Arkansas Twisters game notes
May 23, 2007 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Arkansas Diamonds News Release
QUICK FACTS:
Tulsa Talons (7-0)
Vs. Arkansas Twisters (5-2)
Date: Saturday, May 26
Kickoff: 7:05pm Central Time
Site: Tulsa Convention Center
Radio: KABZ 103.7 The BUZZ
Pre-Game show starts @ 2:45pmPM
(Jake Hatley, Dick "Mackie" McDonald)
Internet: www.1037thebuzz.com
Series Record: Tulsa Leads 8-7
Last Meeting: (3-31-06) 47-31 South Georgia
(Tulsa, OK) - The Arkansas Twisters continued their recent success against Tulsa and advanced to the National Conference Championship with a 53-51 victory on Saturday night at the Tulsa Convention Center.
The game began with a strong showing by both teams along the defensive front. After each team had one scoreless possession, The Talons Luke Phillips began the putting points on the board with a long 57 YD field goal. The Twisters answered with less than two minutes to go in the quarter when David Carlton kicked a 29 YD field goal, finishing the quarter at 3-3.
On Tulsa's first possession of the second quarter, Mark Radlinski found Ricky Ross in the end zone for a 16 YD TD pass giving the Talons the lead. The Twisters tied the score when Walter Church hit Kevin Williams for a TD from the "11" making the score 10 all. The Talons made quick work of the next possession on an 18 YD TD pass from Radlinski to Cesare Manning. Schutt Offensive Player of the Game, Robert Kilow, knotted the score once again when he found pay dirt on an 11 YD pass from Church giving his team a 17-17 tie with less than one minute in the first half. The Twisters went up 24-17 at half time on a 40 YD TD pass from Church to Williams.
The Talons struck first in the second half, with a 12 YD Radlinski TD pass to Andre Forde to tie the score. The Twisters gained the lead once again on a 41 YD field goal by Carlton. The Talons went up when U.S. Army Ironman of the Game, Jeff Hewitt, caught a 9 YD TD pass from Radlinski but quickly relinquished the lead when Church and Kilow hooked up once again on a 47 YD TD pass putting the Twister up 34-31 to end the third quarter.
Just as the third quarter ended the fourth quarter began with another Church to Kilow hook-up. On the kick off, Hewitt returned it 58 YD's for a score putting the Talons down by 3, 41-38. Church hit Kilow once again for a 17 YD score, but the Talons answered in just over a minute with an Forde TD reception, making the score 47-45 (ARK). Arkansas gained the lead once and for all on a 36 YD TD pass from Church to Williams. With three seconds left in the game, Radlinski hit Manning in the end zone for a TD making the final score 53-51. Tulsa attempted a two-point conversion, but failed.
Streaks: Arkansas enters the game having their five game win streak snapped against South Georgia. Tulsa is riding a league high seven game win streak.
Coaches:
Twisters - John Gregory: 5-2 (20-16, 3rd Year)
Talons - Mitch Alner: 7-0 1st Year
PRACTICE, INTERVIEW & TRAVEL SCHEDULE:
Thursday - 8am-10am Pulaski Academy
Friday: 10am Leave for Tulsa
THE STAKES: Arkansas is chasing Tulsa for the Central Division league and a win would pull the Twisters within one game of the top of the standings.
THE IFs:
If Arkansas defeats Tulsa, it would...
- be the sixth win of the '07 season
- be the fifth straight win against Tulsa
- give Coach Gregory his 21st win as Twisters coach
- even the All-Time Series record at 8-8
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
5-12 BOSSIER-SHREVEPORT W 64-50 5-1
5-20 SOUTH GEORGIA L 37-40 5-2
Date Opponent Time Streak Series
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 EIGHT RE-CAP: 5-20-07
Twisters Win Streak Snapped at Five
(North Little Rock, AR) - South Georgia seems to have Arkansas' number. Arkansas led at halftime, but South Georgia rallied past the Twisters and won 40-37 in front of 4061 fans at Alltel Arena. It's the second time this season South Georgia has defeated Arkansas.
The Twisters (5-2) struck first when rookie quarterback Davon Vinson ran for a score from two yards out to put Arkansas up 9-0.
