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The Deuce Scoop

August 4, 2004 - arenafootball2 (af2) News Release


af2 IN THE NFL: As NFL training camps open around the country, there are eleven former af2 players on training camp rosters looking to make a team. Highlighting this list is quarterback Ricky Ray who led the Edmonton Eskimos to the Grey Cup Championship while playing in the CFL last season. Prior to his CFL stint, Ray was under center with the Fresno Frenzy of af2. Now he takes his show to the New York Jets. Asa Francis played this summer in NFLE for the Frankfort Galaxy and now looks to make the Bills roster. Detronn Harris started this season in Birmingham, but may finish it with the Panthers in Carolina. Look below for the entire list.

PLAYER POSITION NFL TEAM af2 TEAM (SEASON)
Shayne Graham K Cincinnati Bengals Richmond (2000)
Reggie Swinton WR Detroit Lions Arkansas (2001)
Micah Ross WR San Diego Chargers Jacksonville (2001)
Justin Skaggs WR Tampa Bay Buccaneers Tulsa (2001)
Dwaine Carpenter DB San Francisco 49ers Rochester (2001)
Ricky Ray QB New York Jets Fresno (2002)
Rob Bironas K Pittsburgh Steelers Charleston (2003)
Asa Francis LB Buffalo Bills Quad City (2003
Bobby Sippio DB Miami Dolphins Greensboro (2003)
Bruce Adrine DE Atlanta Falcons Tennessee Valley (2003)
Detronn Harris WR Carolina Panthers Birmingham (2004)

PIRATES RIGHT THE SHIP: After starting the season a dismal 2-5, the Peoria Pirates rebounded to win seven of their last nine games and qualify for the ArenaCup Playoffs. They will travel to Oklahoma City to play the Yard Dawgz on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET. The 2004 Pirates season goes down in history as one of the best single-season comebacks ever. Only two other teams have ever started a season worse than the 2004 Pirates and gone to the playoffs. Below is a look at some other single season comebacks.

TEAM SEASON START/FINISH PLAYOFFS
Bakersfield 2003 1-6/8-7-1 Lost in First Round
Wichita 2002 1-6/6-10 Lost in First Round
Peoria 2004 2-5/7-2 At OKC on Saturday
Florida 2003 2-4/10-6 Lost in First Round
Macon 2001 2-4/10-6 Lost in Quarterfinals

THE 500-YARD MAN: Going into Florida's game against Tennessee Valley last weekend, Florida Firecats FB/LB Steve Gorrie needed 25 yards to become first player in af2 history to rush for 500 yards in a season. He got exactly 25 yards. Only three other players in af2 history have rushed for 400 or more yards: Quentin Cradle rushed for 402 yards for Memphis in 2001, Sherard Poteete ran for 405 yards for Bossier-Shreveport in 2002 and Arceneaux's record-setting 439 yards for Hawaii in 2002.

FIVE TEAMS IN PLAYOFFS FOR FIRST TIME EVER: The 2004 season saw three teams make the af2 playoffs for the first time: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Memphis and Louisville. Along with these teams, two expansion teams, Bakersfield and Oklahoma City, made the playoffs.

PRENTISS TIES KICK RETURN TD MARK: Memphis OS/KR Kevin Prentiss tied the record for kickoff returns for a touchdown with eight this season. Three other players have returned eight kickoffs for a touchdown in a season.

PLAYER(TEAM) YEAR KO TDs
Kevin Prentiss (MEM) 2004 8
Lincoln Dupree (PEO) 2002 8
Lawrence Pullen (JAK) 2002 8
Adlai Trone (BIR) 2000 8

HOW'D HE DO THAT: The af2 features Ironman players, guys who play multiple positions and rack up stat lines not usually seen in outdoor football. On Saturday night Williams completed a feat the af2 has never seen before, he finished the season as Arkansas' leader in rushing yards, receiving yards and passing yards. How did he do this? Well, simple. Williams started the season as the Twisters' starting quarterback. During this time Williams put up the majority of his 184 rushing yards and 1,605 passing yards. After Week 10 Williams was moved back to his natural position of offensive specialist. Since that point Williams recorded 52 catches for 871 yards and 22 touchdowns to become the Twisters' leader in receiving yards. Look below to he is final statistics.

