Cougar News Sports - Apr. 2

Sorry for being a day late but here is the Cougar News sports section!

Predators shut Jackets out of the playoffs

Even though the Columbus Blue Jackets have been having a tough time establishing a winning streak since the NHL All-Star Game, there has been hope by the team to climb back into the playoff picture. Those hopes were squashed last week by a pair of shutout losses to Nashville. The Jackets also had a shutout win last week at home to Chicago and lost in a shootout in Chicago.

Columbus went to Nashville knowing they would have to nearly win out to have a chance at the playoffs. What they got in return was not only a loss, but some bruises to boot. In the loss at Nashville Tuesday, Predator Jordin Tootoo got in a pair of fights, one with Jason Chimera and Jan Hejda. This bad blood carried on into the rematch Friday night.

Just three minutes into the game, enforcers Jared Boll and Tootoo fought and Boll scored the takedown of the Predator.

“I just knew it was on me,” Boll said. “I knew that both of our first shifts would probably be against each other so I just wanted to get it done early”

But it is the score that counts. Nashville’s first goal Friday night came off a shot that took a couple of hops and skips and eventually went through Jackets goaltender Fredrik Norrena. The goal was credited to Jan Hlavac with 15 minutes left in the second. Nashville scored one more just a minute later on a hard slap shot by Radek Bonk. That was all the scoring Nashville needed. Columbus responded with 43 shots, but Preds goaltender Dan Ellis made all 43 saves for Nashville.

“They had 43 shots but they weren’t as many hard quality chances,” Nashville head coach Barry Trotz said. “It wasn’t a hard 43 shots, but they had some c

“We can’t get down,” Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash said. We are at home, we have our fans behind us, I thought we got back on track, we just couldn’t finish.”

Through Sunday’s action, Nashville would be the last team in the playoffs with 87 points with Vancouver and Edmonton being just one point back. Columbus is now officially mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.

Columbus would likely still be in a playoff race if they could find a way of winning against Nashville. The Blue Jackets were 1-6-1 this season with their only win coming in a shootout in January. If Columbus went 3-3 against Nashville this year, they would only be three points away from grabbing that last playoff spot.

“I think there is a reason (for the dismal record against Nashville),” Columbus head coach Ken Hitchcock said. “I think if you look back on it, we are not able to finish against that team and there is a reason for that. We just don’t win enough one on ones against that team.”

For Hitchcock, this is the 10th full NHL season for him, and he has made the playoffs in nine of those years. Not playing deep into April is unfamiliar for Hitchcock, winner of a 1999 Stanley Cup. Hitchcock said he is going to miss not having the opportunity to play in this year’s playoffs.

“The reality hits you when you supposed to be preparing for the playoffs and I am going to have to deal with it,” Hitchcock said. “I haven’t dealt with it before, I enjoy the pressure, I love the pressure that goes with it, I really look forward to it, but it is not going to be this year.”

Columbus will finish the season this week with matches at Detroit and a home and home with St. Louis.

Safety costs Destroyers

Even in the high flying Arena Football League, many games can come down to a single play. That has been evident lately for the Columbus Destroyers. In their first home game of the season on March 15, they lost a game on a late game fumble against the Cleveland Gladiators. Saturday, they lost 47-44 to Orlando due to two points the offense of the Destroyers gave Orlando in front of an announced crowd of over 13,000.

With Orlando up 14-10 early in the second quarter, Orlando Predator Jason Hall sacked Destroyers quarterback Matt Nagy at the Columbus one yard line. On the next play, Orlando’s Rob Schroder once again sacked Nagy for a safety that put Orlando up 16-10. Orlando would also capitalize on getting the ball back and Predator quarter back Shane Stafford had two quick passes from their own 10 yard line all the way to the Columbus one yard line. After nearly pulling off a defensive fourth down stop, Columbus was called for an illegal defense which allowed Orlando to get a first down. Predator Marlon Moye-Moore scored from one yard out to give Orlando the 23-10 lead.

“That is the harshest (play)because you not only give up the two, you also get the chance to get seven more (points) so that is a nine point swing,” Destroyers head coach Doug Kay said. “If you add the nine to the seven you could have scored, big time swing.”

Columbus crawled back with a Nagy touchdown pass to Derek Lee to make it a seven point game late in the first half. Orlando played the clock management game to milk the clock to the final few seconds inside the Columbus five yard line. On the last play of the half, Stafford’s pass was deflected by Columbus defensive back Nate Coggins and intercepted by Rober’ Freeman. Columbus was happy to only be down seven at halftime.

“That was a huge play, we couldn’t let them score that one going into halftime, just lucky Rober’ made the interception,” Coggins said.

Columbus came back in the second half with another defensive stop. With Orlando 14 yards away from the end zone on fourth down, Stafford tried to force a pass to Ron Johnson into coverage, but Coggins was there once again to break up the pass. Nagy would connect with Lee on the next drive for a 33 yard pass to tie the game at 23. The teams would alternate three touchdowns on each drive the rest of the way.

