Posts Tagged ‘Quorey Payne’

Larry Harrison is one of those guys who can talk about anything.  I have seen him talk to management, coaches, fans, kids, media, and members of his Mahoning Valley Thunder team.  The fact that he can adapt his conversation level to suit who it is he is talking to makes him one of the most charismatic members of the 2009 Mahoning Valley Thunder team.  Larry is one of those people who has the gift of communication piped into his blood.

Harrison is enjoying his time spent in the greater Youngstown area, “I love it here, Youngstown is a football town and the people have been supportive.  I wish we were winning and this place would be full for home games“.  The Thunder are not winning, but Harrison is buying into the “never quit” attitude being pushed by new coach Chris MacKeown.  He has had an impact as a defensive lineman for Mahoning Valley.  I now expect to see him hurry quarterbacks the rest of this season the way he has in the last couple of weeks.

Interestingly, Harrison says his football role model is Reggie White, another charismatic guy that the fans liked.  Larry said he could only hope to be the kind of person Reggie White was both on and off the field.  I see the Reggie in Larry.

Larry watches Sportscenter and CNN.  He has a PS3 and is currently playing the newest Grand Theft Auto game and says he is addicted to first person shooter games.  Harrison admitted to me that his favorite thing to do to relax is sleep.  “I don’t watch that much TV, the best thing to me is a nice nap and a good night of sleep”.

Because Harrison grew up in Detroit, he has to have some Motown in his diverse musical preferences.  “When you grow up in Detroit, you gotta have Motown on at some point”.  Larry also likes Gospel, Blues, Hip Hop, and Rhythm & Blues.

Harrison said he likes to eat at Jeremiah Bullfrogs.  “We have meal card allowances, so the food is free, but it is delicious“.  Larry liked Bullfrogs so much that he said if family or friends came in to visit, he would take them there because it is a nice crowd and they would like the food too.

Hopefully Larry Harrison is a Mahoning Valley Thunder player for a long time.  He, like Quorey Payne, is one of those guys who politely leads by example and smiles when he gets it right.  He is polite and well-spoken and the kids love getting his autograph at the home games.

The Mahoning Valley Thunder showed heart and resiliancy in the second half of their game with the Kentucky Horsemen.  Ultimately, however, the Horsemen prevailed 61-39.  The Horsemen prevented new coach Chris MacKeown a victory in his debut and also sent Mahoning Valley away with their eighth consecutive loss.

Jared Lorenzen gave the Thunder defense fits as he passed for 195 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for another three scores on his way to being named Russell Offensive Player of The Game.  The high-powered Kentucky offense uses a semi-platoon system at quarterback with Lorenzen yielding snaps to Justin Rascati who threw for one score and ran for another, he also caught a few balls lining up at receiver en route to winning the JLS Ironman Player of The Game Award. 

Lorenzen drove the Horsemen down the field as they scored in two plays to make it 7-0.  Quorey Payne, as I guaranteed in his feature piece, returned the next kickoff for a touchdown to make it 7-7.  The Horsemen again scored to post a 13-7 lead as the extra point kick was blocked. 

The Thunder offense finally hit the field 20 points later and quarterback-center exchange problems on their first two plays gave the Horsemen the ball deep in Thunder territory, where they would again capitalize to take a 21-7 lead.  The combination of Blake Powers to Payne, which clicked all night, put Mahoning Valley back in the game at 21-13.  Lorenzen mowed some bodies on a one-yard TD to put the Horsemen up 27-13.

As the Horsemen mounted their next drive, a roughing the passer call erased  a Thunder interception in the Horsemen end zone.  Kentucky would eventually turn the ball over on downs.  The first quarter finally ended with Mahoning Valley trailing Kentucky 27-13.

The only score of the second quarter came on a Lorenzen to John Cooper touchdown pass and the Horsemen took a 34-13 lead to the locker room.  Cooper finished the game with 8 catches for 88 yards and the touchdown.

