Pre-Game Thoughts: Week 3, Big News

Surprising news this week; Andy Hall, who started Tennessee Valley's first two games of the season, asked to be traded after Brent Dearmon was named the starter on Tuesday. The Vipers complied and shipped him to the Austin Wranglers for future considerations and signed quarterback Kevin Eakin, who played his college ball at Fordham University.

"It's part of the business," Cokinos said when asked about trading Hall after just two games. "We expected better. We originally signed Brent to be our No. 1 guy so we felt like had two No. 1 guys to start. Brent showed he is capable of leading this football team by the way he played against Green Bay."

This will greatly affect the Vipers season; hopefully for the better.

The Florida Firecats are starting off hot yet again this season delivering a 56-14 beating of the Texas Copperheads last week. Florida, who has traditionally been a good team, is still on a roll after last season and will prove to be tough competition for the Vipers.

The Vipers dropped a close contest this past Saturday night, 37-35, to the visiting Green Bay Blizzard, and are now 0-2 on the young season. Vipers Head Coach Dean Cokinos expects things to turn around though, "We are going to re-evaluate some positions, and make sure the right guys are in the right spots." Cokinos also added that the team had a good practice Monday night and that the team is much better than their 0-2 start, "We've lost two close games, and were in a position to win both, we just have to learn to win those close games."

Prediction: Florida 50 - Tenn. Valley 42

The first road game, as well as this weeks distractions will prove to be too much for the Vipers to overcome I fear.

Last Week: 0-1
Season Total: 0-2

Yet another heartbreaker

The Vipers lost another close one, 37-35. This time they had to rally just to make it a ball game. Andy Hall had a very bad game, quite honestly. I was somewhat surprised at his poor performance. I guess some people have what it takes to make things happen in the Arena and others don't. Hall was just 11-of-29 for 92 yards with one touchdown and one interception before he was lifted early in the fourth quarter. His replacement, Brent Dearmon was 6-of-13 for 97 yards and three touchdowns. His play elevated the Vipers right back into contention for the win. In fact, it came down to the final play for the second straight week. This time ending with a Nick Hayes missed 52-yard field goal as time expired. It was a little out of Hayes' range so he doesn't deserve to shoulder any of the loss, in my opinion. Sadly it's Hall who really stunk the place up this past Saturday night.

Pre-Game Thoughts: Week 2

This week the Vipers face the Blizzard of Green Bay. Green Bay is coming off of a 64-48 loss in which they had numerous turnovers. While not an easy game for the Vipers, it should prove to be much less difficult than the South Georgia game. The feeling in Green Bay is a depressed one due to their first loss in the Resch Center in almost two years. The talent is their according to WR Scott Burnoski. And the talent may very well be there, but hopefully the downtrodden state after the last game will carry over into Huntsville.

As for the Vipers they will be playing without star WR/DB/KR Travis Blanchard. He injured his left ankle early in the second quarter and never returned (he remained dressed out on the bench for the remainder of the game). Someone, it is unknown as to who, fell onto it Saturday causing him to lose the ability to make cuts on it. "I can't do too much cutting off of it, but I can run straight ahead" he said.

Blanchard was the one to put the Vipers on the board with a dazzling 57 yard missed field goal return less than three minutes into the game. Afterward he scored on a 3 yard run. In the return game he was missed but Gary Elliot filled in nicely. The secondary took the biggest hit with Blanchard's absence, allowing 375 yards and 7 TDs to be thrown on them.

On a more positive note, Andy Hall had a nice outing aside from tossing two interceptions (one with 54 seconds left). Coach Cokinos was quoted as saying "You probably don't want to force one there, but he's a competitor. He was trying to make a play, but we always preach if it's not there don't make a bad play worse. I'm sure he'd like to have that one back. Andy played well. Like all of us, he can improve some things. He made some big throws with the game on the line. The touchdown pass to Elliott was a big-time throw (with 22 seconds left giving the Vipers their lead back). Other than the two interceptions, he played a good game."

Prediction:

Vipers 48, Blizzard 42

Last Week: 0-1
Season Total: 0-1

Post-game review

The Vipers fought hard and have shown a vast improvement so far this season. Unfortunately that wasn't enough for them to beat South Georgia as the Wildcats scored on the final play to win 59-55.
While doing my best to remain unbiased, I feel the call should have been given to the home team. It appeared Cecil Lester was pinned against the wall right before he crossed the goal line but the referees, due to an obstructed view, awarded the TD to the Wildcats. I can't, given the circumstances, blame him for the call although I didn't, and still don't, agree it was the right one.

