Heroes re-shuffle secondary
Published 12:00 am Friday, April 25, 2008
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Just when Huntington Heroes head coach Teddy Keaton was beginning to like the cards he was playing with, he might have to re-deal.
Keaton and the Heroes might have a possible reshuffling of some key defensive personnel this week as the Heroes (5-1) travel to Florence, S.C. to face the Florence Phantoms in an American Indoor Football Association East Division showdown.
“There will be a shake up in the secondary. I’ll possibly end up having a whole new secondary staring this week.” said Keaton. “Other than that the whole team is still intact. But the changes might be a problem for us this week.”
Last weekend, Huntington finally got its first win ever against the Canton Legends as they routed them 49-6 in Huntington.
Florence (2-3) lost last week at Reading 66-30. The Phantoms out gained the Express in total offense, but 4 costly penalties prevented them from being able to stay in the game.
The two teams squared off 4 weeks ago in Huntington as the Heroes won 47-32.
“(Florence) is a good football team. They still got Omar Jacobs and A.J. Bennett. So this will be a big challenge for us,” said Keaton.
Jacobs went 14 of 30 passing and threw for 260 yards and 4 touchdown tosses and Bennett caught 5 passes for 112 yards and 2 touchdowns in the loss.
With the Heroes facing the recent roster changes, offensive coordinator Kenny Johnson feels he might have to change up his offensive approach this week.
“We’ll have to holding the ball a little longer and control the clock,” said Johnson. “That way we can hopefully give the new secondary a break.”
In last week’s win, Johnson was well pleased with the play of his offensive line, which a key factor in their route of Canton.
“Chris Barnes did an excellent job against Dante Booker. I told him he had to prove himself last week and block him. He did,” said Johnson.
The Heroes will look for quarterback Darnell Kennedy to continue to lead the offense attack.
Kennedy threw for 117 yards and three touchdown tosses and ran for another in the win last week.
Kickoff is 7 p.m.