Post by Free Agent Fan on May 13, 2007 19:08:28 GMT -5
Ex-Freeze QB rallies RiverRats to win
BY BOB JARZOMSKI
bob.jarzomski@timesnews.com [more details]
Published: May 13. 2007 6:00AM
Erie Freeze fans saw what they and their 1-11 team were missing this season in the second half of Saturday's game with the Pittsburgh RiverRats.
David Dinkins.
Shaking and baking, slippery, showboating and sublime, the former Erie star quarterback led a 32-point burst to lead the RiverRats to a 52-45 AIFA victory before 1,500 fans at the Tullio Arena.
The expansion RiverRats, the team Dinkins left the Freeze for in order to play in his hometown, improved to 6-6 and remained in playoff contention. The Freeze, frostbitten by six interceptions thrown by rookie quarterback Randall Secky, including three to former Freeze defensive back Reggie Blanchard, dropped their 10th straight game.
Dinkins, a U.S. Postal Service worker who delivered mail during the day, put his stamp on the outcome with four touchdown passes and one run for a score against a team he led to two playoff seasons.
The RiverRats trailed 31-14 to the long- since-melted Freeze after Dinkins was tackled for a safety by old pal Dave Smith on the last play of the half.
"That's the first time he got to me in three years," Dinkins said of Smith. "We practiced against each other all the time and I always would shake him. I think his head shrunk a little bit. He used to have a 15-gallon head, now he has a 10-gallon head. He got a little faster."
Smith, the Franklin football coach, got some pleasure out of sacking his old friend.
"In two years practicing against him, I never got him," Smith said. "It was fun to play against him. He's a great athlete, and a great quarterback, and he led them back. But Dink is still a good friend of mine, and he's a good guy."
Dinkins was the Dinkins of old in the second half, and the RiverRats were a new team.
Using short passes, Dinkins led an opening drive culminated by a 4-yard run by Dayon Chambers, then, after a missed field goal by Erie's J.R. Cipra, fired a 40-yard touchdown pass to Yaacov Israel. After an interception of Secky by Kellen Pruitt, Dinkins hit Marko Thomas for the go-ahead touchdown, and Dinkins did three one-handed push-ups after the play.
After Blanchard's second pick, Chambers ran 14-yards for a score and a 46-31 lead as the RiverRats added four straight two-point conversions.
"The name of our game is Showtime, and we were trying to dunk all the time, when we should have been shooting layups," Dinkins said. "We quit dunking and started doing layups."
Secky threw five touchdown passes, three to former Mercyhurst College receiver Calvin Kelly, who was playing his second pro game in place of the injured Darmel Whitfield. But Secky, pressured in the second half, was picked off four times, three by Reggie Blanchard.
"We can't expect to win when we make that many turnovers," said Freeze fullback Shea D'Ambrosio, who caught a 7-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 52-45 with 28 seconds left.
"We blew it against a fairly average team," Freeze coach Dave Arnold said.
The last interception by Blanchard came in the waning seconds after Dinkins made an inexplicable blunder by throwing an interception when he could have taken a knee to run out the clock.
"We did the same thing when we played Canton, when I was supposed to run around and I told the receivers they should not give up until they're open, because they're not going to catch me," Dinkins said.
BOB JARZOMSKI can be reached at 870-1678 or by e-mail.
BY BOB JARZOMSKI
bob.jarzomski@timesnews.com [more details]
Published: May 13. 2007 6:00AM
Erie Freeze fans saw what they and their 1-11 team were missing this season in the second half of Saturday's game with the Pittsburgh RiverRats.
David Dinkins.
Shaking and baking, slippery, showboating and sublime, the former Erie star quarterback led a 32-point burst to lead the RiverRats to a 52-45 AIFA victory before 1,500 fans at the Tullio Arena.
The expansion RiverRats, the team Dinkins left the Freeze for in order to play in his hometown, improved to 6-6 and remained in playoff contention. The Freeze, frostbitten by six interceptions thrown by rookie quarterback Randall Secky, including three to former Freeze defensive back Reggie Blanchard, dropped their 10th straight game.
Dinkins, a U.S. Postal Service worker who delivered mail during the day, put his stamp on the outcome with four touchdown passes and one run for a score against a team he led to two playoff seasons.
The RiverRats trailed 31-14 to the long- since-melted Freeze after Dinkins was tackled for a safety by old pal Dave Smith on the last play of the half.
"That's the first time he got to me in three years," Dinkins said of Smith. "We practiced against each other all the time and I always would shake him. I think his head shrunk a little bit. He used to have a 15-gallon head, now he has a 10-gallon head. He got a little faster."
Smith, the Franklin football coach, got some pleasure out of sacking his old friend.
"In two years practicing against him, I never got him," Smith said. "It was fun to play against him. He's a great athlete, and a great quarterback, and he led them back. But Dink is still a good friend of mine, and he's a good guy."
Dinkins was the Dinkins of old in the second half, and the RiverRats were a new team.
Using short passes, Dinkins led an opening drive culminated by a 4-yard run by Dayon Chambers, then, after a missed field goal by Erie's J.R. Cipra, fired a 40-yard touchdown pass to Yaacov Israel. After an interception of Secky by Kellen Pruitt, Dinkins hit Marko Thomas for the go-ahead touchdown, and Dinkins did three one-handed push-ups after the play.
After Blanchard's second pick, Chambers ran 14-yards for a score and a 46-31 lead as the RiverRats added four straight two-point conversions.
"The name of our game is Showtime, and we were trying to dunk all the time, when we should have been shooting layups," Dinkins said. "We quit dunking and started doing layups."
Secky threw five touchdown passes, three to former Mercyhurst College receiver Calvin Kelly, who was playing his second pro game in place of the injured Darmel Whitfield. But Secky, pressured in the second half, was picked off four times, three by Reggie Blanchard.
"We can't expect to win when we make that many turnovers," said Freeze fullback Shea D'Ambrosio, who caught a 7-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 52-45 with 28 seconds left.
"We blew it against a fairly average team," Freeze coach Dave Arnold said.
The last interception by Blanchard came in the waning seconds after Dinkins made an inexplicable blunder by throwing an interception when he could have taken a knee to run out the clock.
"We did the same thing when we played Canton, when I was supposed to run around and I told the receivers they should not give up until they're open, because they're not going to catch me," Dinkins said.
BOB JARZOMSKI can be reached at 870-1678 or by e-mail.