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ARENA FOOTBALL local connection
Former South players team up with Firecats
Wallace, Gaines are both members of the AF2's indoor franchise in Estero, Fla.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Florida Firecats quarterback Chris Wallace, a 1994 graduate of South High School, attempts to get past Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers linebacker Rocco Forgione during a run in the third quarter in a 2008 game at Germain Arena in Estero, Fla. Chris Wallace likes having Jerrid Gaines as a teammate — up to a certain point. Quarterbacks and defensive backs, after all, are always going to have their differences, even if they are both former South High School Wildcats.
"He had a tip-ball pick in camp," Wallace said. "He can't have more than one."
Interceptions are bad enough. The 24-year-old Gaines, through no fault of his own, also makes Wallace, 33, feel old.
"I remember watching his games in elementary and middle school," Gaines said.
"He told me he used to ride his bike past my house," Wallace said.
Eleven hundred miles from their old neighborhood in Springfield, Wallace and Gaines are teammates for the first time. They play for the Florida Firecats, a franchise in Arena Football 2, in Estero, Fla.
On Friday morning, March 27, they spoke to the News-Sun as they rode the team bus up I-75 for a game Saturday in Albany, Ga.
Wallace, a nine-year veteran in AF2, broke the league's career record for touchdown passes last July. Two games into the 2009 season, he's closing in on 500 career TDs.
"It means a lot," said Wallace, a 1994 South grad. "It shows with the stuff I've been doing, there's been some success. Granted, I've played a few years, but it does show I've been doing some good."
Off the field, Wallace is a dad and husband. He and his wife Julie have two kids: daughter Julisa, 6, and son Christopher James, 1. Wallace completed his second season as the head coach at Florida Christian Institute last fall and works at the school as a guidance counselor.
Gaines, a 2003 South grad, tried out for the Cincinnati Bengals last summer and was waived in August. He heard about the Firecats in January through a former Miami University teammate, and Wallace called Gaines not long after he learned Gaines was interested.
Getting used to the new brand of football was rough at first, Gaines said.
"It's a lot different, but once you learn the routes and the angles, it comes natural," he said.
Gaines hopes he gets another shot in the NFL this summer or, if that doesn't happen, in the Canadian Football League.
"I'm just here to sharpen my game and work on different techniques," he said. "You've got to be so much quicker and smarter playing Arena football."
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0351 or djablonski@coxohio.com.
