Richey plays with heart of a Dragon

By TRAVIS METCALF

TAHLEQUAH DAILY PRESS June 30, 2008 09:35 am

— Josh Richey, who grew up in El Reno and went to college at Northeastern State University, is now celebrating a big win with a professional football team.
Richey plays receiver for the New York Dragons, which won their first-round playoff game on Friday night over the Dallas Desperados, 77-63, in Dallas. If the Dragons can win three more games, they will win the Arena Bowl, which will be played on July 27 in New Orleans.
“It felt pretty good,” Richey said about winning on Friday. “They beat us twice in the regular season but we thought we had a chance to win.”
The Dragons were one of the last teams to make it into the playoffs, earning a six seed. Dallas was the three seed.
Richey said it’s not the NFL, but he doesn’t care. He’s happy he can still make a living playing football.
“It’s still football,” Richey said. “Everybody wants to play in the NFL, but I’m content with the AFL. If the NFL comes, it comes, but if it doesn’t, I’m fine.”
Richey was a 3-year starter for the Redmen. As a senior in 2004, Richey hauled in 37 catches for 587 yards and five touchdowns.
In his junior season with the Redmen, Richey hauled in 231 yards on eight catches in one game.
“He made a lot of big plays for us,” said Jeff Horner, who was Richey’s head coach. “He worked hard for us. He did a good job. I’m glad to see him doing good.”
Since gradu Amarillo (Texas) Dusters arena football team in the af2 league in 2006. He also played for the Everett (Wash.) Hawks in the same league before being called up to play for San Jose in af1.
After being released by San Jose, he signed a free agent contract to play for the Dragons in November.
“It’s been a crazy roller coaster,” Richey said. “I love living in New York now. New York is huge. It was kind of different because it’s a different atmosphere between New York versus little Tahlequah.”
Richey’s favorite NFL player is Santana Moss which is why he always chooses to wear No. 6, the number Moss wore when he played for the Miami (Fla.) Hurricanes.
“I used to watch him when he was with Miami,” Richey said. “I just like how he runs his routes. He’s a little guy like me. He shows me size doesn’t matter.”
Richey now has a 3-year-old daughter who lives in Bartlesville with her mother.
“I’m playing for my daughter now,” Richey said. “I think think about them the whole practice, the whole game. If I don’t perform, my daughter doesn’t eat.”
His mother still lives in El Reno.
“She loves it,” Richey said with a laugh. “She goes crazy and tells the world. I don’t like it sometimes but I can’t stop her.”
Richey started his athletic career as a baseball player. He started playing baseball as a kid and played through high school, however he found that he liked football better and pursued that in college.
“I thought I was good in baseball,” Richey said. “Everybody else thought I was. People were mad that I quit and went to playing football. I got burned out on baseball.”
Arena is almost a completely different sport than outdoor football. While the object of both is to get the football across the goal line for a touchdown, the field dimensions are smaller so the rules have to be tweaked to work with a field that’s half the size of a normal football field.
“It’s a big change, a big difference,” Richey said. “Outdoors you can use speed more. In the indoor game, everything is fast and quick and the field is smaller. You have to really run your route.”
The smaller playing field and faster playing conditions lead to much higher scoring games than in the outdoor game, and that fits in just fine with the receiver.
“The scoring is my favorite part of arena football,” Richey said. “I love to play the game, that’s why I play the game”
The Dragons next play on July 5 at Phildelphia. The Soul won the National Conference championship and enters the game as the No. 1 seed. The game can be viewed on ESPN.
“We play better on the road anyway,” Richey said. “We can beat anybody if we stay focused and do what we have to do. We have a good chance of beating Philly.”