Sports

Wildcats feeling the heat

• The South Georgia Wildcats travel to hazy Austin, Texas, today in hopes of bouncing back from a loss last weekend to Florida against the Wranglers.

Paul Dehner Jr.

AUSTIN, Texas — South Georgia Wildcats coach Derek Stingley only shakes his head at the mention of Estus Hood.

The punishing 270-pound rush end for the Austin Wranglers has left a line of battered opponents in his wake during the past two weeks.

For a Wildcats team hoping to get healthy after a disappointing loss to Florida, Stingley realizes stopping this one-man wrecking crew could define the tone of this 1,830 mile road trip.

“We are not going in confident,” said Stingley, whose team plays today at 4 p.m. in Texas. “I just hope we do our job against him because he has been very disruptive.”

Hood has four sacks in the past two games, back-to-back wins for Austin (2-3), which began the year with three consecutive losses.

On the season Hood has one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries, two blocked kicks, three pass breakups and 6.5 tackles for loss.

The Wildcats offensive line will confront Hood with a group playing together for the first time this season.

Center Donald Usry was activated off injured reserve Friday and starting tight end Seth Cook was only signed three weeks ago.

South Georgia’s offense has failed to reach its full potential, only topping 43 points once in the past four games.

Containing Hood and keeping the ball away from former Albany State star Demetrie McCray — a beneficiary of the pressure with three interceptions last week — will be the key to getting back on track.

“We just need to be smart with the ball,” Stingley said. “I think (quarterback) Andrico (Hines) does a good job of doing that. If we take care of the ball we should be successful this week.”

Last week against Florida, they didn’t and they weren’t.

In the 51-41 loss to the South Division rival the Wildcats turned the ball over four times.

One of those was a Hines interception in the final moments. Most see South Georgia (3-2) and Florida (4-0) as the cream of the af2 crop and a rematch lingers in three short weeks.

But Hines isn’t thinking about the past or the future.

“My job is to get this team on the right track and get us on another winning streak,” he said. “That is my focus right now. I am thinking about the next game. When Florida is the next game, I will be ready for Florida.”

Getting ready for Austin involved preparing for Ben Bennett. Austin’s head coach is third all-time in career af2 wins and in his first season with the Wranglers.

Bennett led Florida to the ArenaCup in 2004 and a nervousness around the Wildcats exists that the Wranglers’ two-game winning streak represents the dawning of a team understanding their new coach’s concepts.

“I think what Bennett does is teaches them the game of arena football,” said Stingley, who has never beaten Bennett as a coach. “Some of it is opportunity, some of it is good play.”

LONE TRIP

Today’s game is the only road game during a six-week span for South Georgia. The Wildcats split two games at home with Green Bay and Florida the past two weeks and will host Tennessee Valley and Corpus Christi in the next two games.

TAKE IT EASY

After playing teams ranked in the Top 16 three of the past four weeks, South Georgia takes on three unranked opponents in a row.

Austin, Tennessee Valley and Corpus Christi have a combined record of 6-8.

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