NFC Playoffs Rd. 1 Riverbottom vs. Lakewood preview

What a masterful job of coaching by Bryan Lewis in taking Riverbottom to the playoffs. Despite picking late in the first round of the draft Lewis drafted wisely and combined that with excellent game management to lead the Nightmare to this point. Lenny Moore is a dual threat runner/reciever and Dick Bass is the future at running back. Billy Lott was the lead runner this year and had a strong season. Still to win nine games with Ralph Guglielmi and Earl Morrall this is something to be proud of. I would like to say that the rock solid defense is the reason for the winning record but that isn't the case either. There are some great pieces like Alex Karras, Ernie Stautner, Sherill Headrick, Erich Barnes and Dick Harris. The rest of the defense would rate as either average or below. Even the special teams are solid but not spectacular. It all comes back to Coach Lewis, he just knows how to pull the right strings. To quote Bum Phillips "he can take his and beat yours or he can take yours and beat his". Can he do it once again in the playoffs?

For Lakewood it's Billy Wade that makes this train run. That was evident at the end of the season as Wade was forced to miss some games. Now Coah Butch Shramek gets his engineer back so look out playing the VooDoo. With Wade back now the 1-2 running game of Crow and Casares is even stronger. Now Clyde Conner, R.C. Owens, Ralph Anderson, J.D Crow and Joe Childress are bigger downfield threats. Here's a trivia question, which back led the SRFL in Rushing Average? I wouldn't have guessed it but the answer is John David Crow! It wasn't a fluke as his 6.5 average beat the number 2 guy by more than 1 yard per carry. The VooDoo defense isn't a shut down unit but they are good enough to cause opposing offenses trouble. The DE's Jim Katcavage and Ron Nery are a strong tandem. Joe Fortunato and Matt Hazeltine are high caliber linebackers on the outside. Cornerback Night Train Lane, well you throw at him at your own risk. Don Burroughs is a good Safety and Dick Lynch tied for the team lead with six interceptions. Put everything together and you have a playoff team that can hold their own with anyone.