"We had an opportunity to win the game and we let it slip away," Cokinos said. "We didn't take care of the ball. We turned it over twice down the stretch. Regardless of what happened on the last play, we didn't take care of the things we needed to take care of to win the game."

The heart-breaking loss is a hard one to stomach but I'm sure the Vipers will bounce back next week against the slumping Green Bay Blizzard.

Pre-Game Thoughts

The Vipers face a vicious South Georgia Wildcats tonight to kick off the 2008 af2 season. South Georgia went 10-6 last season and 1-1 in the post season. It was the best season they have ever had. The Wildcats won both games against the Vipers but Travis Blanchard promises things will be different this season.

"We're focused on us," Coach Cokinos said. "We're trying to take care of ourselves and worry about what we're doing. We've got a lot of talented football players. Every guy on our 22-man roster can start. Now we've got to see how they play."

"We've already taken giant steps to change the culture around here," Cokinos said. "Now, we've got to have success on the field. We hope we can have a winning season and get to where they were before."

My prediction is Vipers 54, Wildcats 43. This looks to be an exciting game. There will be a post-game wrap-up tonight around midnight.

Vipers 2008 Roster

No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	College	Exp.
1	Demetrius Derico	WR/DB	5-10	190	Alabama State	R
2	Agim Shabaj	WR	5-10	185	Michigan State	R
3	Desmond Foster	WR/DB	5-9	190	Alabama State	R
4	Richard Gayle	DB	6-2	218	Tennessee State	R
5	Troy Graham	DB	6-2	212	N.C. State	1
7	Travis Blanchard	WR/DB	5-11	182	Ole Miss	2
8	Pedro Holiday	WR/DB	6-2	182	Middle Tennessee State	R
9	Eric Scott	OL/DL	6-2	285	Southern Miss.	1
11	Ray Myles	FB/LB	6-0	255	UAB	R
12	Andy Hall	QB	6-3	228	Delaware	R
14	Brent Dearman	QB	6-1	210	Bethel	R
16	Nick Hayes	K	6-0	215	UAB	1
19	Gary Elliott	WR/DB	5-9	170	Midwestern State	1
21	Jasper Faulk	DB	5-11	190	Southern Miss	R
30	Tommy Harrison	FB/LB	6-0	258	Tennessee Tech	R
42	Rico Reese	OL/DL	6-2	252	Western Carolina	2
44	Lance Ancar	FB/OL	6-1	305	North Alabama	R
55	John Simmons	OL/DL	6-0	285	Delta State	R
72	Calvin Ousby	OL/DL	6-5	320	Jackson State	1
77	Willie Hall	OL	6-6	315	Middle Tennessee State	R
85	Germayle Franklin	OL/DL	6-4	328	Middle Tennessee State	R
90	Matt Webber	FB	6-1	255	Murray State	R
95	Benji McDowell	OL/DL	6-1	290	Lenoir-Rhyne	R
99	Terrance Ford	OL/DL	6-3	320	Southern Miss	R

Hall wins Vipers starting quarterback job

Andy Hall, who led Delaware to the NCAA Division I-AA national championship in 2003, spent two seasons in the National Football League with the Philadelphia Eagles. He hopes to get another shot to play in the NFL if he can put up big numbers with the Tennessee Valley Vipers.

Hall was named the starting quarterback for Saturday night when the Vipers host South Georgia at the Von Braun Center aka the Snake Pit.

"The goal was to come down here to win the job, build some film and move on," said the 27-year-old Hall. "That's the objective."

"I'm only one phone call away from the NFL. I know the reality of it because I've been there. That's how the game works. As a quarterback, you have to keep getting tape and get that experience."

Hall, who spent part of last season with the Nashville Kats, won the job over Brent Dearman, who played at Bethel College.

"Andy has a little more experience and he played in this offense last year," said Vipers coach Dean Cokinos, who coached Hall last season in Nashville. "He had the upper hand coming in. His experience and leadership pushed him to the top.

"We still think Brent is going to be a fine arena quarterback. He's going to be a starter in this league. We're fortunate to have two really good quarterbacks."

"He's a good, smart quarterback," said Gary Elliott, one of four returning players from last season's team. "He gets the ball there. He's very aware of what he's doing right now. He's a positive dude."

It should be an exciting season with a Quarterback of Hall's caliber leading the charge. He proved he nows how to lead a successful team in his time at Delaware. Getting the Vipers into the playoffs will be a great way to show the NFL scouts that he has what it takes to lead a team into the postseason.