Verizon Nitro prepares for Shell Chiefs

After falling to the Miller Barbarians 26-0 in their first game of the 2004 Commonwealth Football League season, the Verizon Nitro find themselves in a familiar situation, as the white and red clad warriors embarked upon another gridiron campaign with a loss at the CPA Airport field.

Immediately after his team’s game with the Barbarians, Nitro coach Andre Winston explained the struggles that faced his squad, leading into their season opener. For one thing, the Nitro is a truly the CNMI’s team, as the offensive unit hails from Saipan and the defense makes the trip from Tinian. All that they need is a special teams unit from Rota to make them complete.

According to Winston, the Nitro are missing the basics, and that is what he intend to work on with the offense all week. “Just basic fundamental football, like tackling and the offensive line knowing the holes that the running backs run through—just basic football. That’s what it’s coming down to. We’re missing our basis of football because of a lack of practice.”

Not being able to practice as a team has proved a bit difficult for the Nitro, and the effects were visible during last week’s contest with the Barbarians, as the offense looked offensive, putting up a mere 36yards from scrimmage.

Winston believes that his team can pull through “For our guys it’s just a matter of execution, and that obviously comes from practice. We just need to get a full set of players out for a complete practice, and then we can put some points on the board. It’s simple football, it’s just a lack of concentration on practice.”

A lack of discipline attributed to the ugly stat of the game, as both of the teams combined for 43 penalties for 262 yards, prompting action on behalf of the league’s officials.

“I am definitely going to be making a point to the coaches and managers that this has to stop” said CFL chairman of the board John Blanco.

On the other side of the Nitro misery is the Barbarians rejuvenation. The Barbarians earned their two weeks of rest for the rematch with player/coach Danny Punimata and the Shell Chiefs, but after the game, coach Lemons said that his team had a couple of things to work on, and won’t be taking the week off.

“We’re going to take Monday off, and get back to our regular practice schedule on Tuesday, and then go light the second week before the Chiefs game. I was just worried about the execution in the first game. Once we get that under our belt we’re going to be okay. We’ve got two games in, so we’ll just fine tune some things and put a couple of wrinkles in some of the plays that we have, that’s it.”

The Verizon Nitro players won’t have to dwell on the loss for very long, as they will be facing the Chiefs tomorrow. Coach Winston isn’t sulking about the game, and this weekend he will march his team onto the field with pride

“We’re going to come to play, and Verizon was good enough to sponsor us, so we’re gonna play football and do the best we can.”

The Nitro will have another group of fans tomorrow, as the Barbarians would be happy to see the league deadlocked in three-way tie. While the teams were shaking hands after the game, coach Lemons offered some words of encouragement for the beleaguered Verizon squad. “Take care of the Chiefs next week boys,” said Lemons.

The heart-pounding action of the CFL continues tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 2, when the visiting Verizon Nitro return to the CPA Airport field to take on the undefeated Shell Chiefs at 10am.