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Home or away, 'Cats pumped over playoffs

• While South Georgia's opinions may differ on where it plays, all the Wildcats agree: They're ready.

Colin Chmielewsiki

ALBANY — Heading into the postseason, most coaches would be extolling the virtues of hosting as many playoff games as possible.

Not Derek Stingley.

The South Georgia Wildcats’ coach said this week that he’s not at all concerned with where his team plays in the postseason, just that they are in it.

“A home playoff game would be nice for the city of Albany,” Stingley said. “But I’m just glad that we’re in the playoffs. Where we may fall, it doesn’t matter because it looks like we’re going to have to play someone that we’ve already played.”

Stingley knows his team realizes that — regardless of the location — “the playoffs are win or go home.” But the coach actually found some positives in being away from Albany, where they’ll play the final home game of the season Saturday against the Alabama Steeldogs.

“Sometimes it can be a distraction to be at home,” he said. “Maybe on the road, I may have more control over the players and less distractions.”

By virtue of Tulsa’s 70-69 win against Oklahoma City on Monday, Tulsa (12-2) is locked into one of the top two seeds in the National Conference — with Rio Grande Valley set for the other. So the Wildcats are slotted for somewhere between the No. 3 and No. 6 spot. But there is a four-team pileup that will force those seedings to be decided in the final week. South Georgia (10-4), Florida (11-4), Arkansas (10-4) and Bossier-Shreveport (10-4) are all in the mix for one of the remaining two first-round home playoff games.

Now this is where things get a little confusing. The winner of the South Division — South Georgia or Florida — automatically gets the No. 3 seed. So if the Wildcats win out, they’ll be in the third spot. Now, if South Georgia loses and Florida wins out, the Wildcats could fall as far as No. 6.

Currently, the Wildcats hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over Arkansas and Bossier-Shreveport, but a loss puts their playoff destination in the hands of those two teams.

While their coach is ambivalent, the Wildcats definitely would prefer to host the Albany Civic Center’s first playoff game in franchise history.

“It matters a lot to get that home game,” defensive back Daryon Brutley said. “Because when you’ve got that home crowd around you, it’s gives you that extra boost and you start playing better.”

And with the certainty that any travel in the playoffs will include a bus ride of at least eight hours, the players feel strongly about opening the long af2 postseason in Albany.

“We definitely want to be at home,” quarterback D. Bryant said. “It’s a little bit more comfortable. You get to stay in your bed. You don’t have to worry about traveling. That would definitely be an advantage for us.”

As far as the possibility of a South Division crown, while everyone agrees it would be a nice accomplishment, that’s not the title they’re interested in.

“If (winning our next two games) means we win our division, fine,” Stingley said. “(But) that wasn’t our goal to win the division. Our goal was to win a championship.”

PRIDE IN NUMBERS

A few days after their record-setting performance against the Texas Copperheads, members of the Wildcats’ defense seemed to have finally realized what their accomplishment means. In South Georgia’s 47-3 win, it allowed Texas just 10 yards of offense.

There were some questions as to how much of that should be credited to the Copperheads’ ineptitude on offense. After all,  the team has lost eight consecutive games. But the Wildcats’ defensive leaders feel otherwise.

“Anytime you come out and play football, you go against guys and it’s hard to hold somebody to 10 yards,” Brutley said. “You can run hitches all day and get more than 10 yards. I think we just came out and played a hell of a game and shut those guys down.”

Defensive back Matt Jackson said the record just shows what kind of potential the South Georgia defense has when it buckles down.

“It would be hard for this team to go out and hold a good high school team to 10 yards in four quarters,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who you play. You could play perfect defense and perfect coverage on a guy and they’d still catch a pass — that’s 10 yards. That just speaks for what we’re capable of.”

PRIDE IN NUMBERS, TOO

As the end of the season approaches, a number of South Georgia franchise records have fallen or could soon be broken.

Bryant already is the owner of two records with two games left. He has surpassed Bryan Snyder’s 2003 records for TD passes (60) and passing yards (3,659).

“It’s a goal that I wanted to accomplish,” Bryant said of his 85 TD passes and 3,958 yards. “I wanted to come out and play to the best of my ability. (It says) I played well all year.”

On the defensive side, Brutley tied Kent Rickerson’s franchise record (2002) with his eighth interception of the season. The defensive back also has a chance to break James McCoy’s tackles record of 83. Brutley currently has 66.

Receiver Chavis McCollister is the other South Georgia player who could put his name in the books. McCollister’s 127 receptions are 12 short of Chris McKinney’s mark from last season, and his 1,463 yards are within reach of Matt Burstein’s record (1,684) from 2004.

WALKING WOUNDED

This week’s practices have featured almost as many players sitting on the sidelines as there have been on the field.

Linebacker/fullback Jason Null (left ankle) and receiver Scott Cloman (groin) will miss Saturday’s game against Alabama. Nose guard Joe Woolridge (groin and abdomen) has been on the field, but will be a game-time decision.

McCollister (heel) has yet to practice this week, but said he expects to play Saturday.

Stingley said that the recent play of lineman Ellington Wills and receiver Tavaris Capers has given him more leeway in resting his guys who are borderline. Still, the coach knows that he’ll need all his regulars back in crunch time.

“We have to be able to compete,” he said. “What we did against Texas was doable. But we know when it’s all said and done, we need (those guys).”

LATE ADDITION

The Wildcats have added some depth to their line with Joe Clark. Clark, who went to West Georgia, spent the season on the practice squad of the AFL’s Georgia Force.

But with the Force eliminated in the conference finals last week, the 6-foot-3, 300-pound Clark will join the team for the final stretch. It’s not known when Clark will be activated to play.

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