Post by 50yardfan on Jul 2, 2010 10:25:20 GMT -5
www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100702/FOOTBALL09/307029926/-1/SPORTS
Sports lore suggests the odds of one team defeating another three times in one season are low at best.
The Erie Storm hope those odds swing even farther their way tonight when they face Harrisburg in the teams' fourth meeting of the season.
The Storm (8-6) visit the Stampede (11-3) at 7 p.m. in the first round of the AIFA playoffs. They've lost the first three games by an average score of 50-29.
Storm coach Shawn Liotta has cause to believe this game will have a different outcome.
Liotta estimated that 14 of his players were injured in the past two games between the two teams. At times, he said, there were wide receivers in the team's lineup "who had no business playing" and another whom he wished had been available -- receiver Eugene Baker leads the team with 74 receptions for 972 yards.
Baker is scheduled to play tonight, as is quarterback Rod Rutherford, who missed the final two games of the regular season because of a work commitment as an assistant coach with the University of Pittsburgh football team.
Rutherford, who has thrown 48 touchdowns and 22 interceptions, has not been at his sharpest against the Stampede, who have intercepted him 11 times and returned four picks for touchdowns.
"We have the number one pass offense and the number one overall offense in the league, but I think we lead the nation in interceptions returned for touchdowns," Liotta said. "They're not all on Rod. I will defend him to the end."
The Storm's Rutherford makes no excuses.
"Sometimes I have to take a sack. Sometimes I have to throw the ball away," he said. "Of those 11 interceptions, probably half could have been (avoided) by throwing the ball away."
Erie's offense is No. 1 in the league at 236.6 yards per game, and Harrisburg boasts the league's second-ranked scoring offense at 54.0 points per game. If the game turns into the shootout that the statistics suggest it could become, Liotta wouldn't mind.
"We'll get in a shootout with anyone. Getting in a shootout isn't a problem, but we can also get in a slowdown kind of game," Liotta said.
If the game does indeed take on a slower, defensive pace, one person who will be smiling is Storm middle linebacker Roosevelt Benjamin. An Erie native, Benjamin said he plans to retire after this season and join the team as an assistant coach in 2011. But he does not want to make the transition from the field to the sideline without a deep playoff run, which is something he believes the Storm can accomplish.
"We're really going to hunker down. We feel we have better athletes, better coaches and better techniques," Benjamin said.
It's been two weeks since the Storm last played; they qualified for the playoffs when Baltimore beat Reading a week ago. The time off has helped the players get healthy, and that fact, Liotta hopes, will swing those odds Erie's way a bit more.
"We know if we come out and execute and do the things we're coached to do, we'll be able to win this game, without a doubt," Liotta said. "It's hard to beat somebody four times. One out of four, we'll be the ones still playing, and they'll be the ones sitting at home."
Sports lore suggests the odds of one team defeating another three times in one season are low at best.
The Erie Storm hope those odds swing even farther their way tonight when they face Harrisburg in the teams' fourth meeting of the season.
The Storm (8-6) visit the Stampede (11-3) at 7 p.m. in the first round of the AIFA playoffs. They've lost the first three games by an average score of 50-29.
Storm coach Shawn Liotta has cause to believe this game will have a different outcome.
Liotta estimated that 14 of his players were injured in the past two games between the two teams. At times, he said, there were wide receivers in the team's lineup "who had no business playing" and another whom he wished had been available -- receiver Eugene Baker leads the team with 74 receptions for 972 yards.
Baker is scheduled to play tonight, as is quarterback Rod Rutherford, who missed the final two games of the regular season because of a work commitment as an assistant coach with the University of Pittsburgh football team.
Rutherford, who has thrown 48 touchdowns and 22 interceptions, has not been at his sharpest against the Stampede, who have intercepted him 11 times and returned four picks for touchdowns.
"We have the number one pass offense and the number one overall offense in the league, but I think we lead the nation in interceptions returned for touchdowns," Liotta said. "They're not all on Rod. I will defend him to the end."
The Storm's Rutherford makes no excuses.
"Sometimes I have to take a sack. Sometimes I have to throw the ball away," he said. "Of those 11 interceptions, probably half could have been (avoided) by throwing the ball away."
Erie's offense is No. 1 in the league at 236.6 yards per game, and Harrisburg boasts the league's second-ranked scoring offense at 54.0 points per game. If the game turns into the shootout that the statistics suggest it could become, Liotta wouldn't mind.
"We'll get in a shootout with anyone. Getting in a shootout isn't a problem, but we can also get in a slowdown kind of game," Liotta said.
If the game does indeed take on a slower, defensive pace, one person who will be smiling is Storm middle linebacker Roosevelt Benjamin. An Erie native, Benjamin said he plans to retire after this season and join the team as an assistant coach in 2011. But he does not want to make the transition from the field to the sideline without a deep playoff run, which is something he believes the Storm can accomplish.
"We're really going to hunker down. We feel we have better athletes, better coaches and better techniques," Benjamin said.
It's been two weeks since the Storm last played; they qualified for the playoffs when Baltimore beat Reading a week ago. The time off has helped the players get healthy, and that fact, Liotta hopes, will swing those odds Erie's way a bit more.
"We know if we come out and execute and do the things we're coached to do, we'll be able to win this game, without a doubt," Liotta said. "It's hard to beat somebody four times. One out of four, we'll be the ones still playing, and they'll be the ones sitting at home."