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AFL I Arena Football League (1987-2008)

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May 1, 2003 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I) News Release


ALL-PURPOSE PLAYER: Chicago OS ANTONIO CHATMAN is trying to add another record to his collection. Chatman is attempting to become the fourth player in AFL history to record 25 receiving touchdowns, 100 receptions, 1,000 receiving yards and 1,000 return yards in a season. Chatman needs seven receptions and one receiving touchdown in the final three games to reach the milestone. Here is a look at the three players already in the record books and those attempting to join this season:

PLAYER TEAM YEAR REC TD REC REC YDS RET YDS
George LaFrance Tampa Bay 1996 30 100 1,258 1,570
Eddie Brown Albany 1996 41 113 1,685 1,307
Alvin Ashley Milwaukee 1999 26 109 1,352 1,207

PLAYER TEAM YEAR REC TD REC REC YDS RET YDS
Antonio Chatman Chicago 2003 24 93 1,200 1,645
Bernard Holmes Carolina 2003 16 83 995 1,644
Freddie Solomon Tampa Bay 2003 21 84 1,207 1,030
Travis McGriff Orlando 2003 24 63 1,031 793

WESTERN RIVALS: The Los Angeles Avengers will travel to America West Arena to play the Arizona Rattlers this weekend as the two Western Division rivals battle for playoff positioning. The last time the two teams met in Week 11, the Rattlers prevailed 82-76 in overtime. The game tied for the fourth-highest combined scoring game in League history. The Avengers are currently No. 2, while the Rattlers are No. 5 and looking to climb up for one of the four first-round byes.

BATTLE OF ARENABOWL CHAMPS: This Saturday's contest between No. 4 San Jose and No. 6 Grand Rapids will pit the last two ArenaBowl champions against each other. The teams will be competing for a first-round bye. Last season, the SaberCats followed up a 13-1 regular season with their first championship, while the Rampage – in very similar fashion – captured its first championship in 2001, following a 13-3 regular-season finish.

JUST FOR KICKS: San Jose K DARON ALCORN needs two more field goals to become only the fourth kicker in AFL history to reach the century mark.

TOP FIVE CAREER FIELD GOALS
Mike Black 175
Steve Videtich, Las Vegas * 127
Kenny Stucker 119
Daron Alcorn, San Jose * 98
Remy Hamilton, Los Angeles * 88
*Through 13 games, 2003

ROOKIE RACE: Dallas Desperados WR/DB WILL PETTIS added to his resume for Rookie of the Year by capturing April's Rookie of the Month award. If either Pettis or WILLIAM HOLDER are named Rookie of the Year, it will mark the first time since the awards' inception that a WR/DB is honored. Here is a look at some rookie award winners who are 2003 Rookie of the Year candidates:

CANDIDATES FOR 2003 ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
PLAYER TEAM POSITION AWARDS
Damon Hodge Grand Rapids WR/LB Ironman of the Game – Week 11
William Holder New York WR/DB Ironman of the Game – Week 9Ironman of the Game – Week 12
Travis McGriff Orlando OS Rookie of the Month – February Rookie of the Month – March
Tom Pace Arizona WR/LB Ironman of the Game – Week 10
Will Pettis Dallas WR/DB Rookie of the Month – April

SACK ‘EM SAM: In the history of the four-game series, San Jose has registered 11.0 sacks against Grand Rapids' 1.0 sack. San Jose OL/DL SAM HERNANDEZ, the AFL's career sacks leader, has recorded 5.0 of his 54.0 career sacks against the Rampage and has at least 1.0 sack in all four series games. If Hernandez records at least one sack this weekend against the Rampage, he will tie his career high for most sacks against one team (Tampa Bay 6.0).

20/20 GUYS: With three touchdowns last week against Georgia by WR/LB CORY FLEMING, he and OS TRAVIS MCGRIFF became the first Predators' receiving tandem with at least 20 touchdown receptions each in a single season. Here is a look at more of the League's 20/20 receiving combos:

20/20 RECEIVING COMBOS IN AFL
(Teams with at least two receivers with 20 touchdowns each)
RECEIVING TANDEM TEAM REC TDS
Chris Jackson (39), Greg Hopkins (24) Los Angeles 64
Terrill Shaw (34), Steve Smith (22) Grand Rapids 56
James Roe (27), James Hundon (23) San Jose 50
Cory Fleming (20), Travis McGriff (24) Orlando 44
Andy McCullough (21), Dialleo Burks (20) Dallas 41

INTERCEPTING HISTORY: San Jose's CLEVAN THOMAS leads the League in interceptions with a career-high 10 picks this season helping his team to a 9-4 overall record and the No. 4 position in the playoff seedings. Despite missing two games due to injury, the defensive specialist is on pace (14) to break the AFL's record for most interceptions in a season (12) currently tied between DAMEON PORTER (Chicago, 2001) and TRACEY PERKINS (Tampa Bay, 1997).

WINNING TRADITION: With one more victory this season, the Rattlers will secure their 11th straight winning season. The Orlando Predators currently own the League's longest streak of winning seasons at 12 (1992-present). The Tampa Bay Storm had their winning-season streak (11) snapped last season.



Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from May 1, 2003


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