Lions' second-half attack rips Force defense

[lionsroar]

www.ledger-enquirer.com/293/story/707594.html

Lions' second-half attack rips Force defense

Columbus Lions rookie Kevin Huff started to look like an old pro in only his second start.

The quarterback connected with receiver Joel Babb for three touchdowns, hit Gerald Gales for two more and finished with 155 yards in the Lions’ 54-33 victory over the South Carolina Force.

“I was just putting the ball up there and letting Joel make plays,” Huff said. “He made some good ones, especially his first touchdown. I just have a good corps of receivers and they were just making plays. I was just putting the ball up there.”

The Lions (6-2) were without leading receiver Troy Bergeron, who was nursing an tweaked hamstring in hopes of signing another mini-camp deal with the Atlanta Falcons next week. Babb started in his place and never missed a beat. He finished with 57 yards on six catches and three touchdowns.

As sharp as the Lions’ passing game was, it was fullback Richard Fitzhugh who put Columbus on the board first with a 3-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter. Carlos Martinez followed it up with the first of his seven point-after kicks.

Babb scored about two minutes into the second quarter on a 9-yard pass from Huff and Martinez’ uno made it 15-0.

South Carolina (3-4) made it a 15-14 game at halftime, however, after scoring on a 2-yard run from quarterback Andrew Webb and a 5-yard catch by Kelvin Sessoms.

Babb scored on an 8-yard catch and Martinez completed another 8-point play with an uno in the opening minutes of the third quarter, and the Lions went ahead 31-14 on a 2-yard run from Tirone Morris and another Martinez uno just three minutes later.

The Force’s Roy Ravenell scored the first of his two touchdowns on a 4-yard run on the next possession, but a missed point-after attempt kept the Lions ahead 31-20.

Columbus ended the third quarter ahead 38-20 on a 7-yard pass from Huff to Gales, who finished with a team-high 88 yards on five catches.

Ravenell scored on another short run less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, and the Force’s final score came with just more than a minute to play when Webb found Corey McKinney for a 14-yard score.

Babb’s third score came on an 18-yard catch with just more than 10 minutes left in the game and Huff found Gales with an 8-yard pass in the final period. Martinez followed up the Gales’ second score with his fourth uno.

The Lions defense targeted Webb from the Force’s first possession, forcing him out of the pocket and into bad passes. Columbus had five interceptions to show for it — two by Damian Daniels and one each by Ramone Nickerson and Chris Goffer.

“We just had a real good week of practice, and so we played hard on defense,” Nickerson said. “We had a long week and worked on a lot of things to get better and better, and just kept the pressure up.”

Lions backup quarterback Todd Spitzer, who signed with the team Monday, played sparingly, completing one of his three passes, fumbling three snaps and tossing one interception. He finished with 14 yards.

“I liked what I saw, but he just couldn’t get a snap,” Lions coach Jason Gibson said. “That one pass he got off, I liked it. We’ll work on that.”

Columbus quarterback Bill Ashburn did not dress for the game. Gibson had no comment on the quarterback’s status.

at Civic Center

South Carolina 0 14 6 13—33

Columbus 7 8 23 16—54

First Quarter

C - Richard Fitzhugh 3 run (Carlos Martinez kick), 3:44

Second Quarter

C - Joel Babb 9 pass from Kevin Huff (Martinez kick), 12:30

C - Martinez uno, 12:30

S - Andrew Webb 2 run (Jad Dean kick), 5:09

S - Kelvin Sessoms 4 pass from Webb (Dean kick), :11

Third Quarter

C - Babb 8 pass from Huff (Martinez kick), 12:25

C - Tirone Morris 2 run (Martinez kick), 9:25

C - Martinez uno, 9:25

S - Roy Ravenell 4 run (kick failed), 6:48

C - Gerald Gales 7 pass from Huff (Martinez kick), 3:49

Fourth Quarter

S - Ravenell 1 run (Dean kick), 13:14

C - Babb 17 pass from Huff (Martinez kick), 9:54

C - Martinez uno, 9:54

C - Gales 8 pass from Huff (Martinez kick), 4:39

C - Martinez uno, 4:39

S - Corey McKinney 14 pass from Webb (pass failed), 1:00

:smileylions:

[lionsroar]

Ok so Martinez had 4 Uno's on the game. This guy just doesn't slow down.

Joel Babb came back this week in a major way. He has been missing from the line-up and looked fresh out there last night. Mr.Babb is a big time play maker and having him back is essential for the Lions quest for a championship this year


Huff did look very impressive throwing last night. The guy plays with a lot of energy and thats what you need in a leader. Spitzer seems to have a very nice arm. hopefully with a few more reps he can be game ready. For now it seems as if Huff has put in the time, effort, and patience to be the starter in "C" Town.

[Greg B.]

So, is Huff the full-time starter now? Ashburn has had his moments, but it seems like Huff has been more consistant, and should earn the starting role with this win.

[Greg B.]

Another note on the game. I wasn't able to make the trip down to C'bus this week. I was dissapointed to find they don't play the games on-line for home games. Is that some sort of "black-out" set up to improve attendence? There are fans like us that can't make every game even if we wanted to.

[lionsroar]

Greg B they are on Twitter and used to audiocast every game. Which I wish they would start back doing. Maybe they are trying to improve attendance and i do very much appreciate the away games Matthew Hester calls but Your home game should atleast always be called in my opinion . Larry Munson didn't get famous calling Ga games from a different stadium. He did it by calling a home broadcast for fans that just couldn't get "between the hedges" to see it for themselves. It is all part of your home field advantage in my opinion.

I don't know if Huff has proven himself to be the starter for the rest of the year but I would like to see this be the case. Early on in the year Ashburn was the least inconsistant for the Lions at the position but he also never seemed to improve much. Huff seems to be able to find his down field receiver's and has been improving it seems everytime he gets a chance to play

[lionsfan]

What made last night's game exciting to me was the multitude of players making big plays on both sides of the ball. We are loaded with talent and it is good to see everyone getting a chance to contribute - in a big way.

Martinez is a machine! Those Unos really get the crowd into the game - not the mention the starting field position following the Uno.

[lionsroar]

no doubt everyone on the team was focused and zeroed in. The defensive play this year has been the best over all effort I've seen from the Lions organization. On a defense where it seemed you would mention Rivers and Daniels now includes the likes of Nickerson, Jones, Floyd, Berry and the list seems to have grown now that JP Jason perry has arrived on the scene.

.....field position will always be the biggest factor in football. If they are starting at the 5 almost every kickoff and the Lions are starting at their own 20 then I believe the odds will always ride in the LIONs favor