Published Sunday: April,27
NightHawks Put Pimps Out of Business
Saturday nights are usually profitable ones for the pimps of the world. On Saturday night in Portland though the Pimps quickly found themselves, at least offensively, out of business.
Tuscon Head Coach Nutt and Offensive Coordinator Dolhoz went into Saturday nights opener with a simple game plan. On offense they wanted to run the clock by running the ball, controlling the line of scrimmage, passing when they had to, and moving the chains keeping Portland's high powered passing game stuck on the sidelines as a mere spectator. The game plan worked perfectly with the NightHawks racking up 278 yards rushing on 57 attempts. Off season free agent signee Blah Dow led the attack with 163 yds on 32 attempts breaking a close game open in the 3rd quarter with a 2 yard touchdown run to put the NightHawks up 10-0. Dow's backup Lee Wilk out rushed the Pimps himself with 84 yards on 18 carries with Fullback Edwin Holt putting the final nail in the coffin with a 4th quarter 3 yard touchdown run. Wilk's gave some of the offense's success to the defense. "We felt we could run the ball going into the game. Our defense kept stuffing them and giving us the ball back". Tuscon Quarterback 1-true Farve-Fan gave allot of the credit to his offensive line. "They opened holes all night long. They gave us plenty of time to throw the ball too."
Defensively the game plan was simple. Stop the run and put pressure on Portland's quarterback to slow down their high powered passing game. They did that holding the Pimps to an anemic 11 yards rushing while sacking the quarterback 3 times and hurrying him twice. The NightHawks secondary did a solid job as well. Playing a tight man coverage the held Portland receivers to 144 yards receiving and more importantly to just 4.2 yards per reception. All-Pro corner D'rager came up with a crucial 2nd quarter interception stopping a potential Portland drive. "That was a big play by Roy" said NightHawk strong safety RipN Urheadoff, "We gave up some stuff underneath but never allowed them to get deep." NightHawks twin towers IB Stuffingholes and Jason Nagurski controlled the line of scrimmage all night long. Nagurski came up with two sacks with Stuffingholes came up with another. The pair racked up 7 tackles between them for a net loss of 17 yards. "We knew if we could get pressure with the interior of our line we could slow down their passing game" said Coach Nutt, "We knew from watching film that once we got him outside the pocket he wasn't the same quarterback".
If there was one negative to Saturday night peformance it was special teams where placekicker Cantphil Maleg was only 1 for 3 on field goals missing from inside 40 and inside 30 yards while making an 18 yarder. "It wasn't my best night" said Maleg, "Fortunately tonight it didn't matter but next time it might. Special teams Coach Jascol 24 didn't seem concerned, "We're confident in our kicking game. There was a pretty good wind out there tonight". Punter Frank Footman only averaged a deceiving 23.6 yards a kick on 5 punts but most were field position kicks designed to pin the Pimps inside their own twenty.
Coach Nutt seemed please with the win but knows the NightHawks will face tougher competition in the future. "We're going to celebrate this win tonight but we've got to let it go come film session tomorrow night. We face a tough Anchorage team next week and if we don't work hard this week to get better as individuals and as a team, we won't be celebrating next week".
Next week aside the NighHawks have earned a night on the town to celebrate. One things for sure, they won't have to worry about female companionship since they own the Pimps in this town.
***Stat of the Week***
Offensive Plays from Scrimmage
Tuscon 80
Portland 49
"That's a credit to both sides of the ball. That means our defense is shutting them down yet at the same time it means our offense is moving the chains and keeping their guys sitting over on the sidelines." Tuscon Head Coach Nutt on running 31 more plays than the Pimps