Piranhas Can’t Make Heads or Tails Out of Quarterback Situation

It’s not Waterfield-Van Brocklin, Gabriel-Munson or even Ferragamo-Haden, but for the Southland’s football-starved fans, Molander-Kopp will have to suffice for a quarterback controversy.

Anaheim Piranhas Coach Babe Parilli doesn’t like the term “quarterback controversy” but until he decides who will lead his Arena Football League team into the playoffs, a controversy is what he’s got.

Scooter Molander, a four-year AFL veteran from Colorado State, had been Parilli’s starting quarterback for two years with the Las Vegas Sting and this season with the Piranhas until Troy Kopp started last week’s game against the Iowa Barnstormers.

Kopp, who rallied the Piranhas to a comeback victory the previous week in Charlotte, was eventually replaced in the fourth quarter by Molander and he wasn’t too happy about it.

“I think I played well,” Kopp said after the Piranhas’ 50-44 loss to Iowa. “But it’s beyond my control. I was throwing the ball in the right places. You don’t just pull somebody like that.”

Kopp, who completed 15 of 29 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns through three quarters, had at least one supporter in kicker Ian Howfield.

“Did Troy do enough to lose his job?” Howfield asked. “From what I saw, I don’t think he did. It seems like Scooter has to do a lot more to lose his job than Troy.”

After spending much of the Piranhas’ bye week in Pennsylvania visiting his ailing mother, Parilli said he will study game film of Kopp and Molander and end the suspense sometime this week. The Piranhas finish their season Friday night in Orlando.

“You look around the league and you don’t see two quarterbacks being used with the most successful teams,” Parilli said. “That kind of system just doesn’t work.”

Molander agrees.

“There hasn’t been a two-quarterback system that I’ve seen work,” he said.

The Piranhas (9-4) have clinched a playoff berth and could host a home playoff game with a victory at Orlando and some help from Albany, which plays Milwaukee (9-3) next week. Parilli said he will have the playoffs on his mind when he names his starting quarterback.

“I’m going to do what’s best for the team,” he said. “I’m not going to get into a quarterback controversy. We have a chance to get a home field advantage in the playoffs. If we win three in a row [in the playoffs], we’re the champs. You don’t get opportunities like that very often.”

Molander, 29, has handled the quarterback shuffle better than Kopp, 24, but he has also had more experience dealing with delicate situations.

“Troy’s a young kid,” Parilli said. “I overlooked that. You can’t just fly off the handle when you get taken out. I can understand his competitiveness but you have to do what’s best for the team.”

Molander’s veteran leadership and accurate arm had been best for the team during the first half of the season as the Piranhas cruised to a 7-0 start. But they have lost four of their last six games and suddenly Kopp’s powerful arm is beginning to look more attractive.

Molander is trying to take it all in stride.

“Whatever decision they make, I’ll go with it,” he said.

But Molander, who is 10th in the AFL in passing with a 102.2 quarterback rating, isn’t conceding the job to Kopp either.

“I feel like I can do the job,” he said. “I feel like I’ve earned the job.”

Whoever earns the job, Howfield hopes they keep it.

“I think the guys just want a little consistency during the game,” Howfield said.

Said Adrian Jarrell, the Piranhas’ leading receiver: “It’d be nice to know who the starting quarterback is because Troy and Scooter are two different types of quarterback. Troy is a great athlete with a strong arm. Scooter is a smart quarterback with a great touch to his ball.”

Jarrell tried to be diplomatic when asked if the controversy is dividing the team. He wants the ball no matter who is throwing it.

“It’s not dividing the team but people have their feelings,” he said.