Sports

Texas-sized escape product of persistence

Paul Dehner Jr.

Fittingly flush against the backdrop of the flat, dry landscape of Austin, Texas, the South Georgia Wildcats again played the role of Road Runner to Wile E. Coyote.

You can almost hear the “Mheep! Mheep!” of the Wildcats bus as it pulled away from the Frank Irwin Center.

The 15-yard bullet pass in traffic from Andrico Hines to Scott Cloman that produced a 58-56 South Georgia victory against the Austin Wranglers on Sunday fell with all the authority of an Acme anvil on the Wranglers.

But this was no cartoon.

And as hilarious as the image of The Coyote’s eyes bulging out of his head as he realizes — against all modern theories of physics — he’s hovering thousands of miles above earth is, this was no joke.

Truth be told, what felt like anarchy in the final seconds of this game came through careful planning weeks ago.

OK, maybe not the miscommunication among the players when the play clock was unknowingly running down and forced a quick spike instead of shot at the end zone with three seconds remaining.

But all the other stuff.

Take one glimpse at the key players in the deciding moments of this game.

Ray Gant sliced the Wranglers offensive line with two sacks and three tackles for loss.

Then there was Hines and Cloman connecting with poise under pressure for the game-

winner.

Don’t look for these guys on the opening night roster. They’re not there.

All three heroes of this game were acquired through the persistence and connections of head coach Derek Stingley.

Gant came through a trade, Hines a pickup after three games and Cloman, who played for the Wildcats last season, came a week later.

Stingley saw holes in his lineup and filled them by scouring outside sources.

It appears the evolution of this already well-respected coach just willed a victory.

The same as this win wouldn’t have happened three weeks ago, it wouldn’t have had a chance three years ago.

“In the beginning, I didn’t know who players were,” he said. “The longer you stay in the business, you start knowing players and who they are. They have friends they can vouch for and the recruiting process becomes easier now that I have been around for a minute.”

In his early years coaching, he settled more for players he had.

These days, he motivates those already in Wildcats jerseys with the realization they could soon not be wearing one.

Produce or pack up.

“People know they are still playing for a job and so they know they have to go out and compete,” Stingley said. “If I have to replace or move somebody, their play will speak for that reasoning.”

The result of this football puzzle has been the picture of a team as deep in experience as it is in talent.

Add in defensive terror Joe Woolridge to the pieces added as this season goes along and the great escape in Austin, as well as the miracle lateral as time expired in Tennessee all begin to make sense.

“As a coach you always want your team to be better,” Stingley said. “We’ve made a team of a lot of veterans, guys who have been around the game and understand not to panic, just play.”

Even as all circuits appeared to overload in the final seconds on Sunday, Stingley’s acquisitions never panicked.

They played.

While this win may have felt uncoordinated or even be dubbed lucky by some, it was far from it.

With the same diligence of a triple pulley system accounting for wind and hanging a box of Acme dynamite over a precisely drawn X, Stingley set this trap long ago.

But this wasn’t a cartoon.

In the real-life version, The Coyote’s trap finally worked.

“Andrico stayed calm, put the ball on him, it was a nicely thrown ball,” Stingley said. “Scott did what we brought him in here to do.”

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