Post by The Grim Reaper on Jul 8, 2008 16:10:00 GMT -5
By Shawn Singleton
Morning News
ssingleton@florencenews.com
Published: July 6, 2008
FLORENCE — When the Florence Phantoms take the field at Florence Civic Center tonight for their first-ever playoff game against Huntington, it will be an emotional night — no matter what the result of the contest might be.
The Phantoms will take the first step to bringing an American Indoor Football Association championship to Florence against a team that knows them almost as well as they know themselves.
“We’ve destroyed the aura of mediocrity and replaced it with an aura of invincibility,” Phantoms general manager Bennie King said. “We expect to win every game we play.”
The Phantoms (10-4) split the regular-season series from the Heroes. Florence blasted Huntington 66-12 in the teams’ last meeting on April 25.
“(Huntington’s) already beaten us once this year. They’ve gotten an edge,” Florence defensive end Cory Groover said. “We have something to prove. I’m ready to play. I hope we all are.”
“Our defense has to get after (the Heroes) and do what we’ve been doing since day one,” defensive end/linebacker Leonard Moore said. “They’re just like any other opponent, and I’m trying to win a championship.”
Even though the Phantoms are rolling into postseason action riding a seven-game winning streak, it’s been a year-long process to make it to this point, and the road there was far from smooth.
From darkness into light
Based on last year’s performance, indoor football fans in the Pee Dee could not have forseen what was to happen in 2008.
The 2007 season was marred by infighting, lackluster play and massive personnel turnover. Led by two different coaches, Florence limped to a 5-9 record and watched the Lakeland Thunderbolts win the AIFA title on its home field.
Four players on the current roster know the dark days better than anyone else. Moore, Groover, offensive lineman Preston Johnson and receiver Torrey Pettigrew watched the disintegration from ground zero and hoped for a light at the end of the tunnel.
“This is the first time that everyone’s on the same page. We have a bunch of grown-ups this year,” Groover said. “We have structure on this team and we know what we’re doing.”
“The biggest difference from last year to this year is the players,” Moore said. “We had a lot of guys last year that were criticizing other players when they should have been picking each other up.
“This year’s team does everything to lift each other up. That’s why we’re 10-4.”
Johnson, along with Pettigrew, is an original Phantom who witnessed the publicized squabbles between coaches, players and management that translated to poor play on the field.
At 38, the former Seattle Seahawk is older than every other Phantom except line coach Mike Watson — who, coincidentally, is the lone coaching holdover from 2007. Johnson, who has announced his retirement from football after the season, wants to end his career with a championship ring.
“(This season) has been very special because Torrey and I were here at the team’s inception in 2006,” he said. “We’ve been through bad management, bad teams and bad ownership.
“I had planned on retiring last year. I talked to Bennie King, and he convinced me to come back and play one more season.”
Changing the culture
One phrase above all others is uttered more than any other among members of the Phantoms — changing the culture.
Change the mentality of how the team practiced, how they looked, and most importantly, how they played.
One major change was bringing in people he knew and trusted. So he brought in players and coaches from Lakeland.
“The first thing we had to do is was destroy and rebuild this team. We wanted to bring a mentality of winning and doing things the right way,” King said. “That was the first order of business, to establish credibility with the people of Florence and the surrounding areas.”
King also made a change that wasn’t so obvious to the naked eye.
“If people have paid attention this year, we changed the color scheme of the uniforms to all black. There is no purple in the uniform anymore,” he said. “These might be small things to most people, but it was part of changing the culture and perception of the team.”
Uncertain future
Prior to the start of the season, there was speculation from fans, the media and other team owners that there would be no team in Florence.
Medical problems forced Lake City native Joey Shannon to relinquish ownership of the team, and the Phantoms were floating in limbo.
AIFA president and co-owner John Morris took over control of the franchise and painstakingly took six months to find an owner for the Phantoms before awarding the team to an ownership group headed by Keith Jordan in November.
Jordan’s partner, Barbara Spigner, purchased Jordan’s share of the team in April.
“As soon as we found out that Joey Shannon had medical issues, we took over the team,” said Morris, who will be in attendance at the Civic Center tonight. “We passed over on a few people because wanted to find the right people. We spent six long months working this, and we couldn’t be happier with the results.”
Morris added Florence’s success is a major key in the overall success of the AIFA.
“Attendance is very strong around the league right now. We’ve have a great product and great talent on the field,” he said. “(The AIFA’s) main purpose is to keep these players playing, keeping them off the streets and helping them to live their dream — to play professional football.”
One final obstacle
When King was approached by Jordan to become the general manager of the team, the former Lakeland frontman was well-aware of the troubles that marred last season’s squad.
Things appeared to be going smoothly at the beginning. After all, he had the reigning AIFA coach of the year in Carlos Clayton and a great crop of talent to put on the field.
But Clayton abruptly resigned less than two weeks before the season opener, and King was faced with a major dillemma.
So he turned to an old friend in Tavares Bowens. Bowens was Lakeland’s linebackers coach last season, and he was unprepared for what he saw when he came to Florence.
“The feeling and the sentiment from the fans when I took the job was ‘here we go again.’ There was some resistance and resentment from the fans,” said Bowens, who is the team’s fourth coach in two seasons. “Anytime I step into a situation, I don’t expect to lose. When I got here, I saw the guys working out without a coach.
“They have that commitment and dedication that comes with wanting to win a championship.”
Midway through the season, King brought in his former quarterback, Aso Pogi, to serve as offensive coordinator and mentor signalcaller Omar Jacobs.
Entering tonight’s game, Jacobs has thrown for a franchise-record 3,016 yards and 56 touchdowns.
“First of all, you have to give credit to the players. These are good athletes,” Pogi said. “What I brought (to Florence) was a little structure. We go over things so much that it is second nature now.”
What a title would mean
For Pee Dee natives like Groover and Pettigrew, bringing a title to Florence is a dream come true.
“It’s been nice playing this season. I want one of those rings badly,” the South Florence product said. “It would be special to bring a championship to little old Florence.”
“It means a lot to me personally, But this title is not just for me, but for the entire county,” said Groover, a former Hannah-Pamplico standout. “People who’ve been here like me and the other guys are finally getting the recognition they deserve, and it’s great.”