Blake Powers threw a pick on the Thunder’s opening second half drive.  Lorenzen drove the Horsemen down the field and went in untouched on a keeper making it 41-13.  Powers responded on the next drive finding Chris Schubert for a score.  The Horsemen again scored to push their lead to 48-20. 

Powers again found Payne to cut the lead to 48-26.  The Thunder attempted an onside kick, but failed to convert the attempt.  A third Jared Lorenzen TD pass extended the Horsemen lead to 55-26 on the first play of the fourth quarter.  Powers marched Mahoning Valley down the field and capitalized with a run for a touchdown to cut the Kentucky lead to 55-33.  Another onside kick attempt failed and the Thunder defense flexed its muscle keeping Kentucky out of the end zone. 

On the ensuing possession, Blake Powers showed where his heart was as he scrambled for a touchdown taking a very nasty hit at the goal line.  Powers hurt his right shoulder on the touchdown and his status for next week is uncertain.  With that score, Mahoning Valley cut the lead to 55-39.  Again, the Thunder attempted an onside kick unsuccessfully.  With 20 seconds left Lorenzen was driving the Horsemen again when an errant snap was scooped up by Michael Alston for what appeared to be a Thunder TD, but the play was flagged as Alston kicked the ball about fifteen yards downfield before he scooped it cleanly.

Lorenzen closed out the scoring throwing his fourth touchdown on the last play of the game, making the final score 61-39.

Blake Powers finished the game 23-42 for 259 yards and 3 TD’s but was intercepted twice.  He also rushed for 26 yards and two more touchdowns.  Quorey Payne had an outstanding gamecatching 11 balls for 143 yards and two touchdowns.  His 58-yard first quarter kickoff return tied a Thunder record for longest return in franchise history.  The tandem of Powers and Payne will thrive under Coach MacKeown’s new system.

“We shot ourselves in the foot early and we are making too many mistakes.  Playing a high-powered offense like this, you can’t afford to give them easy scoring chances, which we did.  We adjusted and played a better second half.  I was proud of the heart and fight shown by this team tonight.  We will break down the film in the morning and do what we have to do to become a better team for next week”, said Coach MacKeown after the game.  I asked Coach Mackeown if there would be wholesale personnel changes to which he replied, “No wholesale changes, I saw positives we will build on.  I was happy with the play of the O-line and the defense at times.  There is potential to win with what is here and we will turn it around, I am very optimistic from things that I saw tonight”.

The Thunder play at Milwaukee Friday.  I will get to practice this week and better acquaint myself with Coach MacKeown and his goals.  Coach Brennan Booth and Coach MacKeown will be a dangerous tandem in AF2 for the rest of the year.  

The Mahoning Valley Thunder played a better game at Manchester despite losing, 56-42.  This Manchester team lost to Wilkes Barre / Scranton by just three points a couple of weeks ago, so it appears that the Thunder are constantly making improvements and becoming more competitive under the watchful eye of interim coach Brennan Booth.  Booth failed to pick up his first win as the interim coach, but this game was filled with positives to build on for this weeks game with Kentucky.

Blake Powers started the game at quarterback and had a couple of touchdowns for the Thunder.  Under tremendous pressure almost every play, Coach Booth opted to go with Davon Vinson, who is faster and a better scrambler than Powers.  Vinson ended up throwing a touchdown pass and an interception and was 17-27 for 195 yards.

With the score tied, 7-7, Manchester’s kickoff was misplayed off of the screen and they recovered for a touchdown.  On their very next kickoff, Clarence Curry took one the distance for the Thunder to tie the game at 14.  Down 21-14, Mahoning Valley made the switch at QB, and Davon Vinson responded, driving the Thunder down the field to tie the game at 21-21.  However, Manchester controlled the rest of the half and had a key interception in the end zone to stop a Thunder threat.  Manchester took a 35-21 lead to the locker room at half.

The Wolves took the second half kickoff and drove successfully to take a 42-21 lead.  The Thunder matched points with the Wolves in the second half, punctuated by a terrific CJ Brewer 39-yard TD catch late in the game.  It just proves that this team will not quit when they are scoring with an unrealistic chance to win at that point. 

