Renewed Destroyers Defeat Soul 53-20

By Giles Kennedy

Whatever happened last week, was just that, last week.  This week's contest with the Philadelphia Soul was a huge turnaround for the Columbus Destroyers. 

The performance was a full team effort including WR/DB Jerald Brown's two interceptions and John Kaleo's 27 completions and 5 touchdown passes.  AFL veteran quarterback Tony Graziani and his Philadelphia Soul; whom simply looked battered by evening's end.

"I think they're coming together the realization they need to play better. They can play better,” Columbus head coach Doug Kay commented with a great look of relief.

Inside the locker room, little signs were left at players’ lockers before the start of the game; reading 7:05. 
Coach Kay and the coaching staff were impressing upon the players that they must play two halves of football. That was more than proven Saturday.

“We came through the gates tonight,” Columbus quarterback John Kaleo replied, with his kids beside him, “ Our line protected, we made a great effort tonight; we all came through.”

Kaleo had the sense of family, on as well as off the field; with a list of receivers; David Saunders, Thabiti Davis, Carl Bond, Henry Douglas, newcomer Marcus Knight, OSU alum B.J. Barre, Ken Jones, and Juan Porter all pitching in for the win.

The top dog of receiving was Columbus WR/LB David Saunders; contributing 7 receptions for a total of 100 yards on the night. This included a surging 19-yard touchdown pass caught in the first quarter from Kaleo and another great 19 yard catch for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

“I think this was the first time we played 60 minutes (of football),” Saunders said, “ It was a good atmosphere.”

The only down side of the evening was Destroyers FB/LB Chris Browning getting hit by Soul defenders in the third quarter.  It looked more serious than thought, Browning carted off the field. In the
fourth quarter, he was back with teammates joking and smiling on the side lines; kept out as a precautionary move.

By then, the defense was in full force. The Columbus defense caused 4 turnovers by Philly, two sacks by Ken Jones and Kelvin Kinney racking the Soul back 16-yards, and of course the two interceptions by Jerald Brown.

“It was really big to me,” Brown said about the pick offs, “I am a big part of the defense, the line I have, It’s not for me (getting the interceptions), but complimenting the line. I want to give the offense the ball as much as possible.”

Columbus totally shut down Philadelphia in the 4th quarter with 23 unanswered points by Columbus. This indeed as the team felt, the most complete effort made for a win.

12, 807 fans watched the Destroyers bring the victory with the second fewest points allowed in a game; in team history. The largest gap was on Feb. 9th, 2003 when Columbus clobbered Carolina out of existence 44-16.

Next week, the Destroyers head out to the Pepsi Center on March 25th in Denver to face the Colorado Crush. Then, it’s off to Dallas against the Desperados on April’s Fools Day. The Destroyers return to Huntington Field at Nationwide Arena to face the Orlando Predators on Sunday, April 9th at 3 p.m.

 

Photo Credit:  Dave Weissman