After Columbus’ Harold Wells scored to tie the game at 44 with 3:03 left, Orlando would play clock management again to end the second half. This time they were playing for a field goal. Orlando got the clock all the way down to two seconds before calling a timeout. This set up a 31 yard field goal try for John Vaughn. Vaughn was 2-5 on attempts, but this one sailed above the uprights and Orlando walked out of Nationwide Arena with the 47-44 win.

“We got off to a slow start and was unable to make the last stop of the game,” Coggins said.

This is the second straight week for Columbus the game came down to a last second field goal. Last week it was Columbus’ Mark Lewis nailing one from 35 yards to win the game against the Utah Blaze 52-49.

“Now we know how Utah feels,” Nagy said. “We were sitting right there helpless, they decided to do what we did last week and trust your kicker.”

Columbus is now 1-4 on the season and winless at home. Next for the Destroyers is on Saturday when they play Tampa Bay at 7 p.m. in Nationwide Arena.

Cougar title bid falls just short in Finals

Two months ago, the Columbus State men’s basketball team sat near the bottom of the OCCAC standings with a 3-6 record in conference action and was suffering with a close loss after close loss. Have things changed since then.

In that time, the team went on a 13 game winning streak, defeated third ranked Cincinnati State in front of a large crowd and Ohio State’s Thad Matta, later find out Cincinnati State along with Owens Community College were using illegible players and were banned from postseason competition, and that is just the finish of the regular season.

The weekend of March 8-9 was supposed to be when the team would play in the NJCAA District Seven Tournament, but a large snowstorm postponed the tournament two days and Columbus State would have to wait in their Cleveland hotel until March 10 to defeat Clark State. The Cougars would then defeat Sinclair in the title game to earn a trip to the NJCAA National Championship, the first time ever for the team.

“(The blizzard) helped us, it gave us more time to prepare for Sinclair,” Columbus State head coach Patrick Carlisle said. “It helped us just fine. The kids had a lot of fun being around each other and they felt good… It was great team building.”

“During the blizzard in Cleveland during the regionals, our focus was maintained by the hunger of competition,” Columbus State guard Raylon Almon said. “We wanted to play so bad that we were determined to win.”

Columbus State would get one week to prepare for a very tough road to the National Championship game. Their first challenge was against Erie Community College who was ranked fifth in the country on March 19. It remained a back and forth battle for the entire 40 minutes, but Columbus State was able to seal the game in the final few seconds as Brandon Bland hit two free throws to give Columbus State a 66-64 lead. Columbus State’s Cyrus Smith got a steal when Erie tried to take one last shot and Columbus State advanced with a 67-64 lead. Bland finished with a team high 16 points.

The next evening, they defeated Prince George’s Community College. Prince George’s defeated Cecil College who is the number one team in the nation to earn a spot in the NJCAA Championships. Columbus State won the game 78-69.

In the NJCAA semifinal round, Columbus State had to play the host of the tournament, Danville Community College in front of several thousand local fans. Danville had a 27-16 lead at one point in the first half. The halftime score was 35-30 with Danville leading. Columbus State battled hard in the second half. The Cougars would hang tough until the midpoint of the second half when they went on a huge run to take a 65-52 lead with three minutes left. Danville made it interesting late. Danville got within four, but Columbus State hung on for the 77-69 win.

“A miserable environment to play in, a fabulous won to win in which makes it that much sweeter,” Carlisle said on the game. “In a national tournament game, you hold another team scoreless for ten minutes -- in their gym. When you think about it like that is truly amazing.”

In the championship game, Columbus State faced off against the defending NJCAA Champion Mott Bears. Columbus State would once again have to overcome a large first half deficit. After being down by 12, Columbus State fought back and tied the game right before halftime at 33 however Mott’s Jacquez Williams hit a three pointer to give Mott the halftime lead at 36-33. Columbus State’s dream season came to a close as Mott finished strong and won 83-73 to repeat as National Champions.

“(Mott) had good chemistry and everybody played their roles really well,” Almon said. “They have been there before, and knew what it took to get another championship.”

“(Mott is) the icon of the level,” Carlisle said. “I told our coaches the day we got this job ‘we’ll know when we’re there if we can beat Mott.’ We didn’t beat them but we know we’re there. They’re good.”

After Owens and Cincinnati State had their records vacated, Columbus State finished the season 10-4 in OCCAC action and 29-7 overall. Quite an impressive feat considering the team’s play going into the final month of the regular season.

Carlisle said he give s his players credit for seeing their potential after a rough start. Britt along with Greg Rice and Mariano Bowles were named to the NJCAA National Tournament All-Tournament team. Britt was also named the tournament MVP for the NJCAA District Seven Tournament, and Carlisle was named Coach of the District.