye,” he said earlier this year. “You can’t get into a rhythm like that.”
Unfortunately for the Panthers, this was the one week they could’ve really used that bye.
When asked Wednesday about any significant injuries to his team coming into Saturday’s game against the Swashbucklers, Davis’ reply was short and to the point.
“Man,” began the coach, “we are banged up.”
The biggest injury, of course, is to Lester, who Davis said likely won’t start Saturday, instead giving way to backup Jeffrey Aaron, who has only played in mop-up time during Albany’s 78-13 romp earlier this season against the Greenville Force. Davis said Aaron, a former UAB star, has looked “fine” in practice this week and the coach feels as long as he puts Aaron in manageable situations, the Panthers shouldn’t miss a beat without Lester.
“Jeffrey’s been told he’s probably going to be the start Saturday because Cecil may not play. Right now, we’re not sure exactly what’s wrong with his ankle, but the trainers are treating it like an ankle sprain and he’s walking in a boot,” Davis said. “So is (newly signed receiver) Antwone (Savage). He jammed all five of his toes on his first reception last week.”
Savage, the former Westover and Oklahoma University star, was signed by the team just before last week’s game, but he may now miss Saturday as well.
The injury to Savage, said Davis, is as strange as he’s ever seen.
“I mean, all five of your toes? Jammed? How does that happen?” the coach half laughed. “I’ve never even heard of that. But it happened. He was in a boot (Wednesday), too., to keep pressure off his foot.”
But Lester and Savage aren’t the only ones. Wideout Rafe is still sore from his knee injury he suffered two weeks ago, while lineman Desmoine Ware and DB Demetrie McCray were all “pretty banged up,” Davis said.
------------------------
THE UNKNOWN:
There is just one team the Panthers have yet to play this season, and it’s this weekend’s opponent, the Swashbucklers.
Louisiana is a franchise in turmoil right now, having fired its head coach Shadrick McAfee last week and replacing him with defensive coordinator Michael Warren following a 2-3 start to the season. The Swashbucklers were off last week, giving them time to adjust to a new point man.
And that makes Davis nervous about Saturday.
“Well, here’s the thing: We’ve seen film of Louisiana, but we don’t have any idea how the team will change now under a new coach,” Davis said. “I don’t know anything about (Warren), or what he’ll bring in. And we won’t find out what kind of transactions the team has made in the last week until Friday. So we’re coming in kind of blind.”