Quorey Payne was solid again catching 8 passes for 117 yards.

For Mahoning Valley, life on the road remained difficult.  This loss was the Thunder’s 16th consecutive road loss and seventh loss in a row.  The high powered Kentucky offense will prove to be a challenge for Mahoning Valley this Saturday at The Covelli Centre.  Come out and support the team!

The first player to be featured in a Mahoning Valley Thunder Profile is Quorey Payne.  The first time I met Quorey was after a home game in which he returned a kickoff for a touchdown which was called back because of an illegal block.  The next home game, Payne again returned a kickoff for a touchdown, and again, it was called back because of a penalty.  I joked with Quorey after the last game and said that the next home game, May 30 at The Covelli Centre, he would run one back and it would count.  In fact, I guarantee it.

Quorey Payne grew up in Florida and had a standout high school career before playing his college ball at Southern Illinois.  The former Saluki said he doesn’t follow his old college team much because his coaches are no longer there and he doesn’t really know any of the guys playing right now. 

Last week, Quorey did not return home to Florida during the bye week.  He opted to stay in Youngstown and try to make a few extra dollars moving furniture.  “Florida is just too far to drive, and I wanted to stay to keep working out”, said Payne.

Of all the Thunder players I have talked to, Quorey is the most polite.  Don’t get me wrong, the whole bunch of guys have been awesome.  It isn’t easy to put on a happy face to sign autographs for kids after the home games when you lose by 30 points, but Quorey and his team find a way to smile and get through it.  Payne is respectful, addressed every member of the media as “sir”, and is a very positive person.

In his spare time Quorey enjoys a good workout.  It is his ambition, to advance to a higher level of professional football someday.  The AF1 shutdown this year has only the CFL and NFL as possibilities.  AF1 might reload and come back next season.  Unfortunately for Thunder fans, Payne has 15 TD’s this year and is turning heads around the football world. 

Quorey watches The Ultimate Fighter and said a good fight on that show gets him “jumping all over the place” and pumped up.  We spoke briefly about last weeks episode when Team Bisping’s English fighter knocked out the teeth of Team Henderson’s American.  He is also an absolute addict for VH1 reality shows such as Tough Love and Rock of Love with Bret Michaels of Poison.  However, Sportscenter is dominant on his television and he says when the television is turned on, thats usually what is being broadcast through his one bedroom apartment.

Quorey likes to play video games and has a PS3.  “I like the NCAA and Madden games, but they aren’t out yet, I am waiting“.  Quorey said for now he is just having fun playing Street Fighter and Resident Evil 5.

Payne has interesting musical preferences.  He likes Anthony Hamilton, Usher, R Kelly, and Pretty Ricky.  He also admitted that he is a sucker for a good slow song.  In fact, he said he likes slow music better than anything.  I guess depending on his mood he would jam some beats before a game or during a workout, but slow music was his definitely his answer for my favorite music question.

Quorey just got out of a three year relationship and announced that he is currently single. 

I really like Quorey Payne.  He is the prototype of what the Mahoning Valley Thunder wanted to show off as a player to the general public.  He is well-spoken, polite, creative, and a spectacular athletic talent who will never quit. 

Don’t forget on May 30 against Kentucky at The Covelli Centre, I guarantee a kickoff return by Quorey Payne for a touchdown with no penalties.

The Mahoning Valley Thunder knew they had a tough opponent in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.  The two teams met earlier this season and Wilkes-Barre posted an 80-43 rout.  The score was not much different at The Covelli Centre Friday night as The Pioneers posted a 73-37 victory over The Thunder.  What was different was the spirit that Mahoning Valley played with.  The score does not reflect the fact that the home team did not quit. 

The game started bad for The Thunder as Blake Powers tried a lateral that was fumbled and recovered by Wilkes-Barre on The Thunder 4-yard line.  Wilkes-Barre scored on the next play to jump out 7-0.  On the next play from scrimmage for The Thunder, Powers was intercepted by The Pioneers Micheaux Robinson who returned his pick to the Thunder 10-yard line.  Two plays later The Pioneers scored again to make it 14-0.  At this point, Wilkes-Barre had 14 points and 14 total yards on offense.

