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Home  Articles 99/00 Season Will it be clinch of catastrophe
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Will it be clinch of catastrophe |
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Written by Gerry Prince
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Friday, 24 March 2000 |
Scoreboard watching is fast becoming a rite of spring in Driller-land but that seems to come with the territory.
Rather than making things easy for themselves and sewing up a berth in the NPSL post-season, the Edmonton Drillers could still wind up out of the playoff picture. While the odds of that happening are slim, the possibility still exists.
With three games to play and their magic number to clinch sitting at two, a pair of wins against the St. Louis Ambush this weekend would do the trick. An Edmonton win coupled with a Detroit loss would also work.
Ross Ongaro's 20-21 Drillers get their first of two kicks at the Ambush on Skyreach Centre turf tonight at 7:05. The series finale is slated for Sunday afternoon at 2:05.
"We always put ourselves in this predicament," offered Drillers captain Kevin Holness yesterday. "Why, is a good question. We have opportunities throughout the season and we always say we're not going to reach the end of the season and have to calculate."
Despite St. Louis's woeful 3-17 road record and 9-31 overall log, Holness knows the Drill can ill-afford to underestimate their foes. Truth be told, St. Louis is but a mere shadow of the side that denied Edmonton a trip to the NPSL final last season.
"They lost a lot of their big players (to the rival WISL St. Louis Steamers) but they're not going to come here and lie down for us," Holness said.
"We know what we have to do and we know what these games mean. They could play spoiler and why not? We've always had this little grudge with St. Louis. It's not going to be an easy game."
After the Ambush blows town, defending NPSL-champion Cleveland comes calling next Friday to wrap up the Drillers' regular season.
Barring total collapse, the Drill will face either North Division and National Conference-champion Milwaukee or the Kansas City Attack in the best-of-three National Conference semifinal to open the playoffs.
Given the Drill went 0-5 against K.C. this year and were 3-3 versus Milwaukee, it's six of one, a half-dozen of the other, according to Holness.
"K.C. seems to have our number but once we're well rested and have everybody back in full health, I don't think we'll have to worry about K.C," he offered. "We match up well against Milwaukee. The games have always been tight; mind you, they blew us out in one or two games in Milwaukee. But that was due to legs and fatigue."
CORNER KICKS: After fielding an injury-riddled lineup since the all-star break, Ongaro has the luxury of 16 healthy bodies, including former Driller Chris Clarke, at his disposal for tonight's tilt. "Everybody except Martin Dugas (knee) is available right now and I'll make the selection before game time tomorrow," said Ongaro.
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