Cavs Ride On

[cavfan]

Cavs ride on




By DAVID BUCK
Star-Tribune staff writer

Mississippi's speed lived up to the hype.

Wyoming's prolific offense also lived up to its hype and the Cavalry were able to overcome the Mudcats' speed on their way to a 54-26 victory over Mississippi in the American Indoor Football Association's Western Conference championship on Friday at the Casper Events Center.

"With all the hype about their speed and everything, we wanted to let them know that we are going to test them and see if it lives up to it," Wyoming quarterback Matt Strand said. "Obviously they did have a lot of speed out there, but we did a good job of mixing things up, so it kind of offset the speed issue."

The Cavalry kept the Mudcats' defense on its toes all night. Wyoming coach Dan Maciejczak said he thought Mississippi would expect the Cavs to rely on short passes, so Wyoming started the game with Strand connecting with wide receiver Dante Dudley for a 25-yard gain on the Cavs' first play. Strand and Dudley also connected for a 20-yard touchdown on the Cavs' third series.

After a few successful deep plays, Wyoming went back to short passes, mostly to wide receiver B.J. Charlton near the dasherboards to keep Mississippi guessing.

Charlton led the Cavs with eight catches for 85 yards, his longest coming on a 30-yard touchdown, and Dudley had three catches for 53 yards.

"Going into it, I knew they thought we weren't very fast, so they thought we were going to play the hitch game with them," Maciejczak said. "We came out and stretched the field right away, and were successful doing it. From there on, we kind of got them off their game plan, which was to jump on all of our hitches and stuff. So they started questioning their speed, I think. Then we started playing the hitch game, and then went back to the stretch game, then we hit the run game."

The run game was most prominent during the Cavs' second drive when running back James Jones caught two passes and rushed twice, including a 6-yard scoring scamper on a Statue of Liberty play. Jones rushed 10 times for 35 yards, including two TDs, and had 30 receiving yards.

"We did a good job, I think, of mixing up the play calling and getting everyone involved," Maciejczak said. "I just thought through the film studies we had, we had to get (Jones) more involved. He hasn't been too involved for about three games."

The mixing of plays worked to limit Mississippi's speed advantage, and now the Cavs are playing for the AIFA championship.

n HELMETLESS SPIDER: Wyoming running back James "Spiderman" Jones had a problem keeping his helmet on during the game, losing his lid at least three times. The first time was after he caught a pass, and he continued to run for extra yards, though referees whistled the play dead to protect him.

"I got a new facemask because I couldn't see with the old one, but I need to make some adjustments," Jones said. "A couple of times, those guys played physical, they knocked it off, pulled it off, and that's how it goes sometimes."

Maciejczak didn't think the helmet was the problem.

"It's his hairdo, man," Maciejczak said. "He has all those twists and he can't tie (the helmet) down tight enough, so I'm going to make him shave his head or something for next week. We'll see."

n COACH COREY: Wyoming defensive back Corey Roberson didn't dress Friday, and he wore a coaching headset instead of a helmet. Roberson played limited minutes in the Divisional playoff game with Arizona two weeks ago because of a shoulder injury, but was OK to play this week.

"It's kind of a bad deal," Maciejczak said. "You only get to suit 20 guys, and I fought with it until 2 o'clock in the morning about what to do and I decided to go with Art (Ireland) at receiver because I felt like we really needed offensive power."

n UNOS FOR ALL: The Cavs and Mudcats both had kickers with booming legs. The teams combined for four rouges or "unos," which means they knocked a kickoff through the uprights and earned a point.

Wyoming's Matt Strand had two, both in the first quarter. The two points helped offset missed two-point conversions by the Cavs. Wyoming went just 2-for-8 on conversions. The team does not dress a kicker and always goes for two. Mississippi's Trey Crum also had two unos.

The four kicks through the uprights were the most at a Cavalry home game this season.

n FAMOUS FANS: Casper native and former Major League baseball player Mike Devereaux was in attendance Friday, along with AIFA co-owners Michael Mink and John Morris and AIFA national director Jack Bowman.

Contact sports reporter David Buck at [phone] or [e-mail].

Cavs Tracker

FRIDAY: AIFA Western Conference championship, Wyoming 54, Mississippi 26

AIFA BOWL II: Wyoming at Florence (S.C.) Phantoms, Friday, 5:45 p.m.

KILLING SPEED: The Mudcats were known for their speed, but the Cavalry were able to limit it by mixing up passing plays and using running back James Jones more often.

HE SAID IT: "We did a good job, I think, of mixing up the play calling and getting everyone involved. I just thought through the film studies we had, we had to get (Jones) more involved. He hasn't been too involved for about three games." -- Wyoming coach Dan Maciejczak.