Mahoning Valley got on the board on a Derrick Schorejs field goal to cut the lead to 14-3.

Penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct were plentiful against The Thunder.  The feeling of frustration was obvious in some instances.  The Thunder wanted Wilkes-Barre to understand that they were there for pride and not to be disqualified for complacency and nonchalance.

Down 21-3, Mahoning Valley engineered a nice drive that resulted in a Blake Powers 1-yard TD run to cut the lead to 21-10.  Wilkes-Barre scored quickly on a 36-yard pass from Ryan Vena to J. J. Outlaw, and again on their next possession to take a 35-10 lead.   Powers then found C. J. Brewer for a 28-yard strike making the score35-17.   Wilkes-Barre, with some help from Thunder penalties, kicked a field goal to make the halftime score 38-17.

Quorey Payne finally got untracked in the fourth quarter.  He caught TD’s of 10 and 39 from Davon Vinson, who replaced Powers in the fourth quarter.  I really feel for Quorey Payne.  This guy, for the second home game in a row, returned a kickoff for a touchdown only to have it called back for a penalty.

Down 59-31 in the fourth, Mahoning Valley attempted an onside kick.  The attempt failed and The Pioneers got a quick touchdown out of it.  This is the point in the game where I realized that The Thunder were not laying down and were doing everything in their power to make positives to build upon. 

With the score at 66-37, Wilkes-Barre pumped one in, using timeouts to stop the clock for no good reason.  This was David flexing his muscles at Goliath, and a classless display, I was thrilled that they did this.  This will give The Thunder some incentive for the rematch with The Pioneers on June 27 in Youngstown.  Final score Wilkes-Barre 73, Mahoning Valley 37.

Ryan Vena is a great quarterback.  When he was rushed he made some incredible throws in very little spaces.  Vena finished the night 30-39 for 331 yards and 7 TD’s.  Irving Campbell caught 11 of Vena’s passes for 139 yards.  J. J. Outlaw caught 9 Vena passes for 106 yards and 4 TD’s.

For Mahoning Valley, Blake Powers was 12-24 for 114 yards with 2 TD’s and a rushing TD.  Davon Vinson was 2-2 for 49 yards and 2 TD’s and also had a run of 35 yards.  C.J. Brewer and Quorey Payne had a pair of touchdowns each for The Thunder.  Payne finished the game with 182 all-purpose yards.

The Thunder have a bye week before traveling to Manchester on May 22.  The next Thunder home game is set for May 30 against The Kentucky Horsemen.

I spoke with new coach Brennen Booth (above) after the game.  Booth was not furious about losing saying he saw many positives and was pleased that his team kept fighting.  He also told me that people knew they were playing for their roster spots tonight and that most stepped up to the challenge.  Look for a few transactions to be made next week as Booth will be working with a few guys looking to become Thunder players.

I will be doing features on Coach Booth, Quorey Payne and Blake Powers in the next couple of weeks.  I will also be doing a story about the many things The Thunder staff coordinates to make these home games very family friendly.  Everything and anything goes when there is a timeout.  After the game, players sign autographs and answer questions.  It really is a great night out and I encourage the entire valley to get to a game, you won’t be disappointed.  Much more on The Mahoning Valley Thunder in the near future right here at Paneech.com.

The 1-5 Mahoning Valley Thunder know things will get better sooner or later.  Unfortunately, sooner might not be until next week as The Wilkes-Barre Pioneers (5-1) come rolling into The Covelli Centre this Friday.  The game is on a Friday to accomodate WWE Wrestling at the center on Saturday.  Maybe new coach Brennan Booth can talk the WWE’s Big Show into playing defense for his AF2 team.

