Albany Conquest Game Notes

Published on June 9, 2003 under arenafootball2 (af2)
Albany Firebirds News Release


QUICK FACTS:
Albany Conquest (8-1) vs Norfolk Nighthawks (5-4)
Date: Saturday, June 14, 2003
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. EST
Site: Pepsi Arena (13,901)
National Anthem: Miranda Mirabella
Coin Toss: Head Referee
Officials: Ed Kierce (Head Referee)
Broadcast: Teamline Services (Internet broadcast via www.albanyconquest.com)
Series Record: 1st Ever meeting
Streaks: ALB – WON 6 NOR – LOST 2
Coaches: Pete Costanza (8-1, 12-13 overall, 1st season in Albany) Rick Frazier (5-4, 1st af2 Season)

THE STAKES: The Albany Conquest (8-1) are coming a huge, come-from-behind, 48-47 victory, on the road at Greensboro in week 11. The win kept the Conquest two games ahead of Mohegan (6-3) in the Northeast Division. The Wolves and the Conquest meet twice more this season (6/28, 7/26), with both meetings taking place at the Pepsi Arena. Albany will play their final two non-division games this week and next, against Norfolk, in a home-and-home two game series. The Conquest's 2003 playoff status will rest solely on their performance over the final seven games. In order to secure a first-round BYE and home field after that, they must finish with one of the two best records in the American Conference. Right now, Tennessee Valley is the #1 team at (9-0), with the Conquest the only team with just one loss. Cape Fear (7-2) is close behind, looking for the #2 seed as well.

THE IFs:

If Albany defeats Norfolk, it would ...
· Give the Quest a 1-0 series record with the Nighthawks.
· Give the Quest a 4-0 home record in 2003 and 11-2 overall.
· Give Pete Costanza his ninth victory as head coach of the Conquest.
· Give the Quest their second consecutive 9-1start.
· Extend their winning streak to seven 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.

Rick Frazier comes to the Norfolk Nighthawks for his first af2 season after spending the 2002 season as Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator for the Toronto Phantoms (AFL). Prior to that, he spent seven years with the Milwaukee Mustangs (AFL), the final four as the team's Head Coach. In 1996, the Mustangs "D" was the #1 unit in the AFL, ranking tops in total defense, pass defense and QB sacks. Frazier began his coaching career in 1976 after graduating from East Texas State University. Since then, his resume includes wins at the high school, college and pro football levels.

FAMILIAR FACES: Albany Head Coach, Pete Costanza, served as Offensive Coordinator for Norfolk during the 2001 season...OS Corey Hill played in three games for Norfolk in 2001, catching nine passes for 117 yards and three touchdowns...QB Ryan Vena was in camp with Hill and Costanza, but was released prior to the start of the season...Albany FB/LB Leroy Thompson also played for Norfolk in 2001, picking up 2.5 tackles and one sack in two games of action.

MILESTONES:

· The Corey Hill Watch
af2 Career Numbers
Receptions (328)
Receiving Yards (3,585)
All-Purpose Yards (6,173)
Scoring (374 points)

· QB Ryan Vena has 367 career rushing yards and 5,351 career passing yards.

DROPBACK: Albany Quarterback, and Game MVP, Ryan Vena hit newcomer Jim Jones, from 12 yards out, with 13.7 seconds to play, to earn a 48-47 come-from-behind victory over the Greensboro Prowlers, in front of 2,296 fans at the Greensboro Coliseum Saturday night.

Vena, who was named the league's player of the week last week, kept his sharp-shooting in tact, as he completed 35-of-44 passes (79.5%) for 377 yards and six touchdowns. He threw two each to Phil Taylor and Jamie Ware. OS Corey Hill caught 15 passes for 121 yards to lead all receivers, while catching Vena's first touchdown pass of the game, a 29-yard strike on the second play of the game. Greensboro took their first lead of the game with 8:23 left in the game when QB Caleb Slover found David Hill from 23-yards out for a 38-34 lead. The Conquest then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, but after a defensive stand held the Prowlers to a field goal, extending the lead to 41-34.

Albany took 3:15 seconds to score their next touchdown, Ware's second of the game, and tied the score at 41-41. After Albany kicker Chris Drennan's sneak on-side attempt failed, Greensboro's Bobby Graham ran the ball in from 3-yards away for the go-ahead score. Kicker James Thomas missed the extra point and The Conquest still had 52 seconds to score a touchdown and now kick the extra point for the win.

