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Blitz Begin March for ArenaCup

August 2, 2004 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Bakersfield Blitz News Release


The Bakersfield Blitz finished the regular season at 11-5 and have this week off while the first round of the ArenaCup playoffs begin. The Blitz will play at home on Saturday, August 14th at 7:00 p.m. Tickets will go on sale August 9th at 10:00 a.m.

Last week

BAKERSFIELD 58 vs. Hawaii 38

The Blitz scored touchdowns on eight of their 10 drives in the game en route to dominating the Hawaiian Islanders 58-38 in front of a Bakersfield arena football record crowd of 7,578 on Saturday night. Chad Elliott threw for five touchdowns and no interceptions and OS Steve Wofford registered three scores (one through the air and two on the ground) for Bakersfield. The defense was superb, with DS Kenny Haslip making a Blitz season-high nine tackles and three defended passes and LB/FB Nick Onaindia recording 4.5 stops, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. The Playoff Picture

Third seed Quad City hosts sixth seed Louisville and fourth seed Oklahoma City hosts fifth seed Peoria this weekend. As the top seed, Tulsa will play the lowest ranked team emerging from this weekend's action, while Bakersfield will play the highest. For example, if Peoria and Louisville both win this weekend, Bakersfield will host Peoria, while Louisville will travel to Tulsa.

1. Tulsa Talons (Southwest Division Title) 13-3
2. Bakersfield Blitz (West Division Title) 11-5
3. Quad City Steamwheelers (Midwest Division Title) 10-6
4. Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz (SW) 10-6
5. Peoria Pirates (MW) 9-7
6. Louisville Fire (MW) 9-7 In the huddle

· The Blitz surpassed 7,000 fans in a game twice in the regular season: on Opening Night and last weekend. The average attendance during the regular season was 5,398 – nearly a 22% increase from a season ago.

· QB Chad Elliott threw five touchdowns on Saturday to give him 201 in his af2 career. He is one of only seven players in league history to reach both 10,000 yards passing (10,768 total) and 200 touchdowns in his career.

· WR/LB Eric Mahanke had a touchdown catch in 15 of the 16 games this season. He finished the regular season with 27 touchdown receptions. He finished fourth in the af2 with 110 receptions.

· DS Kenny Haslip had a season high 9.0 tackles and finished as the team leader with 66.5 on the year.

· The Blitz linebacker corps of Nick Onaindia and Ben McCombs finished the regular season with a combined 17 rushing touchdowns and 81.0 tackles, including 15.0 for a loss and 10.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, a blocked kick and a safety.

· The Islanders were held to less than 40 points on Saturday for just the second time all season long. They averaged 54.5 points per game through their first 15 contests. Meanwhile, Bakersfield has allowed only 91 points in their last three games and finished the regular season 6th in the af2 by allowing an average of 42.3 points per game.

· K Brian Walker finished in a six-way tie for the league lead with 11 field goals this season.

Radio and Television

Tune in for the "Indoor War Report" with Head Coach Rick Van Horne each and every Thursday night from the Holiday Inn Select. The IWR is a weekly live talk show featuring player and coaches that discusses news and notes from the Blitz and the af2, and airs exclusively on KGEO AM 1230 with the "Voice of the Blitz" Kevin Bartl. The show will continue as long as the Blitz continues playing through the post season.

All games, home and away, can be heard on KGEO AM 1230 with "Countdown to Kickoff" 15 minutes prior to kickoff. Home games are televised live on Bright House Networks Ch. 21, with a replay of the game starting at 1:00pm the following Sunday afternoon.

The Final Rankings: The following is a list of Blitz stats and the af2 rank from the regular season.

af2 Individual leader board
Player Category Stat Rank
Kevin Carroll Sacks 8.5 t-1st
Fumbles Forced 4 t-3rd
Brian Walker Field Goals 11 t-1st
Ben McCombs Tackles for a Loss 10.0 t-3rd
Kenney Williamson Fumbles Recovered 3 t-5th
Delvin Myles Fumbles Forced 3 t-6th
Chad Elliott Total Offense 3,883 yds 6th
Passing Yds/Gm 241.2 8th
Eric Mahanke Receptions 110 4th
Receiving Yds 1,455 7th
Ahmad Bhatti Tackles for a Loss 9.5 6
Sacks 7.0 10th

Team stats Rank Stat
Scoring Offense 16th 45.4 pts/gm
Scoring Defense 6th 42.3 pts/gm
Total Offense 14th 250.1 yd/gm
Total Defense 17th 256.1 yd/gm
Pass Offense 12th 236.1 yd/gm
Pass Defense 18th 235.8 yd/gm
Rushing Offense 21st 13.9 yd/gm
Rushing Defense 15th 20.3 yd/gm
Scoring (Non-kick) 19th 624 pts
Scoring (Kicking) 14th 94 pts
Pass Rating 12th 108.2
Pass Def. Rating 17th 108.8
Kickoff Returns t-19th 18.3 yd/ret.
MFG Returns 11th 19.5 yd/ret.
Turnover Margin 12th + 0.06
Field Goals t-7th 33.3%
PAT Kicking 20th 68.5%
Sacks By 4th 32
Sacks Against 6th 13
First Downs 17th 227
Opp. First Downs t-12th 240
Penalties 14th 951 yds
Opp. Penalties 17th 985 yds
Red Zone Offense 15th 70.7%
Red Zone Defense 9th 70.8%

Playoff Tickets

Individual tickets for the Blitz second round playoff game go on sale on Monday, August 9th at 10:00 a.m. The only way to purchase seats before then is through a group outing, by contacting the Blitz office at 716-BLITZ (2548) or by coming in to the Bakersfield Sports Entertainment office located at Centennial Garden. The Garden box office is open Monday through Friday 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. and at Noon on Saturday. For up-to-date information on the Blitz, log on to www.bakersfieldblitz.com.

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