South Georgia (5-2) would take the lead to start the second quarter when Chavis McCollister caught the first of his two touchdowns to give the Wildcats a 14-9 lead. Robert Kilow put the Twisters back in front with a 57 yard kickoff return for a touchdown and Arkansas seemed well in control when Pierre Thomas intercepted D. Bryant on the next play. But Vinson was sacked in the endzone for a safety by Ed Wrangler to give the lead back to South Georgia at 16-15.
Arkansas roared right back by scoring 14 unanswered points to take a 29-16 lead. The Twisters wouldn't score again until 2:17 left in the game.
Bryant found McCollister for the second time in the half on a 36 yard scoring completion and the Twisters led 29-22 at halftime.
South Georgia scored twice in the third quarter when Bryant hit Scott Cloman on a 20 yard pass play, then capping off a scoring drive by running it in from one yard out to give the Wildcats the lead at 34-29.
The Wildcats added one more score to start the fourth quarter when Bryant hit James Robinson for a 30 yard strike that put South Georgia up by 11.
Arkansas wouldn't go away quietly when Vinson found Kilow for a 24 yard score and the two point conversion pulled the Twisters within three points at 40-37. The Twisters defense had to get a stop on the ensuing drive to have any hopes of trying to win the game. Those hopes faded when Bryant hit McCollister for a 38 yard gain on third down and the Wildcats ran the clock out from there.
Vinson finished the game by completing 15 of 35 pass attempts for 191 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions in his debut as the starting quarterback for the Twisters. Kevin Williams finished with a team high six catches for 61 yards and one score. Kilow finished with 208 all-purpose yards with five catches for a team high 83 yards, 125 return yards and two total touchdowns. Thomas finished with a game high 9.0 tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and an interception. Jason Simpson had 7.5 total tackles, a fumble recovery and three pass breakups.
Bryant had one of his best games in the af2. He completed 28 of 43 pass attempts for 386 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions. Cloman hauled in 11 catches for 109 yards and one score. Robinson had nine catches for 132 yards and two scores while McCollister finished with eight catches for 145 yards and two touchdowns. Cory Bailey led the team in tackles with 7.0 and Ed Wrangler had the safety for South Georgia.
Arkansas falls two game back of Central division leading Tulsa and is back in action on Saturday, May 26 at Tulsa starting at 7:05pm.
Box Score
South Georgia Wildcats vs
Arkansas Twisters
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
S. Georgia Wildcats. 7 15 12 6 - 40 Record: (5-2)
Arkansas Twisters... 9 20 0 8 - 37 Record: (5-2)
Schutt Offensive Player of the Game:
Chavis McCollister
ADT Defensive Player of the Game:
Joe Woolridge
U.S. Army Ironman of the Game:
Kevin Williams
Cutters Catch of the Game:
Chavis McCollister
Scoring Summary:
1st 12:28 ARK - CARLTON, David 29 yd field goal, 4-7 2:32, SGW 0 - ARK 3
08:49 ARK - VINSON, Davon 2 yd run (CARLTON, David kick failed), 3-2 1:13, SGW 0 - ARK 9
07:54 SGW - ROBINSON, James 34 yd pass from BRYANT, D. (YOON, Byungwoo kick), 1-34 0:28, SGW 7 - ARK 9
2nd 12:06 SGW - MCCOLLISTER, Ch 4 yd pass from BRYANT, D. (YOON, Byungwoo kick), 8-45 5:04, SGW 14 - ARK 9
11:21 ARK - KILOW, Robert 57 yd kickoff return (WILLIAMS, Kevin rush failed), , SGW 14 - ARK 15
08:16 SGW - WANGLER, Ed safety, , SGW 16 - ARK 15
03:44 ARK - WILLIAMS, Kevin 16 yd pass from VINSON, Davon (CARLTON, David kick), 2-21 1:37, SGW 16 - ARK 22
00:27 ARK - SCHOONOVER, Jon 25 yd pass from VINSON, Davon (CARLTON, David kick), 2-46 0:16, SGW 16 - ARK 29
00:07 SGW - MCCOLLISTER, Ch 36 yd pass from BRYANT, D. (YOON, Byungwoo kick blockd), 3-45 0:17, SGW 22 - ARK 29
3rd 13:13 SGW - CLOMAN, Scott 20 yd pass from BRYANT, D. (YOON, Byungwoo kick failed), 3-49 1:47, SGW 28 - ARK 29
06:15 SGW - BRYANT, D. 1 yd run (YOON, Byungwoo kick blockd), 5-34 3:04, SGW 34 - ARK 29
4th 06:21 SGW - ROBINSON, James 30 yd pass from BRYANT, D. (YOON, Byungwoo kick failed), 3-45 1:44, SGW 40 - ARK 29
02:17 ARK - KILOW, Robert 24 yd pass from VINSON, Davon (SCHOONOVER, Jon pass from VINSON, Davon), 5-42 3:27, SGW 40 - ARK 37
SGW ARK
FIRST DOWNS................... 20 15
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 6-10 5-6
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 386 191
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 43-28-2 35-15-2
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 49-396 40-197
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 1-25
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 5-62 7-152
Interception Returns-Yards.... 2-16 2-6
Fumbles-Lost.................. 2-2 0-0
Penalties-Yards............... 7-39 6-35
Possession Time............... 30:45 29:15
Third-Down Conversions........ 2 of 5 3 of 6
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 1 of 3 0 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 2-4 1-1
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 1-9 0-0
RUSHING: S. Georgia Wildcats-BRYANT, D. 3-5; HARRIS, James 2-4; LLOYD,
Derrick 1-1. Arkansas Twisters-VINSON, Davon 4-4; FREENEY, Terran 1-2.
