Albany Conquest Game Notes
July 16, 2003 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Albany Firebirds News Release
QUICK FACTS:
Albany Conquest (11-3) Vs Rochester Brigade (2-12)
Date: Saturday, July 19, 2003
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. EST
Site: Pepsi Arena (13,901)
National Anthem: TBA
Coin Toss: Head Referee
Officials: Ed Kierce (Head Referee)
Broadcast: Teamline Services (Internet broadcast via www.albanyconquest.com)
Series Record: ALB 4-1
Streaks: ALB â LOST 1 ROC â LOST 1
Coaches: Pete Costanza (11-3, 15-15 overall, 1st season in Albany) Mike Esposito (1st game as Head Coach of Brigade)
THE STAKES: The Albany Conquest, after dropping last week's game in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, can still clinch their second straight division crown and a first-round playoff BYE with a win over the Brigade this week. Albany was helped by a Mohegan loss, in Richmond Friday night, keeping the Conquest two games ahead of the Wolves (9-5) in the Northeast Division. Albany has already clinched a playoff berth and a home playoff game for at least the first round. With a win against Rochester, or a Mohegan loss at Wilkes-Barre Friday night, the Conquest will obtain the first-round BYE and host their first playoff game Saturday, August 10th. THE IFs:
If Albany defeats Rochester, it would ...
· Give the Quest a 5-1 series record with the Pioneers.
· Give the Quest a 7-0 home record in 2003 and 13-2 overall.
· Give Pete Costanza his twelfth victory as head coach of the Conquest.
· Snap the Quest's one-game losing streak.
· Keep the Quest in first place, two games ahead of Mohegan.
· Clinch their second consecutive Northeast Division crown.
THE SERIES: CONQUEST LEAD 5-1...Albany took two out of three from the Brigade in 2002 and have won the first two meetings so far in 2003...(April 13, 2002): Conquest defeat the Brigade, 42-36, behind Ryan Vena's four total TD's (3 pass, 1 rush)...(April 27, 2002): Brigade hand Quest first loss of the season, 34-32, behind Martino Theus' 14 catches for 181 yards and two scores...(June 20, 2002): Conquest become first team to win ten games in 54-42 win at Rochester. OS Corey Hill hauled in 16 passes for 226 yards and five touchdowns...(Aug 3, 2002): First round of af2 playoffs, Conquest win, 31-26, at home. Game MVP Hill finished with 13 catches for 130 yards and two scores...(May 17, 2003): Game MVP Vena throws for 297 yards, six touchdowns, and runs for one, as Albany wins first game of 2003, 52-38...(May 31, 2002): Vena throws six touchdowns and the Conquest "D" grabs four sacks as Albany rolls, 64-40.
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.
Mike Esposito replaced Mark Saunders as Head Coach of the Brigade on July 9, 2003. Esposito comes to Rochester from the NIFL, where he was the Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator of the Rapid City Red Dogs. Prior to joining the Red Dogs he was Asst. Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator for the Washington Shockwave (NIFL). He has also coached college football at U. of Laverne (CA) and West Hills College (CA). He was the head coach at Lamar High School (Vernon. AL) from 1995-98 and Holy Cross High School (Louisville, KY) from 1993-95.
YOUR TEAM INJURY REPORT:
Pos. Name Injury Status
WR/DB JEFF HIGGINS Shoulder Long Term IR
WR/LB ADRIEL LINYEAR Hand Long-Term IR
FB/LB LEROY THOMPSON Knee Long-Term IR
THIS WEEK'S QUOTES: Head Coach Pete Costanza, on his team's lengthy overtime game against Wilkes-Barre Friday night, "I was very surprised. It's not my first arena football overtime, but it's definitely the weirdest."
CONQUEST SERIES NOTABLES: QB Ryan Vena (ALB) has completed 109-of-170 pass attempts for 1,287 yards and 25 touchdowns in five games versus the Brigade, while also rushing for four scores...OS Corey Hill (ALB) has caught 59 passes for 668 yards and thirteen touchdowns in five games...OS Martino Theus (ROC) has caught 52 passes for 592 yards with eleven receiving touchdowns...WR/DB Derek Baker (ROC) has totaled 417 all-purpose yards (265 return yards, 152 receiving) and scored three touchdowns (2 KO returns) in two games this season against the Conquest.
MILESTONES:
· The Corey Hill Watch
af2 Career Numbers
Receptions (377)
Receiving Yards (4,099)
All-Purpose Yards (6,904)
Scoring (410 points)
· QB Ryan Vena has 403 career rushing yards and 6,309 career passing yards.
DROPBACK: The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneer won their biggest game in team history Friday night with a thrilling 55-49 overtime victory over the first-place Albany Conquest in front of 5,457 fans at the First Union Arena. With the win, the Pioneers snapped a five-game losing streak to the Conquest and keep their 2003 playoff hopes alive. Albany, meanwhile, falls to 11-3, but remains in first place in the af2's Northeast Division.
