Arkansas Twisters game notes
May 8, 2007 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Arkansas Diamonds News Release
QUICK FACTS:
Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings (5-0)
Vs. Arkansas Twisters (4-1)
Date: Saturday, 5-12-07
Kickoff: 7:05pm Central Time
Site: Alltel Arena
Radio: KABZ 103.7 The BUZZ
Pre-Game show starts @ 6:45pmPM
(Jake Hatley, Ray Tucker)
Internet: www.1037thebuzz.com
Series Record: Arkansas leads 8-2
Last Meeting: (6-3-06) 55-29 Twisters
(North Little Rock, AR) - The Arkansas Twisters finished what they started by defeating the Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings 55-29 in front of 5606 at Alltel Arena.
The Twisters jumped out to 20-0 lead in the first quarter which was led by ADT Defensive Player of the Game C. J. McLain. After Steve Watson scored on a one yard run, McLain sacked Battle Wings quarterback J. J. Raterink, caused him to fumble, and Kimani Jones recovered the fumble in the endzone for a touchdown.
McLain sacked the quarterback on the ensuing drive for a safety, and the Twisters scored after the free kick when Walter Church found Ted Alford for a six yard touchdown.
With the Twisters up, the offense kicked in and started scoring more. Jon Schoonover caught a 20 yard strike from Church, who completed 12 of his first 19 pass attempts with five touchdowns in the first half. Robert Kilow caught three first half touchdowns as Arkansas led 48-20 at halftime.
In the locker room, the Twisters wanted to keep the pressure up on the Battle Wings. "In this league, I've seen 21 point leads disappear in less than a minute," said McLain. "We (the team) kept saying 'let's finish, let's finish' and that's what we did."
The Twisters offense stalled in the third quarter, but the defense kept the pressure on the Battle Wings. Despite having the ball for most of the third quarter, Bossier-Shreveport could only muster three points.
The Battle Wings scored early in the fourth, but the outcome was determined. Kilow caught another touchdown at the end of the game to finish with four.
Church earned Schutt Offensive Player of the Game honors after completing 22 of 39 passes for 223 yards, six touchdowns and zero interceptions. Kilow finished with a season high 13 catches for 135 yards and four touchdowns. McLain finished with five tackles, four sacks, two forced fumbles, an interception, and a pass breakup. McLain's four sacks is the second most in a game in Twisters' history. Steve Watson finished with three tackles, two sacks, a fumble recovery, and a rushing touchdown. Pierre Thomas led the Twisters with 6.5 tackles.
Raterink finished 15 for 30 for 128 yards and three touchdowns and one interception. Anthony Chambers caught seven passes for 79 yards and two touchdowns. Terrell Sutton caught a touchdown pass. Brian Hazelwood booted three field goals, one being a 55 yard field goal, 12th longest in league history. Jonathan Bell led the Battle Wings defense with 8.5 tackles.
Streaks: Both teams enter the game with huge win streaks on the line. Arkansas enters with a four game win streak, the second longest in franchise history. Bossier-Shreveport will put its franchise best five game win streak on the line when the Battle Wings come to Alltel Arena.
Coaches:
Twisters - John Gregory: 4-1 (19-15, 3rd Year)
Bossier-Shreveport - Jon Norris: 5-0, first year
PRACTICE, INTERVIEW & TRAVEL SCHEDULE:
Wednesday -Thursday: 8am-10am Alltel Arena
THE STAKES: Simply put, this game is a battle between two of the best teams in arenafootball2. Bossier-Shreveport and Arkansas have a combined record of 9 and 1 on the season.
THE IFs:
If Arkansas defeats Bossier-Shreveport, it would...
- be the fifth win of the '07 season
- be the ninth win ever against Bossier-Shreveport, the most against any other team.
