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af2 week four quick hitters

Published on April 20, 2006 under arenafootball2 (af2) News Release


MR. TWISTER IS MR. IRONMAN: Arkansas WR/DB LENNIE JOHNSON (5-8, 185, Arkansas State), in his sixth af2 season, won the US Army Ironman of the Week Award for his impressive individual showing in the Twisters 55-35 Week 3 road victory against Midwest Division rival Bossier-Shreveport. Johnson was a force on both sides of the ball for Arkansas. On offense, the Arkansas State alum had five catches for 53 yards and two touchdowns, and also scored on a 25-yard touchdown run. "Mr. Twister," as he's known by the Arkansas faithful, added 3.5 tackles and two interceptions on defense. This was Johnson's league-record seventh Ironman of the Week honor of his career and his first since the 2002 season. Johnson's strong early season play is a positive sign that he's finally back to full strength after enduring a knee injury near the end of the 2003 season. The injury almost cut Johnson's career short, as he played in just one game in 2004 and sat out the entire 2005 campaign.

PICKED OFF: Manchester veteran DS ALLISTAIR SEBASTIEN, in his fifth af2 season, intercepted two passes in the Wolves recent, 39-34, road victory over East Division rival Louisville. The St. John's alum now has 22 interceptions in his career, which ranks him 4th overall in league history. Sebastien is just five behind Arkee Thompson's all-time af2 record of 27 career interceptions. Sebastien's closest competitor among active players is Florida's BRENT BURNSIDE, who has 19 interceptions in his career.

TURNIN' 40 ISN'T SO BAD: Memphis Head Coach Danton Barto became the newest member of the 40-career win club (includes playoffs) with last week's home win against Tennessee Valley. His career record currently stands at 40-31 overall (.563). Manchester's Ben Bennett (37) and W-B/Scranton's Rich Ingold (36) should also hit the 40-career win plateau this year. Only six other coaches in league history have reached the mark in their careers. The only active members are Spokane's Chris Siegfried (43) and Stockton's Richard Davis (41). Former Rio Grande Valley and Tennessee Valley head coach Kevin Guy is the af2 career leader in overall coaching victories with 52 (52-19). Louisville's Tommy Johnson (29) will reach the 30-win plateau with the Fire's first win of 2006.

CHAMPS KEEP ROLLIN': The Xplorers have picked up right where they left off in 2005. With a convincing, 56-21, home win against the Tennessee Valley Vipers this past Saturday, Memphis improved to 3-0 in 2006. The Xplorers' impressive victory reaffirmed the squad's stance as the top team in the league. The team has now won nine straight games, including the playoffs. That moves Memphis into eighth place on the all-time list for most consecutive games won. The Xplorers still have quite a way to go to take over the all-time league mark of 24 straight games won, set by Quad City over the course of 2000 (19) and part of 2001 (5).

SIEGFRIED HAS SHOCK SPARKLING IN EARLY SEASON: Spokane head coach CHRIS SIEGFRIED has helped lead the expansion Shock to a 3-0 start in 2006. This is the best start Siegfried has had at the helm of an expansion team. He guided the Cape Fear Wildcats to a 2-0 start to begin their inaugural season in 2002 before losing by just one point in the third game to the Augusta Stallions. This week Spokane hopes to move to 4-0 when they face the Amarillo Dusters on Saturday in Texas.

JONES AND CREAR SET NEW MEMPHIS BENCHMARKS: Third-year Memphis QB BRIAN JONES has passed former Xplorers QB Tim Lester in two categories this season in the team record books. The former Toledo Rocket is the new franchise leader in career passing yards (5,780) and career touchdown passes (110). Lester threw for 5,778 yards and 102 touchdowns in his two-year tenure with the Xplorers from 2001-02. OL/DL JOSEPH CREAR became the franchise's career sack leader with 17.5 after tallying 1.5 sacks in the team's recent home win against Tennessee Valley. The four-year veteran surpassed Khreem Smith's previous team best mark of 17, all of which came last season. Crear led the team in sacks in 2003 and 2004. WINNING IS NEVER EASY: Entering Week 4 of the season, there are only five teams that remain undefeated. They are the Arkansas Twisters (3-0), Memphis Xplorers (3-0), Spokane Shock (3-0), Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz (2-0) and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers (2-0). Below is a chart detailing the best starts in af2 history.