Pioneers offensive specialist Cosmo DeMatteo hauled in 13 catches for 143 yards and four touchdowns, earning game MVP honors in the process. QB Chris Boden was equally impressive; completing 25 of 44 passes for 275 yards and six TDs, while rushing for a seventh.
Both teams traded leads through the first half, with Pioneers' kicker putting Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on top 22-21 with less than a minute remaining before halftime with a 50-yard field goal, his longest of the year.
The Pioneers entered the fourth quarter with a 36-28 lead, and increased it further to 42-and appeared well in command of the game. Albany QB Ryan Vena, who finished with 22 of 34 passes for 310 yards and seven touchdowns, led the Conquest on a 21-7 run (which included a touchdown pass to Corey Hill as time expired) to knot the score at 49 and send the game into overtime. Both teams failed to score in their mandatory possessions, which meant the game then became a sudden-death contest. After Chris Boden threw his second interception of the extra quarter, Albany appeared to be in the driver's seat, until Ryan Vena through his only interception of the game (which was picked off by Aman Abye). Two plays later, Boden connected with DeMatteo for a 25-yard touchdown score, which sealed Albany's fate and gave the Pioneers the victory. FORWARD MOTION: The Conquest will wrap-up the 2003 regular season at home against the Mohegan Wolves on Saturday, July 26th, at the Pepsi Arena. Hopefully Albany will defeat Rochester this week and lock themselves into a first round playoff BYE and a second consecutive Northeast Division Championship. If Albany loses this week and Mohegan defeats Wilkes-Barre, then next week's game will be for the division and the BYE.
TEAM NOTES/TRENDS:
Flag on the Play: The Conquest committed 15 penalties in their overtime loss at Wilkes-Barre Friday night. They now have been flagged a league-worst 135 times for a total of 1,031 yards. To put it in perspective, Rochester's offense has gained a total of 3,007 yards through fourteen games. Meaning the Conquest give teams almost 1/3 of their offensive production by way of penalties. Last week, they gave Wilkes-Barre/Scranton six first downs by committing penalties that result in automatic first downs.
Pick Six: The Albany Conquest offense has been getting several key players involved throughout the course of the season. Through 14 games, Albany has six players with at least 300 receiving yards, seven touchdowns and 24 receptions. OS Corey Hill, WR/DB's Phil Taylor and Jamie Ware and WR/LB's Adriel Linyear, Jim Jones and Phil Yarberough have all found their ways to get involved in the #1 offense in af2. The "TRIFECTA": Quarterback Ryan Vena is on pace to become the first af2 quarterback in league history to complete the QB "Trifecta". He is currently the league leader in Passer Rating (122.7), Passing Yards (3,868) and Total Offense (4,023). Vena is unofficially running neck-and-neck with Quad City's Tony Zimmerman for af2 Offensive Player of the Year honors. Both signal callers should break the current record for TD passes (86) and whichever one plays the better football for the next two weeks may become the third QB, in four years, to be honored as the league's top offensive player.
Conley Keeps it Coming: OL/DL Spencer Conley registered his eighth sack of the season against Wilkes-Barre Friday night. He is currently ranked T-6th in af2 in sacks and T-8th in Tackles for Loss (6.0). With his sack against the Pioneers, Conley ended a three game drought where he went without a sack to his credit.
On Pace...Again: Here we go again. OS Corey Hill leads the af2 with 138 receptions through 14 games. Last season Hill set the all-time pro football record with 161. Hill is currently on pace for 158 catches in 2003. Follow Hill's progress below as he approaches history for the second straight year.
Date Opponent Receptions Total
6/21 @ Norfolk 11 112
6/28 Mohegan 8 120
7/5 Wilkes-Barre 7 127
7/11 @ Wilkes-Barre 11 138
7/19 Rochester
7/26 Mohegan
Season
PLAYERS/MATCHUPS TO WATCH:
QB Ryan Vena: In two games against the Brigade in 2003, Vena has completed 42-of-61 pass attempts for 548 yards and 12 touchdowns. He has yet to be intercepted and also ran for a score in the first game, played in Rochester. Vena is a two-time af2 Player of the Week honoree and is rated as the #1 QB in the league. With the Northeast Division crown, and a first-round playoff BYE on the line, Vena should be in top form.
Conquest WR/DB Phil Taylor: Taylor, the team's leading scorer with 27 total touchdowns, picked off his second pass of the season, in overtime against Wilkes-Barre last week. Taylor also scored three touchdowns for the eighth time in 2003 and brought his season total to 975 yards. With another 25 yards, Taylor will join Corey Hill as the only other player to go over 1,000 receiving yards in team history. Taylor has also shut down opposing receivers on defense, giving up zero catches in the past three game to the receiver he has covered.
Rochester FB/LB LaMonte Coleman: Coleman, a 2nd-year player from Slipper Rock, has been one of the few bright spots for the Brigade in 2003, along with WR/DB Derek Baker. Coleman is currently 3rd in af2 in rushing yards (204) and has recorded 28.0 TT, 2.0 for loss, one sack, one interception and two fumble recoveries. In two games versus the Conquest this season he has 26 rushing yards (1 TD) and recorded 5.5 tackles
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