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AFL's SaberCats, Rampage To Play In Stockton

January 24, 2007 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Stockton Lightning News Release


STOCKTON, Calif. * The Stockton Lightning of the arenafootball2 league are scheduled to host a preseason scrimmage between the San Jose SaberCats and Grand Rapids Rampage of the Arena Football League at Stockton Arena on Thursday, February 15, 2007, Lightning team president Dan Chapman announced today.

"The Stockton Lightning are very excited to host the San Jose SaberCats and top level arena football in the Stockton Arena," said Chapman. "The SaberCats are one of the premier franchises in the AFL and with Coach Darren Arbet being a native Stocktonian, this is a perfect fit for them to play in our facility."

The scrimmage will begin at 6:30 p.m. PT, with general admission tickets on sale for $5 at the Stockton Arena ticket office, and available for purchase online through www.stocktontickets.com. Both teams will play under traditional Arena Football League rules with 14-minute quarters. Teams will not be allowed to rush on kickoffs.

Last season, the SaberCats won the American Conference's Western Division title with a 10-6 record and advanced to the American Conference Championship game. San Jose has captured two ArenaBowl titles, six Western Division championships, seven consecutive playoff appearances and owns the league's best regular season record this decade.

SaberCats Head Coach/General Manager Darren Arbet is returning to his hometown of Stockton for the game. Arbet is entering his ninth season as San Jose's head coach and is a two-time AFL Coach of the Year. He is a graduate of local Edison High School and was recently inducted into Stockton's Black Sports Hall of Fame.

"I'm excited about bringing the SaberCats to my hometown," said Arbet. "I was born and raised here (Stockton) so this truly is a homecoming for me."

Grand Rapids is entering its 10th season in the AFL and is led by head coach Sparky McEwen. The Rampage won the franchise's only ArenaBowl title in 2001 and have been to the AFL Playoffs five times.

ABOUT THE ARENA FOOTBALL LEAGUE

The Arena Football League recently celebrated its 20th anniversary season in 2006 and has 511 players all-time that have played in both the AFL and NFL (at least one game on active roster for both), most notably quarterback Kurt Warner, who played for Iowa of the AFL from 1996-97 and won a Super Bowl title with the St. Louis Rams in 2000. In addition, there are 73 new players on current rosters that have at least one game of NFL experience.

There are 175 players on current active AFL rosters who have NFL experience (at least one game on active roster). Almost 40 percent of the AFL is comprised of players with at least one game of NFL experience. There are 32 additional players on current AFL rosters with NFL experience (at least one game on active roster) who are classified as Other League Exempt or Retired.

In their first season, the Lightning ranked third in af2 attendance with an average of 7,445 fans per home game. Season tickets for the 2007 Lightning regular season are on sale now. For more information on season tickets, merchandise, or other information, please call the Lightning at (209) 373-1500 or visit www.stocktonlightning.com.



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