- give Coach Gregory his 20th win as Twisters coach
2007 ARKANSAS TWISTERS SCHEDULE
Date Opponent Result Score Record
3-31 @ South Georgia L 31-47 0-1
4-15 @ Lubbock W 51-48 1-1
4-20 @ Amarillo W 63-55 2-1
4-28 CORPUS CHRISTI W 93-19 3-1
5-5 @ Laredo W 55-33 4-1
Date Opponent Time Streak Series
5-12 BOSSIER-SHREVEPORT 7:05 W7 8-2
5-20 SOUTH GEORGIA 7:05 W1 1-1
5-26 @ Tulsa 7:05 W4 7-8
6-2 LUBBOCK 7:05 --- ---
BYE
6-16 OKLAHOMA CITY 7:05 W1 1-4
6-23 @ Everett 7:05 --- ---
6-30 TULSA 7:05 W4 7-8
7-7 @ Bossier-Shreveport 7:05 W7 8-2
7-14 LAREDO 7:05 L1 0-1
7-21 @ Oklahoma City 7:05 W1 1-4
7-28 AMARILLO 7:05 L1 2-1
TWISTERS HEAD COACH:
John Gregory has seen just about everything a coach can see in one sport. His first job in football was back when Lyndon B. Johnson was President of the United States. Since then he has consistently taken over football programs that have struggled before his arrival and led them to success.
The former 2-time AFL Coach of the Year built the Twisters into a playoff contender in 2006. Gregory led Arkansas to its best start ever by winning his first three games. The Twisters won 10 regular season games for just the second time in franchise history and advanced to the National Conference Championship game. He coached the team to its first victories over Oklahoma City and Macon while beating rival Tulsa three times, the final time coming in the playoffs. The team set a franchise record for most total wins in a season with 12 and the 10 regular wins was the second most in franchise history.
The '06 Twisters also featured one of the best defenses in af2, tying a league record for sacks in a season with two Twisters players being named to the All-af2 first team for the first time ever.
Gregory started his coaching career as an assistant head coach and athletic director at Iowa Central Community College where he was charged with building a football program from the ground up. In just three years, the program had a 24-3-1 record and won the Wool Bowl in '69. Gregory's success at Iowa Central CC went on after he left. John Matusak was a Gregory recruit, and he went on to become the number one pick in the 1974 NFL Draft.
Gregory got his first college head coaching job at South Dakota State in 1971 and stayed for 10 years. To this day, Gregory is still second in school history in coaching victories and he led the team to a single season best of 9-2 in '79. SDSU didn't have a winning record the previous 11 seasons before Gregory's arrival.
After a one year stop as offensive coordinator at his alma mater of Northern Iowa, Gregory went further north to Canada and the Canadian Football League.
While in the CFL, Gregory won a CFL championship in '84 as the offensive line coach for Winnipeg. Gregory's offensive line helped the team set a CFL rushing record in '84 and Gregory was named CFL Outstanding Offensive Line Coach.
Saskatchewan noticed what Winnipeg had, and gave Gregory his first professional head coaching job and he didn't disappoint. Saskatchewan didn't have a winning season in the 11 years prior to Gregory's arrival, and they didn't win a Grey Cup (CFL Title) in 22 years. In 1989, Gregory led a Saskatchewan team that no one gave much of a chance of winning, and won the Grey Cup championship. In the process, Gregory was named CFL Coach of the Year, and he was elected to the Saskatchewan Hall of Fame in 1996.
Gregory went on to coach for Hamilton of the CFL in '91, making the postseason four of the five years he was with the team before the founder of a new football league came calling.
Jim Foster invented Arena Football and needed a coach for a team he was starting in Des Moines, IA. Foster interviewed and hired Gregory to build the Iowa team from scratch. Gregory looked high and low for players; even recruiting a little known quarterback he heard was working at a local grocery store. Gregory gave Kurt Warner a tryout, and the rest is, as they say, history. Gregory coached the Barnstormers to five division titles in six years, led the team to two Arena Bowl title games, and the offense was the one of the most innovative offenses the sport had ever seen. Warner and his processor, Aaron Garcia were recently named as two of the greatest AFL players ever. Gregory earned AFL Coach of the Year honors in '95 and '96, the only coach in AFL history to do so, and nearly made it three in a row when he finished second '97.
