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AFl Matchups: Conference Battles the Focus in Week 3

April 13, 2016 - Arena Football League (AFL) News Release


LAS VEGAS - The Los Angeles KISS (1-1) will travel to Quicken Loans Arena to challenge the Cleveland Gladiators (1-1) in what could prove to be a pivotal early-season contest on Saturday, April 16 at 7:30 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network. The victor will keep pace in the National Conference race. Also on Saturday, the Tampa Bay Storm (0-2) travel to play the Arizona Rattlers (2-0) at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix at 9 p.m. ET (WatchESPN). On Sunday, the Portland Steel (0-2) head East to take on the Philadelphia Soul (1-1) at Wells Fargo Center at 4 p.m. ET (ESPN2 and WatchESPN) and Week 3 wraps up on Monday, April 18 at 7 p.m. ET with an American Conference showdown when the Jacksonville Sharks (1-1) host Florida rival Orlando Predators (2-0) (WatchESPN).

WEEK 3 MATCHUPS

LOS ANGELES KISS (1-1) AT CLEVELAND GLADIATORS (1-1)

Saturday, April 16 at 7:30 p.m. ET (CBS SPORTS NETWORK)

Play-by-play: Brent Stover; Color commentator: Pat O'Hara; Sideline: Cassie McKinney

WHAT TO LOOK FOR: KISS: WR Amarri Jackson makes his return to Cleveland for the first time since leaving the Cleveland Gladiators in the offseason. In Amarri's lone season in Cleveland in 2015 he caught 92 passes for 1,173 yards, and 24 TDs while rushing for another. Jackson also played a vital role on the special teams, as he returned 74 kickoffs for 1,532 yards, and three TDs... QB Nathan Stanley is second in the AFL with 545 yards of total offense and passing yardage. Stanley also ranks No. 4 with a 60.0 completion percentage... WR DJ Stephens is ranked No. 2 in the AFL with 355 all-purpose yards. He is also third in kick return yards (175) and is seventh in both receptions (16) and receiving yards (180)... DB Clevan Thomas needs 1 INT to be the second player in league history to tally 80 interceptions... DB Rayshaun Kizer needs 7 INTs to be the third player in league history to tally 70 interceptions... WR Donovan Morgan needs 14 more touchdowns to be ranked seventh in all-time receiving TDs. "Captain" Morgan currently has a touchdown reception in 11 straight games... Derrick Summers is two sacks away from becoming the 15th player in league history to record 40 sacks. Summers' 38 sacks puts him fourth among active players... GLADIATORS: QB Dennis Havrilla under center and the former Western New Mexico signal-caller delivered a monster performance, completing 23-of-34 pass attempts for 219 yards and five TDs in a 41-29 home win over the Tampa Bay Storm... On the defensive side of the ball, rookie DB Joe Powell collected his third and fourth INTs of the season and returning his second pick for a TD in the game's waning moments to preserve the Gladiators' first win of the season... Powell earned Riddell Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts... WR Thyron Lewis earned the J. Lewis Small Playmaker of the Game award against Tampa Bay last week when he collected 10 catches for 94 yards and two TDs in the win. With that performance, Lewis surpassed 5,000 career receiving yards and currently sits at an impressive 5,057 receiving yards... WR Collin Taylor torched the Tampa Bay secondary for three TDs, including the 26-yard game-winner on Saturday. Taylor finished the game with five catches for 69 yards.

TAMPA BAY STORM (0-2) AT ARIZONA RATTLERS (2-0)

Saturday, April 16 at 9 p.m. ET (WATCHESPN)

TAMPA BAY

ARIZONA

SERIES LEADER

Tampa Bay leads 8-5

WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Both teams are tied with the most ArenaBowl titles in league history with five... Tampa Bay (1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, and 2003) and Arizona (1994, 1997, 2012, 2013, and 2014)... STORM: WR T.T. Toliver has played in nine games versus the Rattlers... He's recorded 60 receptions for 789 yards and 17 TDs... This will be WR Phillip Barnett's second game versus Arizona, he caught four passes for 60 yards and two TDs... WR/KR Gerald Young has seen action in one game versus Arizona... Last time out: Set a single-game AFL record with two missed field goals returned for 106 and two touchdowns; also had four kick returns for 103 yards... Rattlers defensive coordinator Dave Ewart was the Tampa Bay Storm head coach from 2011-13... DB Cameron McGlenn, a five-year veteran, has 37 career interceptions, averaged 7 INTs over the past three seasons and started in 81-of-89 games played... RATTLERS: Under Coach Kevin Guy, the Rattlers have won five straight home openers, going back to 2011... Guy is 11 wins away from passing AFL Hall of Fame Coach, Mike Dailey (115 wins) for No. 5 in all-time wins. He cur-rently has 105 wins... QB Nick Davila is a two-time ArenaBowl MVP (ArenaBowl XXV, Aren-aBowl XXVII), four-time All-Arena selection (first team - 2014, sec-ond team 2011, 2012, 2013) and two-time AFL MVP (2011, 2014). He is currently the passing yards career leader for active players with 28,730... WR Rod Windsor has caught a touch-down pass in 35 consecutive games played... Rattlers FB Mykel Benson leads the League in TDs (6) and is second in yards (43)... Windsor is No. 1 in the League for re-ceiving yards and receiving touchdowns this season. He has a total of 237 yards and 8 TDs for the Rattlers... The Arizona Rattlers have three players in the Top 5 for total sacks this season. DL Luis Vasquez leading the way with 4.0 sacks... Since 2014, the Rattlers are 10-0 when DB Arkeith Brown caught an INT.

