Albany Conquest Game Notes

Published on June 2, 2003 under arenafootball2 (af2)
Albany Firebirds News Release


QUICK FACTS:
Albany Conquest (7-1) at Greensboro Prowlers (4-5)
Date: Saturday, June 7, 2003
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. EST
Site: Greensboro Coliseum (8,350)
National Anthem: N/A
Coin Toss: Head Referee
Officials: Greg Glasgow (Head Referee)
Broadcast: Teamline Services (Internet broadcast via www.albanyconquest.com)
Series Record: 1st Ever meeting
Streaks: ALB – WON 5 GRE – WON 1
Coaches: Pete Costanza (7-1, 11-13 overall, 1st season in Albany) Steven Jerry (4-5, 19-22 overall, 3rd season in af2, 1st in Greensboro)

THE STAKES: The Albany Conquest (7-1) has won five games in a row and currently sits in first place, two games ahead of Mohegan (5-3), in the Northeast Division. Having come through a rugged early-season road schedule virtually unscathed at 5-1, then reeling off two in a row at home over Birmingham and Rochester, the Conquest are in prime position to defend their division crown and advance to the 2003 ArenaCup playoffs. Albany will play five out of their final eight games at the Pepsi Arena, the last four all being divisional games. The Conquest would love to be one of the two teams in the American Conference to be rewarded with a first-round BYE in the playoffs, plus home-field advantage throughout. In order to do that, they will need to win two very tough, long road games (Greensboro and Norfolk, VA) and hope to continue their good fortune at home (10-2 lifetime).

THE IFs:

If Albany defeats Greensboro, it would ...
· Give the Quest a 1-0 series record with the Prowlers.
· Give the Quest a 5-1 road record in 2003
· Give Pete Costanza his eighth victory as head coach of the Conquest.
· Give the Quest their second consecutive 8-1start.
· Extend their winning streak to six games.
· Keep the Quest in first place, ahead of Mohegan.

HEAD COACHES: Pete Costanza enters his first season as head coach of the Conquest. In 2002, Pete turned around a 0-16 Columbus (GA) Wardogs team and finished 4-12, including having the league's #5 ranked defense. Costanza, a New Jersey native, brings over seven years of arena football coaching experience to the Capital region, which includes stops with the New Jersey Red Dogs, Roanoke Steam, Norfolk Nighthawks, Iowa Barnstormers and the Wardogs. Costanza has coached every position in arena football and will be responsible for calling both the offense and defense for the Conquest in 2003.

Steven Jerry enters his inaugural season with the Prowlers after spending the last two seasons as Head Coach of the Roanoke Steam (af2). After an impressive 2001 season, where Jerry brought the Steam from 3-13 to a 6-8 mark, he finished 8-8 in 2002, missing the playoffs by only one game each season. Prior to coaching in Roanoke, Jerry served as the offensive coordinator for the Norfolk Nighthawks (af2). He has also been a coach at East Tennessee State, Virginia State, College of William & Mary, Central Florida and Siena College. Jerry attended UNC-Chapel Hill prior to playing three years in the AFL with the Albany Firebirds, Grand Rapids Rampage and New England Sea Wolves.

SERIES NOTABLES: N/A

MILESTONES:

· The Corey Hill Watch
af2 Career Numbers
Receptions (313)
Receiving Yards (3,451)
All-Purpose Yards (6,001)
Scoring (368 points)

· QB Ryan Vena has 356 career rushing yards and 4,961 career passing yards.

DROPBACK: Game MVP Ryan Vena threw six touchdown passes and the Albany defense held Rochester to 127 total yards of offense, en route to a 64-40 victory Saturday night, in front of 5,072 fans, at the Pepsi Arena. The win, Albany's fifth in a row, kept them in first place in the Northeast Division.

Vena completed 17-of-21 pass attempts for 251 yards, while racking up another 26 yards on the ground. Vena, who has now been named Game MVP in six-out of- seven Conquest (7-1) wins this season, threw three touchdowns to WR/DB Phil Taylor (6 rec. for 82 yards) and two to OS Corey Hill (7 rec. for 82 yards and 91 return yards).

Rochester (1-8) struck first when OS Martino Theus hauled in an 18-yard scoring strike. After a missed extra point gave the visitors a 6-0 lead, the Albany defense stepped in. After Hill scored his first touchdown of the game, OL/DL Spencer Conley sacked Brigade QB Jason Visconti in the end zone, forcing a fumble that rolled out of the back of the end zone for a safety and giving the Conquest an early 9-6 lead.

The home team then went on a 25-8 run, before Rochester WR/DB Derek Baker returned a kickoff 54 yards for a touchdown just before the half, sending it into the locker room, 36-20. Baker would return two kicks for scores and finished with a game-high 219 all-purpose yards.

