EVERETT – While the players took the bye week off from practice to repair themselves body and soul, the Everett Hawks coaching staff remained hard at work.
“I don’t like them losses,” Everett coach Tony Wells said, referring to the 61-42 defeat inflicted upon the Hawks by the Central Valley Coyotes at the Everett Events Center on June 24.
“The coaching staff and I are going to get it right … I can’t take those ‘L’s.’ “
Despite its 3-9 record (3-3 since Wells and assistant coaches Tony Missick and Rodney Swanigan took over on May 13) Everett remains mathematically alive for an arenafootball2 playoff berth.
Getting there would take a Herculean effort over the final four games – starting with Saturday’s Western Division clash against the Bakersfield Blitz (7-5) at the Everett Events Center.
After a disastrous 0-7 start, the Hawks seemed to have righted themselves with five consecutive solid outings – including the first three victories in the team’s brief af2 history.
Then came the meltdown against Central Valley – five turnovers, 13 penalties, along with generally uninspired performances on both sides of the ball – and the Hawks seemed to be back at square one.
What happened?
“Mental mistakes,” Wells said. “Quarterback’s missing wide open receivers, guys dropping balls.”
But, game film revealed yet another culprit.
“Our tempo,” Wells said. “You could see us just walking around, guys walking back to the huddle, lethargic, nonchalant with no sense of urgency.”
It was especially puzzling to anyone who has observed the Hawks’ high-spirited practices under the new regime. Wells, who takes to losing like a cat gravitates to water, vowed there won’t be a repeat performance.
“That won’t happen again,” Wells said. “We’re gonna be enthusiastic, flying around and having fun.”
Enthusiasm, in particular, should be easy to muster against Bakersfield, which is Everett’s chief obstacle in its unlikely playoff bid.
In addition to getting lots of help from several other National Conference teams, Everett must do its part and win four straight games including two against the Blitz, who boast af2’s top-ranked defense.
“Nobody’s out of it. Sure it’s a long shot,” Wells said of the Hawks’ postseason bid. “But, great stories are made by long shots.”
Noteworthy
Baker slated to start: Wells has named Brian Baker, a third-year veteran from Austin Peay, as the starting quarterback for Saturday’s game. In five games – including four starts – Baker has completed 86 of 148 passes for 986 yards, with 21 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Baker started out like a house afire in the loss to Central Valley, completing all six of his first-quarter passes for 88 yards and two touchdowns. He went cold in the second quarter when he completed 4 of 10 passes, lost a fumble and was replaced by Wes Beschorner.
“Bake’ just couldn’t hit the broad side of the barn,” Wells said. “I was gonna play Wes some anyway.”
Beschorner, a feisty rookie from the University of South Dakota, threw a 48-yard TD pass to Hassan Brockman just before the first half ended.
From there his performance was mixed (11-for-17, 176 yards) and included two interceptions.
After Baker threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to newly-acquired J.R. Thomas in the first quarter, both he and Beschorner failed to spot the wide-open Thomas on several occasions thereafter, which frustrated Wells.
“Wes did some good things, but they both missed a lot of reads,” Wells said of the pair that has quarterbacked the team to three victories, something their predecessors Julian Reese and Chris Dixon were unable to accomplish in the first six games of the season.
“Working with them in the off-season will do a lot of good,” Wells said. “Coming in at mid-season is tough.”
Shock clinch playoff berth, regain top rank: The expansion Spokane Shock (10-2) became the first team to clinch a playoff berth with its decisive 46-23 road victory over the Arkansas Twisters, who came into last weekend ranked fifth in the af2 coach’s poll.
Spokane’s triumph, coupled with the upset losses of top-ranked Florida (48-47 at home to Green Bay) and No. 2 Memphis (38-33 on the road against Macon), catapulted the Shock back into the top spot this week. Florida (9-3) slipped one place to second, followed by Oklahoma City (9-3), Memphis (9-4) and the Green Bay Blizzard (8-5).
The Blizzard, who play at Everett July 15, have won three straight games and cracked the top five for the first time this season.
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