Terrell Buckley obtained a barrage of congratulatory textual content messages following the Orlando Guardians’ first win of the season, a 37-36 upset of the D.C. Defenders Saturday night time at Camping World Stadium. It was a second the first-year coach wouldn’t seemingly neglect anytime quickly and if he wanted a reminder, he solely needed to contact the bump on the left facet of his head.
“I have a knot on the side of my head from them (the players) hitting me with the bucket of water,” Buckley mentioned, describing the postgame celebration. “They hit me so hard I came out of my shoe. I’ll never forget it.”
For Buckley, whose accomplishments embody a profitable faculty profession at Florida State that led to a spot within the College Football Hall of Fame and an NFL profession capped off with a Super Bowl win in 2002, Saturday’s efficiency ranks among the many greatest.
“Besides the Super Bowl, it’s in the top 5,” he mentioned. “The Super Bowl is No. 1 but this is the top four and it’s special.”
Not solely was it the primary franchise win for the Guardians (1-6), nevertheless it got here in opposition to the perfect group within the XFL, with the Defenders sitting atop the North Division forward of the St. Louis Battlehawks (5-2) and the Seattle Sea Dragons (5-2).
“Our rule is we celebrate for 24 hours, s but this being such a historic victory, we extended it another 24 hours,” Buckley mentioned jokingly. “Naw, it’s back to status quo. We’ve had our time and we’ve enjoyed it. We mapped out how we got to this point and now we don’t want to be a one-hit-wonder.”
Quarterback Quinten Dormady set an XFL file with six complete touchdowns within the win after finishing 27 of 34 passes for a season-high 328 yards with three touchdowns whereas including three touchdowns on the bottom. In the three video games since being reinstated by the league after being cleared in a dishonest probe, Dormandy has thrown for 827 yards with 8 complete touchdowns.
“What winners do and what professionals do is you acknowledge your performance and then you dive into how I can even be better? That’s where talking about with him; he believes he can be even better,” Buckley mentioned about Dormady’s efficiency. “That resonates all through the group. It was good and good, d however let’s get again to work and be even higher.
“Because our goals from the beginning of the year are still in front of u, s so let’s take advantage of it.”
During that 3-game stretch, Orlando averaged 29.3 factors per recreation, greater than double the 12.25 factors the Guardians averaged in the course of the first 4 video games. It’s signal for a group that is still mathematically alive within the XFL playoff race.
“We have three games left,” mentioned Buckley. “We’re going to take it one day at a time, one practice at a time and all those cliche, s but we’re aware of our situation and it’s our job — my job — to make sure we play to win.”
Orlando hosts the Arlington Renegades (3-4) at Camping World Stadium Saturday (4 p.m., ESPN).
“We want to pack the stadium and show fans how we appreciate them even during these trying times,” he mentioned. “We appreciate them coming out and supporting us, and we would reward them by coming out, playing hard, and taking care of business.”
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Matt Murschel at [email protected] or observe him on Twitter at @osmattmurschel.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com