Mahoning Valley is winless in this lifetime against Wilkes-Barre in six tries.  Brennan Booth is winless as a head coach at 0-1.  It would be a great victory to change both of those facts if The Thunder were able to find a way to win this game.  Blake Powers and Quorey Payne are the best shot if The Thunder might be able to pull the upset.

The two teams met on April 18 in Wilkes-Barre with The Pioneers posting an 80-43 victory over The Thunder. 

Kickoff is set for 7:05, see you there!

The Mahoning Valley Thunder dropped a heartbreaker to The Albany Firebirds, 50-41, in Albany Saturday night.  The Thunder, under new mentor Brennan Booth, came out firing and took a 12-point lead to the locker room at halftime.  The defense could not do much against Albany in the second half as The Firebirds scored on five straight possessions.  The Thunder could only muster 14 second half points. 

The loss lowered The Thunder to 1-5 and Albany improved to 1-5.  Mahoning Valley has not won a road game in almost two years. 

The combination of Firebirds QB Stephen Wasil and WR Johnny Butler combined for five touchdowns.  Wasil finished the game 26-40 for 278 yards and Butler caught nine Wasil passes for 154 yards.

Blake Powers was able to come back from a shoulder injury and finished the game 21-39 for a career-high 251 yards and five touchdowns.  Quorey Payne led The Thunder receivers with six catches for 94 yards and three touchdowns.

The Thunder return home this Friday night when powerhouse Wilkes-Barre rolls into The Covelli Center.

The Tulsa Talons rolled through Youngstown and left with a convincing 66-30 victory over The Mahoning Valley Thunder.  The Talons got 9 touchdown passes from Justin Allgood and WR/KR Jeff Hughley racked up 216 all-purpose yards.  To make the loss worse, Mahoning Valley has some real issues at quarterback.  Starter Blake Powers jammed his shoulder and was forced to leave the game.  “I got hit pretty hard and it just sent a shock up my arm“, Powers told me after the game.  Replacement Davon Vinson was just plain ineffective the majority of the time he was in.

The game started promising enough as The Thunder took the opening kickoff and scored on a Powers 23-yard pass to Quorey Payne.  Tulsa jumped ahead 20-7 on three Justin Allgood touchdown passes.  With the score 20-7, Quorey Payne took a kickoff all the way back for an apparent touchdown.  The points were denied due to an illegal block in the back.  The big momentum shift really hurt The Thunder.  “Anytime a big play like that gets called back, it hurts us bad“, said Payne.

Tulsa blew coverage on a Powers to De’Tario Frederick 27-yard TD.  There was no defender 20 yards near Frederick as Powers got an easy one.  After an exchange of quick touchdowns, Derek Shorejs kicked a 32-yard FG with no time left in the half to cut The Talons lead to 38-23.

Tulsa scored to make the score 46-23 on another Allgood toss of 18 yards.  On the ensuing drive and The Thunder on Tulsa’s  three yard line, Powers tried a keeper to the left and got planted, shoulder first, into the Cortland Banks Field turf.  Powers finished the drive, but would not return with a bruised shoulder.  Tulsa scored the games final twenty points to make the final score 66-30.

When Davon Vinson took over for Blake Powers, the offense really looked out of sync.  Powers spent most of the first three quarters running for his life and really took a beating.  Vinson could not seem to do much to contribute to the offense.  He too, had a lack of protection, but when he could get a pass off, it was usually thrown poorly.  Vinson also coughed the ball up on The Talons one yard line.

Thunder Coach Mike Hold was disappoined with his teams performance.  “It is really disheartening to go through practice all week thinking we have a chance, only to come out like this.  We need to re-evaluate some things and keep trying.”  Coach Hold knows that his Thunder team can put forth a better effort and stressed how crucial turnovers can be when playing a team the caliber of Tulsa.  “You can’t get away with turnovers and mistakes against a team like Tulsa, it always ends up coming back to get you and we couldn’t stop them or move the ball.  We need better consistency on both sides.”

