Phantoms eyeing playoff berth

FLORENCE — For the first time in their history, the Florence Phantoms enter a game sitting alone in first place in the American Indoor Football Association’s Eastern Division.

Florence will attempt to set two more firsts when they face North Division-leading Erie tonight at the Florence Civic Center. A win over the River Rats will not only clinch the first playoff spot in team history, but also put the Phantoms in the driver’s seat for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

“I’ve never been in first place on any team in my life,” Florence linebacker and former Clemson standout Cory Groover said. “It feels much better being in first place this year. We could have been here last year if it weren’t for all the riff-raff.”

“We go into this game thinking it’s the most important game in Phantoms’ history,” Phantoms general manager Bennie King said. “You want to bring guys that want to buy into our system and get things done, and we have that here.”

In a contest that has many subplots, the matchup between Florence quarterback Omar Jacobs and River Rats signalcaller Rod Rutherford might be the most compelling.

Rutherford was on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ practice squad when Jacobs was drafted in 2005 out of Bowling Green. The Steelers regarded Jacobs so highly that they released Rutherford, a former University of Pittsburgh star.

“Obviously Rod wants to outdo Omar because he was the guy that got Rod released,” King said. “Of course, he wants to get some redemption out of it.
“This should be a great show to watch (tonight).“

Jacobs, however, is downplaying any bad blood between the two signal callers.

“That’s so far in the past,” he said. “Rod and I have talked since then, and we both know it was the business side of the game.

“What happened in the past is in the past.”

Florence’s greatest concern is containing Rutherford.

“(Rutherford) is an athlete, and you hope somebody like him makes some mistakes,” Groover said. “We’re not going to anything different. We’re going to make him work for everything he gets.”

“Everyone’s on the same page with one goal — and that’s to win a championship,” Florence coach Tavares Bowens said. “Erie’s a great team, and they’re trying to get home-field throughout the playoffs as well.”

Another angle is the matchup between the Phantoms’ receiving corps and Erie’s secondary. A.J. Bennett, Tres Moses and former Citadel standout C.J. Washington will try to outdo a unit led by Rod Butler and Javon Johnson.

Tonight’s game is the final AIFA contest for Johnson. The former Baltimore Raven is joining the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League to begin training camp.

Despite tonight’s game being touted as a battle of heavyweights, King admonishes his team not get blinded by the white-hot glare of first place.

“We built this team to be a championship team, so first place is where we’re supposed to be,” King said. “These next few weeks are championship weeks. What we’re trying to do is maintain mental focus because there’s a lot more work to do.“

Notes

Wild and crazy fans have surrounded the Phantoms in the last few weeks. The Thor! Crazies, Lakeland’s former cheering section, cheered on the Phantoms in their rout of Florida two weeks ago.

Blue-haired Joe Criscone, president of the Erie fan club, will head a cheering section against Florence at tonight’s game.

The Phantoms released defensive lineman Jermaine Brantley earlier this week. The former North Carolina A&T standout saw very little playing time in the last five games.