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“THE ONLY YARDSTICK FOR SUCCESS IS BEING A CHAMPION. NO ONE REMEMBERS ANYTHING ELSE”- JOHN MADDEN

MAY 23, 2012

NASHVILLE STORM SCORE DECISIVE 44-6 VICTORY OVER THE MUSIC CITY STARS IN “THE BATTLE OF NASHVILLE”

DESPITE SOME ANXIOUS MOMENTS FOR STORM FANS, THE NASHVILLE STORM FINISH “THE SPRING PORTION” OF THE SCHEDULE WITH A 4-0 RECORD

STORM RB BATMAN MARTIN (HILLWOOD HS/MESA CC) SCORES ON A SHORT TOUCDOWN RUN LATE IN THE 2ND QUARTER- PHOTO BY DONNIE BEAUCHAMP

STORM PASS RUSHERS STRIP THE FOOTBALL FROM STARS QB DEVULIER RUCKER (HILLWOOD HS); RUCKER WAS ONE OF 3 QBS USED BY THE STARS, AND WAS SACKED 7 TIMES BY THE STORM DEFENSIVE FRONT- PHOTO BY DONNIE BEAUCHAMP

THE NASHVILLE STORM’S FIRST DEFENSIVE TD OF 2012- STORM LB FRED SPARKMAN (NORTH CAROLINA) RETURNS DEVULIER RUCKER’S FUMBLE 31 YARDS “TO THE HOUSE”- PHOTO BY DONNIE BEAUCHAMP

STORM RESERVE QB AND KICKING TEAM HOLDER MATT OVERTON RUNS THE BALL INTO THE END ZONE FOR A 2-POINT CONVERSION JUST BEFORE HALFTIME- THE PLAY RAISED THE STORM LEAD TO 31-0- PHOTO BY DONNIE BEAUCHAMP

Saturday night, May 19, the Nashville Storm had a “road game”----- just 15 short minutes away from the friendly confines of the Storm’s Home Field at Stratford High School’s Buster Boguskie Stadium. The game, played at what was once the TPS Football Stadium on Foster Avenue in South Nashville would be the Storm’s first game against another football team from Nashville, TN since the 2008 season (when the Storm actually played TWO teams from right here in Nashville, the Tennessee Rattlers and a short-lived team known as the Nashville Kings). The opponent was the 2nd-year Music City Stars, a GDFL-member team that had surprised a lot of people by going 7-3 and winning their GDFL division in their first season.

And much more than the Storm’s past games against local opponents, this game was a “FAMILY GAME”. Before you let that description conjure up an image of the good-natured inter-family football game on the TV show “Duck Dynasty”, you need to realize that this kind of “FAMILY GAME” (ASIDE FROM THE FACT THAT IT INVOLVES REAL HIGH-LEVEL ATHLETES IN THEIR PRIME) is the most emotionally-charged type of football game of all----- because every player in uniform probably personally knows at least half the players on the opposing team and as a result would rather eat the feces of a rat than lose to people so familiar. A look at the roster page of the Music City Stars will reveal that the number of Stars players who played at one time or another for the Nashville Storm is well into double-digits.

And to reinforce the “FAMILY GAME” dynamic to its’ maximum, the Music City Star owner, Robby Spears, is a former Nashville Storm starting Defensive End. Spears, the nephew of legendary Nashville High School football coach Bubba Spears, played for the Nashville Storm from 2003 to early in the 2006 season, when he took a job in San Francisco, CA. He moved back a couple of years later and actually rejoined the Storm in 2009, but left the team midway through the 2009 season, playing after that for the Rutherford County Outlaws in the Alliance Football League and in the local spring-league MTFL for the Franklin Generals (who have won the last 2 MTFL Championships).

Then, last year, Spears and a partner founded the Music City Stars (the partner dropped out of the organization soon afterwards, leaving Spears as sole owner of the Stars).

Anyway, as the game approached, the Stars displayed a great deal of confidence in their ability to pull off the upset over the 2010 and 2011 National Champions from the same city, despite the obvious disadvantage of playing their first 2012 game against a Storm team that had already played 3 previous games.