Tulsa Coach Mitch Allner praised the toughness of The Thunder saying that the score didn’t indicate how close of a game it was and that he was happy with the performance of his team.  “We were fortunate to create a few turnovers and capitalize on them when we needed to.“

The Thunder threw three interceptions, two to the Aaron’s Defensive Player of The Game, Pierre Thomas.  “Pierre made a couple of great plays for us tonight.  He used the schemes that we worked on in practice to have two very important takeaways for our team tonight”, said Allner.

The Thunder travel to New York to face The Albany Firebirds next weekend.   I will be writing another Thunder article this week about all of the great stuff that happens when play is stopped and the reaction the fans have to the giveaways and contests.  Look for my Albany preview here on Friday!

Mahoning Valley Thunder Coach Mike Hold thinks his team stands a better chance in week 5 against The Tulsa Talons than they did in week 3.  Tulsa blasted The Thunder in week 3, 79-35, in Tulsa. Coach Hold said, ” We feel more comfortable heading into this game because we saw them two weeks ago.  Now we have a good idea on what they like to do and how we match up, at the same time, they have a feel for our play calling and personnel.  They showed us that they’re an extremely physical team and their offense can beat you in a number of ways.  If we can limit the mistakes we made in week 3 we can be successful.”

In order for The Thunder to have a chance, the defense has to play better.  In the first four weeks of the season the defense has let every team score more points than the previous weeks opponent.  Tulsa (3-1) took it to Mahoning Valley in week 3, beating the Thunder 79-35.  Tulsa Coach Mitch Allner has a lifetime 29-7 record and has never lost to The Thunder.

I feel that QB Blake Powers will have a bigger week.  Last week was Powers first start and he played pretty good.  Powers threw for three scores and ran in another two.  The University of Indiana product was making his first start against Wilkes-Barre.  With this start look for Powers to play with more confidence and remain productive.

Powers favorite target is Quorey Payne who had 8 catches for 173 yards last week.  Payne is putting up great numbers and even returned a kickoff 50 yards to finish the Wilkes-Barre game with 351 all-purpose yards, a Mahoning Valley Thunder franchise record.  Payne has 435 receiving yards through the first four games and I am sure he will be hungry to keep putting numbers up.

The Talons are loaded with home grown talent boasting a roster with ten Oklahoma players.  Tulsa beat Iowa 58-31 last week.  Talons QB Justin Allgood was 32-49 for 148 yards with 8 TD against Iowa last week.  The Central Oklahoma product does a good job distributing the ball to Jermaine Landrum and Zac Edwards.

Mahoning Valley will need to step up their game to pull off this upset.  If the defense can play a little better and the offense can exceed production they have a good chance of winning.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 at The Chevy Center.

I am hoping to see a few Blake Powers to Quorey Payne touchdowns in the near future.  I received media credentials to cover The Mahoning Valley Thunder for this season.  I am excited about the opportunity and hope to give the team additional exposure through this website. 

I was a waterboy when Al Boggia coached the Youngstown Hardhats in the 1970’s.  Since then, the Youngstown area has only had great high school football, Youngstown State, and either Cleveland or Pittsburgh as an outlet for professional fandom.  What I like most about the local AF2 Thunder playing at The Chevy Center is that they are working hard to put people in the seats.  I see great promotions everywhere — everything from buy one-get one free, to family discounts (which include tickets, food, and refreshments), to entertainment besides the game, at the game.  It is an honest effort that I respect.

The Thunder play in the AF2 league.  Arena football is like a hamster race until you can get used to the speed of the game.  Players have to go both ways, almost like at Lowellville High School, but on a much grander scale.  I enjoy this brand of football and look forward to bringing my readers to better know and support The Mahoning Valley Thunder!

The Thunder has gotten off to a rocky start so far in 2009.  The squad fell to 1-3 this past weekend at the hands of The Wilkes-Barre Pioneers, who are 6-0 all-time against Mahoning Valley Thunder teams.  The team returns home this weekend for a 7:05 PM  Saturday game against Tulsa.  Hopefully The Cortland Banks Field inside The Chevy Center can produce some magic for the home team!