RUSHING PASSING RECEIVING
ATT YARDS TD CMP ATT INT YARDS TDs REC YARDS TD
45 184 10 133 256 6 1,605 22 52 871 22

200/10,000 CLUB: Before the 2004 season began Craig Strickland and Ricky Hebert were the only members of the 10,000 career passing yards and 200-career touchdown passes club. Now five others have joined them, with Chad Elliott reaching the 200 touchdown plateau this past week against the Islanders.

PLAYER(TEAM) PASSING YARDS PASSING TDs
Craig Strickland (OKC) 14,415 296
Sherard Poteete (BOS) 14,117 246
Matthew Sauk (LOU) 12,653 246
Bob Bees (TUL) 11,688 227
Bryan Snyder (TEN)* 11,647 210
Ricky Hebert (ARK; 2001-03) 10,779 213
Chad Elliott (BKF) 10,768 201
*Only played five games for Tennessee Valley in 2004

1,000-YARD RECEIVERS: It was a big receiving year in the af2. A record 28 receivers totaled 1,000 receiving yards or more this season, besting the 27 receivers who totaled at least 1,000 yards in 2002. The top player in receiving yards this season was Matt Burstein with 1,684 yards.

SEASON RECEIVERS WITH 1,000 YARDS
2000 12
2001 20
2002 27
2003 25
2004 28

FOUR MORE 4,000 YARD PASSERS: A record four quarterbacks threw for 4,000 yards or more this season, highlighted by Louisville's Matt Sauk who led the league with 4,370 passing yards, a new league record. Coming into this season only seven players had thrown for 4,000 yards in a season, three in 2000 and 2003 and one in 2001. Below are the stats for each 4,000-yard passer.

PLAYER(TEAM) GAMES YARDS TDs
Matt Sauk (LOU) 16 4,370 76
Chris Sanders (MAN) 16 4,184 66
Kyle Rowley (COL) 16 4,169 79
Ronnie Gordon (QUA) 16 4,018 67

SORRELL JOINS ELITE LIST OF TACKLERS: Florida's Quincy Sorrell led the af2 in tackles with 100.5 (87UA) and became only the third player to finish the season with 100 or more tackles. Rico Curtis holds the single season af2 tackle record with his 121.0 (90UA) tackle performance in 2002 with San Diego. Next is Cornelius Coe who recorded 117.0 (95UA) tackle in af2's inaugural 2000 season. Third on this list is Quincy Sorrell's performance this season.

HOME SWEET HOME: Home teams went 5-7 in Week 18. For the season home teams went 117-83 for a .585 win percentage. Last season home teams went 130-85-1 for a .604 win percentage. Overall in the history of af2 home teams have gone 506-337-1 for a .599 win percentage during the regular season. It was the worse season for home teams since 2002. Below is a season-by-season chart:

SEASON HOME W-L-T HOME WIN %
2000 77-43-0 .642
2001 136-88-0 .607
2002 158-114-0 .581
2003 130-85-1 .604
2004 117-83-0 .585

SCORING LEADERS: Cape Fear's Matt Burstein scored 18 points on Saturday to end the season as af2's scoring leader with 270 points on 45 total touchdowns. Going into last week he needed five receiving touchdowns to tie Jack Walker's record of 45 last season with Peoria. He finishes the season with 43 receiving touchdowns and two on kickoff returns. Shon King's all-time scoring record of 284 points is safe for another season. Below is a look at the Top 5 scorers at the conclusion of the 2004 af2 season:

PLAYER TEAM GP POINTS
Matt Burstein CPF 16 270
Tony Locke ALB 16 260
Kevin Prentiss MEM 15 258
Jerrian James TEN 14 250
Kevin Williams ARK 16 212

***PLAYOFFS START THIS WEEKEND***

***ALL GAMES ON SATURDAY NIGHT****

First Round Games:
Memphis at Florida - Saturday, August 7 at 7:30 p.m. ET
Birmingham at Cape Fear - Saturday, August 7 at 7:30 p.m. ET
Peoria at Oklahoma City - Saturday, August 7 at 3:30 p.m. ET
Louisville at Quad City - Saturday, August 7 at 8:30 p.m. ET

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