Let’s open the discussion of Saturday night’s game with a tip of the cap to first-year Music City Star player Zachary Ducker (Cumberland University). Ducker was one of 3 QBs the Stars used in the game (even though at Cumberland, Ducker was a starting WR for 3 years), and he accounted for the most exciting and impressive offensive play of the night, a 90-yard touchdown run on a QB scramble (Ducker also had a 20-yard run on a similar scramble in the 2 offensive series where he played at QB for the Stars). Anyway, now that we’ve mentioned that, the next fact that needs to be “put out there” is THAT DUCKER’S RUNS WERE ABOUT THE ONLY THINGS THAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE STARS ALL NIGHT. The rest of the game was ALL STORM, as the Storm led 16-0 after the 1st Quarter, 31-0 at the halftime break, and 44-6 when the referees “called it a game” with somewhere between 10 and 12 minutes left to play in the 4th quarter.

The Storm got the ball to begin the game, with Storm WR/KR Mario Merriwether (Bethel College) returning the opening kickoff 28 yards to the Storm 39-yard line. The Storm came out in a 5-WR empty backfield set with QB Phellepe Hall operating out of the shotgun. Hall methodically directed the Storm offense downfield on nothing but pass plays. Despite having a 41-yard TD pass to Mario Merriwether called back on a penalty, Hall hit DeShawn Graham (North Carolina A &T) twice and jeremie “Bird” Whittaker (Coahoma CC) twice to get to the Stars 8-yard line, and then hit Ernest “Pistol” Ramsey in the end zone to give the Storm a 7-0 lead 4 ½ minutes into the game.

Then it was the Stars’ turn to get the ball----- and the Stars’ first possession couldn’t have been more disastrous. The Stars’ deep KO return man lined up between the 10 and 15 yard line only to have thunderfooted Storm K David Campbell (Tennessee) drive a long, high kickoff about one yard into the end zone, which the returner had to catch while running in reverse. The Storm kick coverage unit tackled him at the 8 yard line.

The Stars started DaMarcus Crawford at QB, and on the Stars’ first offensive play, Storm DE Dedrick Tucker (Mississippi Valley State) sacked Crawford for a 6-yard loss to the Star 2-yard line. One incomplete pass and one 1-yard penalty against the Stars later, the Stars have 3rd-and-17 at their 1-yard line. Crawford dropped back to pass, Dedrick Tucker in hot pursuit. Crawford runs out of bounds to avoid Tucker----- problem is he was in the End Zone when he ran out of bounds. Safety, Storm. Storm 9-Stars 0.

The ensuing free kick after the Safety gave the Storm the ball at the Storm 39 again. 4 plays and less than 2 minutes later, Storm QB Phellepe Hall hit Jeremie “Bird” Whittaker with a 19-yard TD pass to raise the Storm lead to 16-0.

The Stars, with Devulier Rucker (Hillwood HS) now at QB, got a break when they shanked a punt to one of the Storm’s return blockers, who fumbled the ball back to the Stars. Rucker then completed a 26-yard pass to get the Stars to the Storm 20. The Star drive stalled there, though, as Rucker had a 4-yard run, 2 incomplete passes, and then was sacked by Storm DT B.J. Taylor (UT-Chattanooga) on 4th down.

The Storm offense then came back to life, driving 73 yards in 7 plays to score on Phellepe Hall’s 2nd TD pass to Jeremie “Bird” Whittaker, a 25-yarder to give the Storm a 23-0 lead with 1:53 left in the first half.

The Storm weren’t quite through, though. When the Stars got the ball back , Devulier Rucker threw on incomplete pass and then was sacked by B.J. Taylor on back-to-back plays----- the Stars punted to Mario Merriwether, who returned the punt 15 yards to the Stars 34-yard line. Phellepe Hall hit Whittaker with an 18-yard pass and Merriwether with a 15-yard pass to the Star 1-yard line ---- then Storm RB Batman Martin ran the ball into the end zone with 6 seconds left before halftime. On the extra point, holder Matt Overton scooped up the ball and ran it into the end zone for 2 points, giving the Nashville Storm a 31-0 halftime lead.

The Stars got the ball to open the 2nd half, but thir first offensive possession of the 2nd half was even more disastrous then their first offensive possession of the game itself------ on 3rd down, the Storm’s Dedrick Tucker stripped the football from Stars QB Devulier Rucker, and Storm LB Fred Sparkman (North Carolina) scooped up the ball and returned the ball 31 yards to the end zone to raise the Storm lead to 38-0.

