EVERETT – Larry Little knows more than a mite bit about perfection.
His sterling National Football League career included 12 memorable seasons with the Miami Dolphins. The highlight for one of football’s all-time great offensive linemen came in 1972. That, of course, was the year Little played a pivotal role during the Dolphins 17-0 march into the NFL record books as the only undefeated team in league history.
A six-time All-Pro and five-time Pro Bowl selectee, Little retired from playing in 1980. He was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1993.
Now, as head coach of the expansion Miami Morays of the National Indoor Football League, Little will get the chance to scuttle the Everett Hawks bid to become just the second team in NIFL history to go unbeaten when the teams meet at 12:00 p.m. (PST) today at the Miami Arena.
“Please don’t put us in the same sentence with the ‘72 Dolphins,” Everett coach Dan Maciejczak said. “That was arguably the best team in history and I don’t want to get anybody mad. Especially when their coach was on that team.”
Maciejczak, a former lineman himself, has a natural affinity for those who toiled in the trenches. He relishes the chance to greet Little on the field.
“You see him on TV growing up,” Maciejczak said. “It’s neat to meet somebody like that and get the opportunity to shake his hand.”
Pleasantries aside, Maciejczak is ultimately concerned with preventing Miami (7-4) from derailing the Hawks (11-0) quest for an unbeaten regular season and the right to play at home throughout the playoffs.
“They’ve got lots of team speed,” Maciejczak said. “Hey, they’ve got guys pumping gas down there who can run the 40 in 4.2 … hopefully we have enough team speed to keep up with them.”
Everett, which clinched the Pacific Conference West Division title with its hard-fought 62-54 victory June 3 at Wyoming, faces a team that has been up and down after a promising 4-0 start.
The Morays have lost their last two games. On May 28 they fell 70-32 to Rome, a team Everett beat 64-48 on April 10. On June 4, Miami lost 39-31 to Daytona Beach, a team the Hawks have defeated twice.
One consistent bright spot for Miami has been quarterback Derrick Vickers, who with 2,113 passing yards, ranks second in the NIFL behind Everett’s Albert Higgs (2,381).
“He has great presence in the pocket,” Maciejczak said of Vickers, a rookie who enjoyed a standout collegiate career at Central Michigan University. “He can run away (from a rush) and buy time and sees the field real well.”
Vickers’ favorite target is receiver Ethenic Sands, a second-year pro who played his college ball for the Miami Hurricanes. Sands has hauled in 17 of Vickers’ 33 touchdown passes.
Defensive back Quincy Sorrell (48.5 tackles), linebacker Jimmy Williams (47 tackles) and defensive lineman Arpedge Rolle (10 of Miami’s league-leading 28 sacks) anchor a unit that allows 184.5 yards per game and ranks No. 3 in total defense. Only Odessa (176.7) and Daytona Beach (184.1) have been stingier. Everett is ranked No. 4 (193.5).
The highly-touted Morays defense has not had to contend with an offense of Everett’s caliber.
“Multi-dimensional,” is how Higgs described the unrelenting Hawks who lead the league in scoring (63 points per game) and total offense (280.8 yards per game). “We have so many weapons, if they adjust to something we hit them from a different angle.”
Miami may try man coverage to subdue Everett’s receiving corps of Cory Grow (53 receptions, 706 yards, 19 TDs) Jason Quinn (43, 496, 14), AJ Street (44, 614, 13) and rookie Hassan Brockman (11, 110, 4). Other teams employing that tactic have paid a heavy price.
“We lick our chops when we see man-on-man,” Grow said.
Roster finalized: On Friday NIFL teams submitted to the league office a final roster of 30 players (22 active, 8 inactive) who can be used for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs. If an active player is injured, they may only be replaced with someone from the inactive roster … Signed this week and included on the active roster is defensive lineman Brandon Myers, a rookie from Eastern Washington University. A second-team All-Big Sky Conference selection as a senior in 2004, the 6-foot-1, 280-pound Myers shores up a defensive front hampered recently by Reggie Hargrove’s departure for Hamilton of the Canadian Football League and John Fields’ broken ankle.
Offensive line shines: Veteran center Ed Powell along with tackles Ben Olson and Clay Harrell have emerged as one of the league’s best units. “The line dictates how your offense is going period … They’ve done a great job,” Maciejczak said, noting, in particular, the emergence of the rookie Harrell. “He works hard and just gets better every week.”
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