The Carolina Cobras squared off against the Columbus Lions in a rematch of the 2018 National Arena League Championship. Not much has changed in the time since that last meeting as Carolina once again manhandled their opponents from Georgia in a 60-32 victory in front of a crowd of 2,300 at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Carolina opened the scoring 6-0 with a one play 23 yard bomb to wide receiver Julius Gregory from quarterback Charles McCullum. A matching pair of turnovers followed on each of the teams ensuing drives, one a end zone interception by Carolina’s defensive back Kenny Veal and the other a tipped pass scooped by Columbus Lion Rico Johnson. A short lived victory as the defensive Captain for Carolina Michael Green made yet another interception, this time going the distance end zone to end zone for a touchdown. Columbus was able to fire back with a stellar over the wall dive by Chris Sanders McCollum to keep them in the game.
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Another Carolina drive ended with a touchdown to Jordan Jolly, followed by a deuce kick by Nick Belcher to end the first quarter of play at 21-6. A blocked field goal halfway through the second was the first opportunity for either team as the Lions were able to scoop the botched kick as it entered the end zone, moving the score to 21-12 still in favor of Carolina. Defenses stood tall for both teams and brought the scoring chances to a halt. The Lions kicker Blake Erickson would nail a 21 yard field goal attempt in the final seconds of the half to cut the Cobras lead to just six points.
After the break in play, the chess match of defenses took to the field again, as the Cobras held Lions quarterback Luke Collis to just 6 yards on the drive before Erickson split the uprights with another field goal this time from the columbus 19 yard line. The sluggish offense of Carolina found a bit of life to drive the ball down and place Zach Ducker in position for a left sweeping run to the end zone to keep the Cobras in front by ten points. Cobra lineman Se’von Pittman made a fumble recovery to regain possession quickly for Carolina, and though it ended in a missed field goal attempt the defense never gave in and linebacker Pasquale Vacchio nabbed another pick six gift from Collis on the following drive. Tack another deuce kick by Belcher and the Cobras found themselves up 37-18 by the end of the third with the help of a goal line stop by the defensive squad.
The final push at the 1 yard line by the Lions resulted in disaster for them. Vacchio took full advantage of the Lions by snatching away an extended ball that was meant to break the plane, but instead was taken 49 yards the other way for the third Cobras non-offensive touchdown of the night. The Lions showed that they may be down but not out by scoring a touch pass to Sanders McCollom, then capitalizing on forcing the turnover on downs to score again with Parris Mack. The back to back Lions scoring drives bring the game within grasp for the Georgia squad at 44-32. The final five minutes of the game was all Carolina as McCullum drove the ball down, eventually crossing the goal line himself for a touchdown. An Interception the end zone by Green set up defensive back Tyree Robinson to receive a pitch from Green that Robinson returned 52 yards for a touchdown with just seconds left on the clock. The clock showed zeros with a final score of 60-32 in favors of the Carolina Cobras again.
The win moves the Carolina Cobras to 4-1 on the season and will have a rematch with the Columbus Lions again two weeks from now, but in the more direct timeline face the Orlando Predators next Saturday night May 25th in the Greensboro Coliseum. Tickets are available at the coliseum box office in person or by phone at 336.455.7232 or by visiting Carcobras.com