The Stars then inserted Zachary Ducker at QB, who generated a short drive that stalled on 4th down at the Stars 43. Then Phellepe Hall threw a pass interception at the Stars 1-yard line on 3rd down for his only miscue of the night. Ducker then returned to the field, hit TE Blake Morris (UT-Chattanooga) with a 9-yard pass to the Stars 10, and 2 plays later put the Stars on the scoreboard for the only time of the game with his 90-yard TD run, making the score Nashville Storm 38- Music City Stars 6.

There would be just one more offensive series in the game, and with reserve QB Matt Overton in the game, the Storm (aided by 2 penalties against the Stars for 32 yards) would drive 90 yards on 5 running plays---- 3 carries for 37 yards by Randall Tillery, and 2 carries for 21 yards by Cordale Adams (Whites Creek), the last of which was Adams’ 13-yard TD run. After consultation with Music City Star owner Robbie Spears and Nashville Storm Head Coach Charles Hunter, the referees declared the game over with the Storm a 44-6 victory.

NOTES ON THE GAME:

• The Storm outgained the Stars in total offense 288-114, which functionally meant that the Stars only had 24 yards in total offense other than Ducker’s 90-yard TD run. The Storm had 196 passing yards and 92 on the ground, while the Stars had just 35 passing yards (on just 2 completions) and 79 on the ground. The Storm ran 33 offensive plays in the game, while the Stars had 34.
• Storm QB Phellepe Hall had 12 completions in 18 pass attempts for 196 yards, 3 TD passes, and 1 INT. Jeremie “Bird” Whittaker had 7 catches for 128 yards and 2 TDs to lead the Storm receivers.
• Randall Tillery led the Storm runners with 3 carries for 37 yards, with Cordale Adams close behind with 3 carries for 30 yards (1 TD). Batman Martin had 9 carries for 25 yards (1 TD).
• Here’s the stat that was the key to the Storm’s dominant performance---- the Storm defensive front had 11 tackles for losses against the Stars on just 34 offensive snaps -------- that’s a TFL on nearly 1/3 of the Stars’ offensive plays. By contrast, the Stars only had 1 TFL the entire game. That’s called line of scrimmage domination. Storm DE Dedrick Tucker and DT B.J.Taylor had 4 QB sacks each, and Taylor had 5 TFLs.
• Eli Spallinger had only 1 punt in the game for 42 yards. K David Campbell didn’t have a FGA, but was 4 of 5 on extra points.
• The former TPS football stadium is a very difficult place to find if you’ve never been there before----- you can’t see it from either Foster Avenue or Lafayette Street, and it’s buried way in the back of the old TPS complex. But that didn’t keep about 800-1000 fans from attending, many of whom were attracted by the chance to see the Storm play in Nashville for the first time this year on a night with good weather.
• Rules in the TPS complex relegated Kim Tucker’s grilling trailer for the Nashville Storm Tailgate Party to a gravel parking lot behind the stadium, which cut the number of attendees dramatically. BUT THE ONES WHO MADE IT OVER THERE GOT TO EAT SOME EXCEPTIONAL GRILLED FOOD.
• You’re always a little disappointed when a game is “called” before time runs out, but in this particular circumstance, it was probably the best move. To begin with, it’s important to note that while the game counts as a NFA league game for the Nashville Storm, it DID NOT count as a league game for the Stars, a GDFL member whose league season starts June 2. The Storm had a 38-point lead in the game and the ease with which the Storm’s reserve QB and RBs drove down the field on nothing but running plays on the Storm’s last offensive possession indicated the game wasn’t going to get any closer in the last 10-12 minute. In addition, tempers were clearly getting frayed on the sideline of the home team, and that’s something that can get out of control in an ugly way if you let it “incubate”. The refs and the coaches, IMO, used good judgment to go ahead and let this game come to an end.

VIDEO: IF THE NASHVILLE STORM RUN THE TABLE IN 2012, YOU’LL REMEMBER THIS PLAY AS THE BIGGEST PLAY OF THE YEAR

Courtesy of Nashville Storm Film Director Kevin Mason, this 50-second-long video lets you relive (or see for the first time) the “Music City Miracle II” play----- Mario Merriwether’s “walk-off” 91-yard punt return as time expires against the Warren County Cyclones. Enjoy.