PASSING: S. Georgia Wildcats-BRYANT, D. 28-43-2-386. Arkansas
Twisters-VINSON, Davon 15-35-2-191.
RECEIVING: S. Georgia Wildcats-CLOMAN, Scott 11-109; ROBINSON, James
9-132; MCCOLLISTER, Ch 8-145. Arkansas Twisters-WILLIAMS, Kevin 6-61; KILOW,
Robert 5-83; SCHOONOVER, Jon 4-47.
INTERCEPTIONS: S. Georgia Wildcats-JACKSON, Matt 1-5; BRUTLEY, Daryon
1-11. Arkansas Twisters-THOMAS, Pierre 1-0; WILLIAMS, Kevin 1-6.
FUMBLES: S. Georgia Wildcats-LLOYD, Derrick 1-1; ROBINSON, James 1-1.
Arkansas Twisters-None.
SACKS (UA-A): S. Georgia Wildcats-WOOLRIDGE, Joe 1-0. Arkansas
Twisters-None.
TACKLES (UA-A): S. Georgia Wildcats-BAILEY, Cory 6-2; BRUTLEY, Daryon
6-0; NULL, Jason 4-1; JACKSON, Matt 2-1; WANGLER, Ed 1-0; LLOYD, Derrick 1-0;
CLOMAN, Scott 1-0; ROBINSON, James 1-0; WOOLRIDGE, Joe 1-0. Arkansas
Twisters-THOMAS, Pierre 8-2; SIMPSON, Jason 7-1; VARNER, Tanner 5-1; DUTLIE,
Scott 2-2; WILLIAMS, Kevin 2-1; DESISSO, Travis 2-1; HORN, Scorpio 2-0;
CARDEUAS, James 0-1; VINSON, Davon 0-1; KILOW, Robert 0-1; COOLEY, Reggie 0-1.
FORWARD MOTION: Arkansas will play at home before getting a week off. The Twisters will host Lubbock on June 2nd.
TWISTERS' INJURY REPORT:
Pos. Name Injury Status
5-15 Brian Villanueva Broken Foot IR
5-15 Errick McCown Turf Toe Day to Day
IR- Injured Reserve, min 4 games missed
RECENT ROSTER MOVES:
Date Action Player
5-7 Assigned Reggie Swinton
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
7 BOS Brian Villanueva, QB
8 SGA Chavis McColister, South Georgia
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
7 BOS Robert Kilow, WR/KR
8 SGA Kevin Williams, WR/LB
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
7 BOS Jason Simpson, DB
8 SGA Joe Woolridge, South Georgia
CUTTERS CATCH OF THE WEEK
Week Opp. Player
1 SGA Tavaris Capers, SGA
2 BYE
3 LUB Alvance Robinson, Lubbock
4 AMR Jonah Russell, Amarillo
5 CC Kevin Williams, WR
6 LAL Robert Kilow, WR
7 BOS Kevin Williams, WR
8 SGA Chavis McCollister, South Georgia
HISTORY: The Arkansas and Tulsa series is the longest running rivalry in af2 history. No two teams have played more games against one another than the Twisters and Talons. The two teams have squared off in 15 games with Tulsa holding a one game advantage, but Arkansas has won the last four, including a three game series sweep last season.
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