Barbarians and Nitro battle Saturday

The mighty Miller Barbarians were knocked off by the Shell Chiefs in the opener of the Commonwealth Football League’s fourth season held last Saturday at the CPA Airport Field.

And it seems there’s no rest for the weary, as the Barbarians will have to bounce back this Saturday beginning at 10am against Verizon Nitro if they hope to regain a bit of their swagger.

Immediately after his team’s game with the Chiefs, Barbarians coach Clyde Lemons attempted to shed some light on the struggles that faced the gold and black, leading into the season opener.

“We were short some of our key players today, they had family obligations. After the typhoons we didn’t really get to practice much, so I was happy with the effort. Some of the guys had to play both ways today, and see how hot it is, and we have nothing to be ashamed of. We lost with our dignity, and we’re going to get [them] next time,” said Lemons.

According to Chiefs’ player/coach Danny Punimata, his team also had a few obstacles to overcome before the opener as well. Though he is pleased with the win, the Chiefs have to brush up on a couple of things before their next game.

“It feels good. It was a motivator for us. It motivated us to come out. We had trouble because all of the personnel couldn’t make it to practice, but we’ll be out this week. We’ll be working on our offense, our quarterback protection. Other than that, our defense is set, our receivers are set, it’s just the protection, and giving enough time for our quarterback to throw,” said Punimata.

During the next two weeks, the Chiefs will be able to rest up and prepare for the Nitro, but the Barbarians won’t have quite so much, as they will be facing the Verizon squad in a couple of days, but Lemons thinks that his team will be ready.

“Well, when they win a game, then I’ll talk about them. They haven’t won a game in over a year. I’m not worried about them, and I’m sure they’re not worried about us. We’ll be ready for them. They’re going to have to shake off the cobwebs, we’ve got our first game in, so I feel pretty good,” he said.

With a season removed from the gridiron, John Blanco has made the transition from player to CFL chairman of the board. Now that he has become a neutral party when it comes to league play, Blanco has a slightly different opinion than Lemons about next week’s contest.

“The Barbarians are playing Verizon this Saturday, and Verizon looks pretty sharp. I think the Barbarians are going to have a tough time.”

Gus Romolor has been playing with the Verizon squad from the beginning, and this year his team will be made up of roughly half of Tinian players. After scouting the Chiefs and the Barbarians in the opener, he is all geared up for Saturday’s match up.

“I’m definitely looking forward to the game. We had to go and see both sides last week. We’ll see what’s going to happen, but we’re going to play, and it’s going to be a good one.”