TEAM START SEASON
Quad City 16-0 2000
Tenn. Valley 14-0 2003
Augusta 7-0 2002
Richmond 7-0 2002

BENT-ON BREAKING LEAGUE RECEIVING RECORDS IN 2006: Florida OS MAGIC BENTON moved into second place in the af2 record books this past week for career receiving yards with 4,728. After just two games, he's now just 101 yards shy of the all-time mark held by James Scott, who ranks number one overall with 4,829 yards receiving. In Florida's most recent win at Macon on Saturday night, Benton was a standout for the Firecats, catching 11 passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns. He now has 102 receiving scores in his career and is just four behind Tennessee Valley's WAYNE THOMAS (106) and 11 away from Mitch Allner's league record of 113. And that's not it. Benton, who has 377 career catches, is also 24 receptions away from Corey Hill's all-time top mark of 401.

700 CLUB: Arkansas WR/DB KEVIN WILLIAMS is the only active player in the af2 with over 700 career points scored. His current total of 736 ranks third on the league's all-time scoring chart. Former Tulsa star MITCH ALLNER owns the all-time top mark with 780 points. If the five-year veteran Williams stays healthy, he has a great chance to catch Allner and break the record. Other active af2 players looking to join Williams in the 700 club are Stockton's GEORGE WILLIAMS (638), Tennessee Valley's WAYNE THOMAS (638), Florida's MAGIC BENTON (630) and Spokane's NIAN TAYLOR (600). Williams' teammate LENNIE JOHNSON (600) also has a chance to reach the 700 mark this season.

MOST POINTS SCORED, NON-KICKING, CAREER
PTS PLAYER YEARS PLAYED
780 Mitch Allner 2000-04
756 Cainon Lamb 2002-05
736 Kevin Williams 2001-present
642 Kevin Prentiss 2003-05
638 George Williams 2001, 2003-present
638 Wayne Thomas 2000-02, 2004, present
630 Magic Benton 2001-present

TOUCHDOWN MAKERS: Arkansas WR/DB KEVIN WILLIAMS also leads a familiar cast of characters in the race for the af2 career touchdown record. Williams has 120 for his career, just six behind Mitch Allner's all-time mark of 126. Current league standouts like Tennessee Valley's WAYNE THOMAS (106), Stockton's GEORGE WILLIAMS (105) and Florida's MAGIC BENTON MAGIC BENTON (104) are also on their way up the all-time list.

MOST TOUCHDOWNS SCORED, CAREER
TDS PLAYER YEARS PLAYED
126 Mitch Allner 2000-04
120 Kevin Williams 2001-present
118 Cainon Lamb 2002-05
107 Kevin Prentiss 2003-05
106 Wayne Thomas 2000-02, 2004, present
105 George Williams 2001, 2003-present
104 Magic Benton 2001-present

af2 IN THE AFL: The af2 has had hundreds of former players move up to the AFL over the years. A number of those players, such as Orlando OL/DL E.J. BURT or Tampa Bay QB SHANE STAFFORD, have become bonafide AFL stars. In 2006, a new group of AFL players with af2 roots are starting to shine. This week we highlight former Rio Grande Valley DS EDDIE MOTEN and former Memphis DS DAHNEL SINGFIELD. Moten is in his second season in the AFL with Philadelphia after starring for the Dorados in 2004. Moten has followed up a solid rookie campaign in 2005 with an even better sophomore season. The former Texas A&M Kingsville standout has been a big reason why the Soul are currently 7-5 and poised to make the playoffs for the first time in team history. Moten ranks among the League leaders in interceptions (T4th - 7), tackles (6th - 73.5) and passes defended (4th - 22). Singfield, an AFL rookie with the New York Dragons, is another defensive specialist who has made the successful transition from af2 star to AFL star in the making. Despite missing five games this year due to injury, the 2005 af2 Defensive Player of the Year still ranks among the AFL leaders in interceptions with six (T7th). Singfield has returned two of his six interceptions for touchdowns. The former Xplorer is also second on the Dragons with 43.5 tackles and six pass breakups. Last week in his return to action, Singfield intercepted a pass and recorded 2.5 tackles to help New York (7-5) to a 64-57 road win against Columbus.

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