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Home away from home

• Former Thomasville and Albany State star Demetrie McCray will attempt to stop his hometown team Sunday as a member of the Austin Wranglers — the Wildcats’ next opponent.

Paul Dehner Jr.

ALBANY — Demetrie McCray has been a fixture in Albanysince his spectacular career as a defensive back at Albany State.

The Thomasville native was an all-conference performer for the Rams, spends his offseasons in town and has a 5-month old daughter, Skylar, here as well.

This week, however, he hopes to hand his home a loss.

McCray is currently a starting defensive back for the Austin Wranglers, the Wildcats’ next opponent. He’s also the reigning af2 Defensive Player of the Week.

Former ASU teammates Alvin Ray Jackson and James Harris grace the South Georgia roster, and McCray assures, the trash talk has begun.

“We do that anyway,” said McCray. “Its gone up a little bit. We always go back and forth. Me and Ray had to check each other at ASU, so we are used to it.”

That will spill over onto the field Sunday, but after grabbing three interceptions in a victory against the Oklahoma Yard Dawgz on Saturday, McCray holds the momentum.

“I was feeling pretty good,” he said. “They were just coming.”

He spent last season playing for the Cincinnati JungleKats and has since moved to Austin.

Used to South Georgia summers, the heat hasn’t bothered him. And now that his team has pulled off two wins in a row, its easy to stay cool.

“The team is really starting to jell,” he said. “It is all coming together.”

McCray will actually beat the Wildcats back to Albany, as he is flying out the day after the game, taking advantage of a bye week to come home to see his daughter and celebrate his birthday, which is Tuesday.

USRY RETURNS

A key cog in the Wildcats offense will return to the lineup Sunday. Center Donald Usry, a player coach Derek Stingley said before the season has one of the best chances to move up to the next level, will be activated off injured reserve.

Usry was sidelined for four weeks with a knee injury, but now he is back near 100-percent, according Stingley. In fact, he says if not for being on injured reserve and thus forced to sit out for all four weeks, he would have played against Florida last Saturday.

His arrival brings a final piece together in the offensive puzzle which the Wildcats believed they have compiled.

“He is one of our most dominant offensive lineman,” Stingley said. “We can’t wait to have him back. He makes our line that much stronger. We feel more confident in the protection game up front, so now we can go downfield a little more, the way we wanted to at the beginning of this year.”

His arrival also means the departure of somebody who helped fill the gap in his absence

Veteran Andre Slappey — an Albany State alum — Lou Vega and newly-acquired Seth Cook started the previous two games.

Exactly who will be a part of the new line combination is unclear.

“Unfortunately, somebody is going to have to sit down,” Stingley said. “We will wait until the week of practice is over to figure out what three we will go with up front. And maybe that fourth guy, maybe he can take a back seat for a week.”

BEATING BENNETT

Derek Stingley is very familiar with the work of Austin Wranglers coach Ben Bennett.

Bennett, currently third all-time in career af2 wins, has beaten the Wildcats coach a number of times. Stingley is yet to return the favor.

A former coach at Florida, now leading the Wildcats’ opponent this week, Bennett led the Firecats to the 2004 ArenaCup. He is the only coach to lead three teams to an Arena Bowl championship game.

Though Bennett’s team began the year 0-3, Stingley isn’t surprised by the Wranglers’ two consecutive wins that followed and could care less Austin isn’t ranked in the af2’s Top 16.

“Regardless of what their record may be and what they may be ranked, we understand what kind of coaching they have,” Stingley said. “They are starting to play good football, they have won two in a row, we lost and we are trying to get back on one.

“As of right now, I don’t have a pretty good record against him. This will be my first win if we can get back to what we have been doing.”

HALL OF HORRORS

Austin quarterback Andy Hall is coming off of a career week.

The rookie out of Delaware threw for 309 yards — tops in the league last week — and six touchdowns.

He appears to be hitting his stride with the Wranglers. He was drafted in the sixth round of the 2004 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles. After his experience there didn’t work out, he spent the past two seasons playing in the AFL with Las Vegas and Nashville.

His face will be a familiar one to this year’s Wildcats as he began the season with Tennessee Valley and torched the Wildcats for 315 yards and four scores in the season opener before moving on to Austin.

SUNDAY-FUNDAY

This week’s 4 p.m. game is one of three Sunday contests the Wildcats will play in this season. They beat the Daytona Beach ThunderDawgs three weeks ago on a Sunday and will play them again Sunday, June 29.

The rest of the Wildcats’ games are on Saturday nights.

After this week, South Georgia returns to Albany for back-to-back home games.

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