On the final drive, Vena made a miraculous 4th down conversion pass to FB/LB Matt Vittengl, getting the ball inside Prowler territory with under 30 seconds left in the game. On the very next play, Vena rolled left, threw right, and found Jones for the game-winner. Drennan split the uprights with his PAT and the Conquest defense held Greensboro out of the endzone for the win.

Vena has been named Game MVP in seven out of the eight Conquest wins this season. He came into the game as the 3rd rated passer in af2 and completed over 79% of his passes for the second straight week.

The Conquest (8-1) is now riding a six game winning streak, while Greensboro drops to (4-6) and fourth place in the Atlantic Division.

FORWARD MOTION: Next Saturday, June 21st, the Conquest travel to Norfolk, VA to play the second of two straight games against the Atlantic Division's 2nd Place Nighthawks. Following that game, the Conquest will have just one road game remaining (7/11 @ Wilkes-Barre) and four out of five at home. The Nighthawks are the last non-divisional opponent that Albany will play in 2003, but look to be a potential playoff team, so wins the next two weeks could come into play if a tiebreaker scenario presents itself.

TEAM NOTES/TRENDS:

Conquest, not Colt – 45's: the magic number for the Albany Conquest in 2003 appears to be 45. That is the least amount of points that the team has scored this season, hitting the number is two consecutive weeks to open the season against Richmond. The Conquest streak of games over 50 points ended at five this past weekend when they defeated Greensboro, 48-47.

af2 Top Tens: The Conquest Offense and Defense has been slowly climbing the ranks of af2 in the statistical categories. After week eleven, they now rank in the top ten in all team categories; Scoring Offense (2nd) and Defense (5th), Total Offense (2nd) and Defense (5th) and Passing Offense (3rd) and Defense (3rd). Elite Company: Quarterback Ryan Vena is the only quarterback in af2 with a completion percentage better than 70%. Vena, the #1 rated signal caller in the league, has completed 195-of-276 pass attempts (70.7%) for 2,312 yards and 46 touchdowns through nine games.

Flag on the Play: As good of a season as the Conquest are having, there has been one glaring statistic that may cause Head Coach Pete Costanza constant headaches, penalties. Albany currently ranks 26th out of 27 teams in the flag category. Through nine games, they have been flagged 92 times for 739 yards. Conversely, through the entire 16 game season in 2002, the team accrued 112 penalties for just 760 yards.

No Field Goals Required: Albany kicker Chris Drennan ranked 4th in af2 in field goals made in 2002 with 13. So far, through nine games, Drennan has only been forced to convert three field goals for the Conquest offense. To compare the two seasons, in 2002 the Conquest averaged 37.9 points per game through nine games, whereas in 2003, the Conquest are second in the league with their 54.7 points per game average.

PLAYERS/MATCHUPS TO WATCH:

Conquest QB Ryan Vena: Vena, a 2nd-year player out of Colgate University, is the #1 rated passer in af2, boasting a 124.7 quarterback rating. Last week at Greensboro he completed 35-of-44 passes (79 %) for 390 yards and six touchdowns. The yardage ranks as the 4th best performance in league history, and Vena is now the only QB in af2 with a completion percentage above 70 (70.7%). Vena has been named Game MVP in seven out of the eight Conquest victories this season.

Conquest WR/DB Jamie Ware: Ware, playing in his second season with Albany, is enjoying a very fine season on both sides of the ball. Ware, who is one of the most prolific receivers ever to come out of Shippensburg (PA), has more than doubled his offensive output form a year ago, while playing solid defense at his WR/DB spot. Ware is currently the 3rd leading receiver on the team, catching 24 passes for 388 yards and 11 touchdowns. He is also tied for the team lead with three interceptions, to go along with 9.5 tackles, four pass breakups and a forced fumble.

Norfolk OS Travis Burns: Burns, a 2nd Year player out of Liberty, is amongst the af2 leaders in most offensive categories. He is currently 8th in the league in scoring (122 pts) and receptions (63), 2nd in receiving yards (910) and 1st in All-Purpose yards (1,881). Last season, Burns became just the thirst player in af2 history to amass 1,00 receiving and 100 rushing yards in a single season. Burns has scored 17 of the Nighthawks' 34 passing touchdowns this season, while picking up another two on the ground. He is also averaging 22.3 yards per kick return with one score (57 yds).

KEY DATES IN TEAM/LEAGUE HISTORY:

June 16, 2000 – Jacksonville's Terrence Flagler becomes the first player to return a kickoff 57 yards, which at the time was the longest possible in arena football.



arenafootball2 Stories from June 9, 2003


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central