PORTLAND STEEL (0-2) AT PHILADELPHIA SOUL (1-1)

Sunday, April 17 at 4 p.m. ET (ESPN2 and WatchESPN)

Play-by-play: Ari Wolfe; Color commentator: Sherdrick Bonner

PORTLAND

PHILADELPHIA

SERIES LEADER

Philadelphia leads 1-0

WHAT TO LOOK FOR: STEEL: Former AFL Rookie of the Year WR Jared Perry is off to an outstanding season. The fifth-year receiver from Missouri has caught 14 passes for 176 yards and, a team leading, three TDs in 2016. For his career in 48 games, he has caught 305 passes for 4,176 yards and 83 TDs... Before joining the Steel in 2016, QB Danny Southwick and WR Tom Gilson were teammates on the LA KISS in 2015. In 2016 the two have connected for 17 receptions, 171 yards and two TDs. In 12 games played together for their careers, Southwick has found Gilson on 50 receptions for 549 yards and four TDs... Second-year kicker Ernesto Lacayo has converted 9-of-10 (90%) extra point attempts in the young 2016 season. The Hastings College product is now 63-of-69 (91.3%) on point after attempts in his AFL career... In three games with the LA KISS in 2015, Portland WR Jabin Sambrano caught four passes for 61 yards and two TDs. Last week against Orlando in his season debut, he caught 11 passes for 73 yards and two TDs surpassing his career marks for game highs and career highs in one contest. SOUL: Former All-Arena performer WR Darius Reynolds leads the team in receptions (18), receiving yards (208) and receiving TDs (6) ... FB Jeramie Richardson leads the AFL in rushing yards (54)... 2015 AFL MVP Dan Raudabaugh has led the Soul to three East Division titles and three Conference Championship appearances has connected on 45-of-69 passes for 539 yards and 10 TDs... Since 2004, the Soul are the winningest team in Philadelphia with a winning percentage of .576 - they edge out the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers (.569), NFL's Philadelphia Eagles (.555), MLS' Philadelphia Union (.526), MLB's Philadelphia Phillies (.525) and NBA's Philadelphia 76ers (.394)... Philadelphia head coach Clint Dolezel had a 13-year AFL Hall of Fame career as an ArenaBowl winning QB (with Grand Rapids in 2001). Dolezel still finds himself among the all-time leaders in passing yards (No. 3 with 44,564), TD passes (No. 2 with 931), pass attempts (No. 4 with 5,698) and completions (No. 4 with 3,749).

ORLANDO PREDATORS (2-0) AT JACKSONVILLE SHARKS (1-1)

Monday, April 18 at 7 p.m. ET (WatchESPN)

ORLANDO

JACKSONVILLE

SERIES LEADER

Jacksonville leads 8-6

WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Orlando has faced the Jacksonville Sharks 14 times in the regular season since 2010. Jacksonville leads the all-time series, 8-6. Orlando face Jacksonville four times last season and was 2-2 in those matchups. Most recently, Orlando fell to Jacksonville in the first round of the 2015 postseason, 55-33... PREDATORS: Orlando Predators QB Bernard Morris played for the Jacksonville Sharks in 2010, 2012, and 2013, leading the franchise to the American Conference championship game in each of his last two seasons... Jacksonville QB Tommy Grady was the starting quarterback for the Utah Blaze in 2012 and 2013 under Predators head coach Rob Keefe (then defensive coordinator) and offensive coordinator Matthew Sauk... QB Randy Hippeard enjoyed a record-setting campaign in his first year with the Predators. Despite playing in only 11 games, Hippeard managed to throw for 2,997 yards and 61 TDs with only six INTs while setting a new AFL record by completing 74.4 percent of his attempts. He also finished second in AFL history in passer efficiency (133.7)... WR Brandon Thompkins finished first in the AFL with 196 all-purpose yards per game - a mark that outpaced the second-place competition by over 30 yards per game. In fact, Thompkins found the end zone five different ways last season as he scored TDs receiving, rushing, returning kickoffs, returning a missed field goal, and even passing for a score... SHARKS: Sharks Head Coach Les Moss served as the defensive coordinator of the Orlando Predators from 1991-2003. Les is the son of AFL Hall of Fame coach Perry Moss, who served as the Head Coach of the Predators from 1991-1997... WR Joe Hills, who earned Under Armour Offensive Player of the Week honors, has caught at least one TD pass in 54 consecutive regular-season games played... Hills, Tiger Jones and London Crawford combined to catch 85 of the Sharks' 97 touchdown passes in 2015... A five-time First Team All-Arena selection, FB Derrick Ross is the AFL's all-time leader in both rushing yards (2,858) and rushing TDs (178)... DB Greg Reid earned First Team All-Arena and AFL Rookie of the Year honors a season ago despite not joining the team until the seventh game of the regular season. Reid has picked off 11 passes in 14 career regular-season appearances... JLB Alvin Ray Jackson accounted for 11 turnovers in 18 games last season and led the Sharks with three non-offensive TDs... The Sharks return the entirety of a starting pass-protection unit that yielded just eight sacks in 2015. The team has not allowed a sack through the first two weeks of this season.

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