The second half saw the Conquest defense stand tall and the offense add to its lead, keeping the I-90 NY Lottery Cup in Albany for the second straight season. DS Elijah Beamon, who ran back an interception 50 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter and picked up 6.5 tackles (two for loss) and two pass breakups, was named ADT Defensive Player of the Game for the second time in 2003.

The Conquest will travel to Greensboro, NC to take on the Greensboro Prowlers next Saturday, June 7 at 7:30 PM. Fans can catch all the action by logging onto www.albanyconquest.com and listening to the FREE webcast provided by TRZ Teamline Services.

FORWARD MOTION: Next Saturday, June 14th, the Conquest hosts the Norfolk (VA) Nighthawks in the first of two back-to-back games. Norfolk will be the third and final non-divisional (American-Atlantic) opponent Albany will face in 2003. Following the home and away with Norfolk, the Conquest play five straight division games, four at home, to finish the season and make a push for the af2 playoffs. Albany will play Mohegan (6/28, 7/26) and Wilkes-Barre (7/5, 7/11) each twice more and one more against Rochester on July 19th.

TEAM NOTES/TRENDS:

The BIG "5-0": The Conquest have scored more than 50 points in each of the last fiver games, and have not scored less than 45, through seven games this season. During the 2002 season, teams went 162-40 (80%) when they scored 50 points or more in a game. The Conquest passed Quad City this week as the #1 scoring team in af2. Albany is now averaging 55.5 points per game, ahead of the Steamwheelers who are at 53.9. #3, Either Side: The Conquest defense has been trying to catch up to the offense in the af2 statistical rankings. After this past week's win over Rochester, the balance between "O" and "D" has been reached. Albany ranks 3rd in the league in both Total Offense (263.6 yards per game) and Total Defense (209.2 yds/game). The Conquest have scored 57 touchdowns (3rd) this season, while giving up 41 defensively (4th). Top Rated Signal Callers: Albany's combination of QB's, Ryan Vena and Gus Ornstein, have combined to make the Conquest the top rated passing team in af2. Together, they have a rating of 122.2, four-tenths of a point better than Quad City (121.8). While Vena has the majority of the snaps and brings his 122.9 rating to the table, Ornstein boasts a 90.51 rating in limited action (1 TD, 0 INT).

Home Sweet Home: The Conquest continued their winning ways inside the Pepsi Arena Saturday night. The win gave them a 3-0 home record in 2003, and pushes their all-time record at home to 10-2 (including playoffs). Overall in af2, home teams have won 62% of the games this season. Tulsa currently has a 22 game regular season home winning streak, three games away from the all-time mark of 25 straight home wins, set by Quad City in 2000-02.

Sack Attack: Through eight games so far this season, the Conquest has racked up 17 sacks on opposing quarterbacks. They are currently one behind Bakersfield (18) for the league lead. On the other side of the ball, Albany's O-Line has allowed just eight sacks by their opponents. So, for every one sack the Conquest has given up, they have gotten at least two back in return. OL/DL Spencer Conley is tied for the league lead with 6.5, while OL/DL Lube Stamenich has 3.5 and FB/LB Ron Perry has contributed 3.0.

PLAYERS/MATCHUPS TO WATCH:

Conquest DS Elijah Beamon: Beamon, the week two ADT Defensive Player of the Week in af2, recorded his second interception return for a touchdown against Rochester. The 2nd year player out of Lafayette is currently 6th in af2 in tackles (43.0) and tied for 7th in interceptions (3). His 50-yard INT return last week was the longest in team history and made Beamon the only player in af2 this season to have two interception returns for touchdowns.

Conquest OS Corey Hill: Corey "Thrill" Hill, a third year af2 player, ranks 3rd in af2 in receptions (74) and is on pace for 148 catches this season. Hill set the pro football record with 161 in 2002, but has seen his role altered a little bit for this season. Hill is drawing more attention from opposing defenses, opening up the airways for teammates Phil Taylor (10 TD), Jamie Ware (9 TD) and Adriel Linyear (7). While Hill is still the team's leading scorer (12 TD), he is catching more underneath routes, resulting in a 10.0 yards per reception average. His 1,542 all-purpose yards this season has pushed his career total to 6,001 yards, putting him in the af2's top five all-time.

Greensboro WR/DB Bobby Sippio: Sippio, the Prowlers leader in all-purpose yards, has contributed in all facets of the game for his team. He has caught 8 touchdown passes, return kicks for two more, returned an interception for a touchdown, while picking up 19.0 tackles, five breakups and a fumble recovery on defense. The rookie out of Western Kentucky also averages a team-high 19.9 yards per reception.

KEY DATES IN TEAM/LEAGUE HISTORY:

June 8, 2001 – With three kickoff returns for touchdowns against Roanoke, Louisville's Brian McDonald ties Adlai Trone's league record for returns in a game. McDonald currently plays for the Fankfurt Galaxy of NFL Europe.

June 8, 2002 - Augusta's Undre Williams tied the same record, returning two missed field goals and one kickoff, all three for touchdowns.

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