The Barnstormers relocated to New York in 2000 and Gregory left the team in '03. After a brief stop at Carolina, Gregory decided to call it a career in coaching.
Then Gregory got another call from Jim Foster.
Foster told Gregory of a team that is the "Jewel of the af2" and needed his help. The team was successful early on, but had won just 4 of its last 20 games. Along with af2 President Jerry Kurz, and Jack Lankford, Gregory was convinced staying in retirement was the thing to do.
Gregory took over the Arkansas Twisters four games into the 2005 season, going 5-7. The final four losses were by a combined score of 19 points, with two games being decided in the last minute of play.
WEEK SIX RE-CAP: 5-5-07
Twisters Win Fourth Straight
(Laredo, TX) - The Arkansas Twisters plagiarized the formula used by the previous four teams before them against the Laredo Lobos on Saturday night at the Laredo Entertainment Center. Do your best to keep the Lobos at bay for the first 30 minutes and change, then wait for them to dig themselves in a hole.
The Twisters outscored the Lobos 19-7 in the third period and rode the momentum swing to a 59-33 victory. The Twisters improved in arenafootball 2 to 4-1 and the Lobos fell to 0-5.
A week removed from demolishing the Corpus Christi Hammerheads 93-19 the Twisters had a tougher time against the Lobos, but rode their two stars in quarterback Brian Villanueva and receiver Jon Schoonover.
Villanueva passed for a season high seven touchdowns and 296 yards.
Also with a season high across the stat sheet was Schoonover who caught four of those scores on nine receptions for 158 yards.
The Lobos did most of their damage on the ground. Freddie Lindsay, Joshua Chilsom and Daniel Forrest had a rushing score apiece. Forrest threw for two scores and 250 yards.
Mike McCullum led Laredo with 10 receptions for 110 yards and a score.
Shaun Rochon followed with six for 91 yards and a touchdown.
Down 27-19 and 52 seconds left on the board the Lobos were looking to close the gap against the Arkansas Twisters.
The Lobos drove down to the Twisters' three before settling for an 18-yard field goal try with five seconds left. Jonathan Scifres' kick bounced off the left post and the teams headed into the half 27-19.
The Twisters came out firing in the second half as Villanueva connected with Errick McCown for a 32-yard strike on their opening play to take a 34-19 lead.
Forrest stood his ground despite a strike to the head by a Twisters defender he delivered the ball to McCullum for a 24-yard strike that brought his team to within 34-26 with 9:37 remaining.
The Lobos' Joshua Chilsom sacked Villanueva in the ensuing drive and after a Villanueva incomplete pass the Twisters were forced to try a 49- yard field goal that sailed just a bit to the right.
The Lobos got no where in their drive and punted the ball to the Twisters' Robert Kilow who returned the ball to the Lobos 14-yard line setting up Schoonover's fourth score of the night for a 40-26 lead and 1:13 left in the third.
The Lobos had only one turnover on the game but it came at the worst possible moment for Laredo.
Lineman Colby Clark recovered a bad center and quarterback exchange by the Lobos on the four yard line.
"Every time we get a chance to get back in the game we shoot ourselves in the foot," Vela said.
The Twisters' Terrance Freeney followed that up by taking the rock to the house for a 46-26 lead as time expired in the third.
The Lobos' Freddie Lindsay rushed for a 20-yard score with 12:28 left in the fourth quarter to make it 46-33.
Arkansas didn't flinch and needed only one play to build their lead back to 19 at 53-33 with a 35 yard strike to Robert Kilow with 11:14 to go.
Villanueva added a one-yard scramble for the last touchdown of the night.
