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af2 week six quick hitters

May 4, 2005 - arenafootball2 (af2) News Release


BURSTEIN'S BACK: The 2004 Offensive Player of the Year is back. MATT BURSTEIN caught 119 passes for 1684 yards and 43 touchdowns playing for the Cape Fear Wildcats last season. He led the league in scoring with 270 points. After the season Burstein signed with the Grand Rapids Rampage of the AFL but tore his hamstring before ever suiting up. Now that he is healthy he has returned to the Wildcats. Although the Wildcats have changed towns, moving to Albany, Georgia and becoming the South Georgia Wildcats, Burstein's production has remained the same. In his first game back last week Burstein caught ten passes for 152 yards and two touchdowns. Despite sitting at 0-4, the Wildcats still have hope with the duo of Burstein and af2's leading receiver ADRIAN COCKFIELD, who has 39 receptions. The Wildcats face Birmingham on Saturday.

BO KNOWS ENDZONES: Named Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday, Bossier-Shreveport's BO SMITH has been lighting up the scoreboard. With 84 points in his last three games, he is now among the league leaders in scoring. Having the steady and reliable arm of TIM HICKS under center is only going help as Smith continues his climb up the leader board. To put Smith's last three weeks in perspective, he has averaged 28 points per game. If a player were to average 28 points per game for the whole season, they'd end up with 448 points by season's end. The all-time af2 record for single season scoring is 284 points by SHON KING in 2000. Currently, Smith along with Memphis' KEVIN PRENTISS and Tulsa's DONOVAN MORGAN are on pace to eclipse King's record.

PLAYER (Team) GP POINTS
Kevin Prentiss (Memphis) 5 108
Donovan Morgan (Tulsa) 4 102
Bo Smith (Bossier-Shreveport) 5 102
Magic Benton (Florida) 5 84
J.R.Thomas (W-B/Scranton) 5 78

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: Even though it's still early in the season, four teams have gotten off to a much-improved start from a year ago. The Memphis Xplorers, Manchester Wolves, Green Bay Blizzard and Central Valley Coyotes are off to a combined 13-4 start. Last year through the same amount of games played for each team, the combined record was 4-13. In fact, the Coyotes have already equaled the amount of wins they had for all of 2004 with their 3-1 record.

TEAM 2004 START 2005 START
Memphis Xplorers 2-3 4-1
Manchester Wolves 1-3 3-1
Green Bay Blizzard 1-3 3-1
Central Valley Coyotes 0-4 3-1

IF IT AINT BROKE: The 2004 ArenaCup champion Florida Firecats are off to their best start in team history with a 5-0 record. Dating back to last year's playoff run, the Firecats have won nine straight games. A look at the numbers shows that not much has changed between last year's team and the 2005 squad. For example, in 2004 the Firecats averaged 49.1 points per game. This year they have averaged 48.0 per game. Defensively, the Firecats allowed only 38.2 points per game last season. In 2005 the team has averaged 35.0 points allowed.

REESE-LIGHTNING: Amarillo rookie QB JULIAN REESE has burst onto the af2 scene with a powerful one-two punch under center. The mobile gunslinger has proved he can get it done by air or on the ground. With four rushing touchdowns last week, Reese now leads the league in rushing touchdowns with 12. The all-time single season record is 28 set by WILMONT PERRY with Cape Fear in 2003. Reese also has 19 passing touchdowns, which ties the seventh best total in the league. Of the six players ahead of him on that list, five have played five games compared to Reese's four.

NEW BENCH BOSSES: On Monday the Arkansas Twisters relieved GARY ANDERSON of head coaching duties. Former AFL head coach JOHN GREGORY was named as Anderson's successor. Gregory is sixth all-time in AFL victories (73) and fifth in games coached (130). He won AFL Coach of the Year in both 1995 and 1996 and coached KURT WARNER as head coach of the Iowa Barnstormers. Gregory won the CFL's Grey Cup as head coach of Saskatchewan in 1989 ... The Amarillo Dusters had to deal with a coaching vacancy of their own last week when DON CARTHEL stepped down to take the head coach position at nearby West Texas A&M University. In stepped defensive coordinator STEVE PURDUE. The 27-year old is the youngest head coach in af2 history. His coaching career got off to a solid start when Amarillo went on the road to defeat San Diego 49-31 last week. A win for the Dusters against Quad City on Saturday will help them keep pace with division leading Memphis.

DEVELOPMENTAL LEAGUE FOR PLAYERS, COACHES, OFFICIALS ... AND DANCERS: Taylor Miller, a member of the 2004 Arkansas Twisters Sirens Dance Team, has been selected as one of 46 young women to compete for a roster spot on the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. She is part of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader Training Candidates, who will go through what Miller calls two months of boot camp and technique training. If Miller is named one of the finalists, she'll perform sideline and halftime routines at Dallas Cowboy home games for the 2005-06 season.

af2 IN THE AFL: KEVIN NICKERSON, former member of the Tulsa Talons, is currently the second leading receiver for the Austin Wranglers. On the season Nickerson has caught 70 passes for 840 yards and a team leading 18 touchdowns. In Austin's 58-55 win at Columbus last week Nickerson caught eight passes for 75 yards and two touchdowns ... Last week the 2003 af2 Defensive Player of the Year KAHLIL CARTER was named the AFL's ADT Defensive Player of the Week. Carter recorded seven solo tackles and two assists, while hauling in two interceptions - one in each half in Nashville's 57-55 victory over the defending ArenaBowl champion San Jose Sabercats ... It's not the AFL, but former Pioneers' kicker JIMMY KIBBLE is spending his summer in Germany playing for the Cologne Centurions of NFL Europe. Kibble has been solid for the Centurions, connecting on 10/10 extra points and 10/12 field goals. The only two field goals Kibble has missed have been between 30-39 yards. He is 3/3 from 20-29 yards and 4/4 from 40-49 yards. Kibble has also punted three times, with an average of 34.0 yards, but this obviously isn't a skill he honed in af2. He currently leads the team in scoring with 40 points.



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