Two points are better than one

Wyoming's Matt Strand prepares to throw during their game against Arizona on May 30 in Casper. Star-Tribune file photo.

By DAVID BUCK
Star-Tribune staff writer

Dan Maciejczak doesn't need a card to tell him when to go for a two-point conversion.

Wyoming's coach doesn't care about point spreads or use formulas like other coaches when deciding what to do after touchdowns. Instead, Maciejczak will almost always opt for two points instead of one. It's a practice he's used since he coached the Billings (Mont.) Outlaws of the National Indoor Football League in 2004.

"We were trying to figure out if we wanted to suit a kicker and we went without one," Maciejczak said. "I sat down and figured out that about 75 percent of the time people make the extra points, so my theory is if we can go .500 on two-point conversions, than we are just about the same as them kicking an extra point 75 percent of the time."

Maciejczak's figuring has stood up this year, at least in terms of Wyoming's conversion rate. The Cavalry have scored 142 touchdowns this season and converted 72 two-point attempts for a 50.7 percent conversion rate. Wyoming has kicked just one extra point this season, which was during their first game, and the team hasn't attempted a field goal. The Cavs are the only team in the American Indoor Football Association not to attempt a field goal.

Last year Wyoming used Trey Ransom as its kicker, but the team was also allowed to dress an extra player. This season, with just 20 players available on game days, Maciejczak knows he can't waste any spots.

"I just feel like we get more production out of an extra receiver, (defensive back), d-lineman, whatever it is you want to say we get to suit one extra of because we don't use a kicker," Maciejczak said. "... I can't think of anybody that I would want to sit in order to suit a kicker, and I feel like we get a lot of production out of all 20 of our guys right now."

Ransom is on the team's 30-man roster, but hasn't been used this season. That means quarterback Matt Strand has pulled double duty most of the season as both signal caller and kicker. Kicking also gives Strand a chance to earn back points if he messes up on a conversion, because in the AIFA, kicking the ball through the uprights on a kickoff earns the kicking team one point.

Strand earned Wyoming two points with his foot last week during the Western Conference championship.

"If you miss that extra point or two-point (conversion), at least you know that you've got the chance to get your extra point anyways," Strand said. "It's a good thing to have, and it's good to have that ability to help create that point for our team."

According to Strand, going for two points almost every time doesn't add extra pressure. The pressure comes when the team is pinned deep in its own territory facing third-and-long.

Maciejczak agreed about other situations adding more pressure than not having a kicker.

"To me there are a lot more important things through the course of the game that happen that can make a difference in the game than an extra point," Maciejczak said. "It's just my philosophy. Maybe it bites us in the butt a couple of times, but I don't think right now we need to worry about it."

Contact sports reporter David Buck at (307) 266-0596 or david.buck@trib.com

AIFA BOWL II TRACKER

AIFA BOWL II: Wyoming at Florence (S.C.), 5:45 p.m., Friday, Florence Civic Center

RECORDS: Cavalry (13-3); Phantoms (12-4)

GOING FOR TWO: Wyoming has scored 142 touchdowns this season and kicked just one extra point. The Cavs don't dress a kicker and going for two points almost every time is a philosophy coach Dan Maciejczak came up with while coaching in Billings, Mont.

HE SAID IT: "To me there are a lot more important things through the course of the game that happen that can make a difference in the game than an extra point. It's just my philosophy. Maybe it bites us in the butt a couple of times, but I don't think right now we need to worry about it." -- Maciejczak.