Box Score
Arkansas Twisters vs Laredo Lobos
(May 05, 2007 at Laredo, TX)
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
Arkansas Twisters... 21 6 19 13 - 59 Record: (4-1)
Laredo Lobos........ 12 7 7 7 - 33 Record: (0-5)
Schutt Offensive Player of the Game:
Jon Schoonover
ADT Defensive Player of the Game:
Colby Clark
U.S Army Ironman of the Game:
Michael Dansby
Cutters Catch of the Game:
Robert Kilow, 1st Quarter TD
Scoring Summary:
1st 13:45 LAL - FORREST, Daniel 3 yd run (SCIFRES, Johnat kick failed), 2-21 1:15, ARK 0 - LAL 6
11:49 ARK - SCHOONOVER, Jon 45 yd pass from VILLANUEVA, Bri (CARLTON, David kick), 3-45 1:33, ARK 7 - LAL 6
07:36 ARK - KILOW, Robert 19 yd pass from VILLANUEVA, Bri (CARLTON, David kick), 1-19 0:28, ARK 14 - LAL 6
03:40 LAL - ROCHON, Shaun 32 yd pass from FORREST, Daniel (SCIFRES, Johnat kick failed), 5-49 3:15, ARK 14 - LAL 12
01:20 ARK - SCHOONOVER, Jon 25 yd pass from VILLANUEVA, Bri (CARLTON, David kick), 3-49 1:31, ARK 21 - LAL 12
2nd 12:31 ARK - SCHOONOVER, Jon 12 yd pass from VILLANUEVA, Bri (CARLTON, David kick blockd), 1-7 0:38, ARK 27 - LAL 12
08:02 LAL - CHILSOM, Joshua 1 yd run (SCIFRES, Johnat kick), 6-44 3:44, ARK 27 - LAL 19
3rd 14:10 ARK - MCCOWN, Errick 31 yd pass from VILLANUEVA, Bri (CARLTON, David kick), 1-31 0:39, ARK 34 - LAL 19
09:52 LAL - MCCULLUM, Mike 24 yd pass from FORREST, Daniel (SCIFRES, Johnat kick), 6-48 3:29, ARK 34 - LAL 26
01:47 ARK - SCHOONOVER, Jon 6 yd pass from VILLANUEVA, Bri (CARLTON, David kick failed), 2-14 1:05, ARK 40 - LAL 26
00:01 ARK - FREENEY, Terran 4 yd run (CARLTON, David kick failed), 1-4 0:24, ARK 46 - LAL 26
4th 13:02 LAL - LINDSAY, Freddi 12 yd run (SCIFRES, Johnat kick), 3-30 1:50, ARK 46 - LAL 33
11:47 ARK - KILOW, Robert 36 yd pass from VILLANUEVA, Bri (CARLTON, David kick), 1-36 0:31, ARK 53 - LAL 33
05:20 ARK - VILLANUEVA, Bri 2 yd run (CARLTON, David kick failed), 2-23 2:27, ARK 59 - LAL 33
ARK LAL
FIRST DOWNS................... 18 21
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 5-20 12-35
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 284 248
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 28-18-0 37-24-0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 35-304 51-283
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 4-70 4-53
Interception Returns-Yards.... 0-0 0-0
Fumbles-Lost.................. 0-0 2-1
Penalties-Yards............... 11-103 8-119
Possession Time............... 24:27 34:26
Third-Down Conversions........ 1 of 5 3 of 8
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 0 of 1 0 of 3
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 5-6 3-4
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 2-2 2-12
RUSHING: Arkansas Twisters-VILLANUEVA, Bri 2-11; FREENEY, Terran 3-9.
Laredo Lobos-LINDSAY, Freddi 2-18; CROZIER, Daniel 2-14; CHILSOM, Joshua 2-3;
FORREST, Daniel 6-0.
PASSING: Arkansas Twisters-VILLANUEVA, Bri 18-28-0-296; TEAM 0-0-0-minus
12. Laredo Lobos-FORREST, Daniel 24-37-0-250; TEAM 0-0-0-minus 2.
RECEIVING: Arkansas Twisters-SCHOONOVER, Jon 9-158; KILOW, Robert 4-79;
MCCOWN, Errick 4-51; WILLIAMS, Kevin 1-8. Laredo Lobos-MCCULLUM, Mike 10-110;
ROCHON, Shaun 6-91; GIDDINGS, Eddie 6-46; LINDSAY, Freddi 1-2; CROZIER, Daniel
1-1.
INTERCEPTIONS: Arkansas Twisters-None. Laredo Lobos-None.
FUMBLES: Arkansas Twisters-None. Laredo Lobos-GIDDINGS, Eddie 1-0;
FORREST, Daniel 1-1.
SACKS (UA-A): Arkansas Twisters-CLARK, Colby 1-0; HORN, Scorpio 1-0.
Laredo Lobos-CHILSOM, Joshua 2-0.
TACKLES (UA-A): Arkansas Twisters-SIMPSON, Jason 9-2; HORN, Scorpio 8-1;
VARNER, Tanner 4-2; CLARK, Colby 3-0; DALLMEYER, Barr 2-2; THOMAS, Pierre 2-2;
WILLIAMS, Kevin 2-0; COOLEY, Reggie 1-2; CARDEUAS, James 0-1. Laredo Lobos-IMES,
Dewayne 5-0; RAGSDALE, LaRon 4-1; CHILSOM, Joshua 3-0; JONES, JACOBI 2-1;
LINDSAY, Freddi 2-1; GIDDINGS, Eddie 1-3; GRAHAM, Demingo 1-0.
FORWARD MOTION: Arkansas is back at home to avenge their first loss of the season to South Georgia.
TWISTERS' INJURY REPORT:
Pos. Name Injury Status
3-27 Sam Witcher Hamstring IR
3-27 Ben Witcher Turf Toe IR
3-30 Jimi Holden Knee IR
IR- Injured Reserve, min 4 games missed
RECENT ROSTER MOVES:
Date Action Player
5-7 Assigned Reggie Swinton
GETTING IT DONE: The Twisters have won seven straight and eight games overall against Bossier-Shreveport. Both totals are the most wins for Arkansas against one team in franchise history.
AMONG THE LEADERS: The Following is a list of af2 league leaders in keep statistical categories and where Twisters players rank among them.
Rank Name Stat
RUSHING
1. Terrance Freeney 36.0 Yds/G
PASS EFF.
1. Ryan Vena, WB-Scran 133.8
10. Brian Villanueva 113.2
INTERCEPTIONS
1. Kendrick Williams, BOS 6
T6. Pierre Thomas 4
Tackles
1. Levy Brown, FL 48.0
7. Jason Simpson 35.0
T17. Pierre Thomas 27.5
TACKLES FOR LOSS
1. Elix Reed, BOS 11.5
T2. Reggie Cooley 6.5
2007 AWARDS
Cutters Catch of the Week:
Week Five: Kevin Williams, AR
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME AWARD
Week Opp. Player
1 SGA Brian Villanueva, QB
2 Bye
3 LUB Jon Schoonover, WR
4 AMR Jon Schoonover, WR
5 CC Brian Villanueva, QB
6 LAL Jon Schoonover, WR
IRONMAN OF THE GAME AWARD
Week Opp. Player
1 SGA Kevin Williams, LB/WR
2 Bye
3 LUB Kevin Williams, LB/WR
4 AMR Kevin Williams, LB/WR
5 CC Robert Kilow, WR/KR
6 LAL Michael Dansby, OL/DL
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME AWARD
Week Opp. Player
1 SGA Jason Simpson, DB
2 Bye
3 LUB Pierre Thomas, DB
4 AMR Tanner Varner, DB
5 CC Reggie Cooley, LB
6 LAL Colby Clark, DL
CUTTERS CATCH OF THE WEEK
Week Opp. Player
1 SGA Tavaris CatHE spers, SGA
2 BYE
3 LUB Alvance Robinson, Lubbock
4 AMR Jonah Russell, Amarillo
5 CC Kevin Williams, WR
6 LAL Robert Kilow, WR
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