Blitz Ready for New Rivalry

April 8, 2004 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Central Valley Coyotes News Release


Editors Note: Centralvalleycoyotes.com was able to sit down with Bakersfield Blitz head coach Rick Van Horne and wide receiver/linebacker and Fresno State graduate Eric Mahanke earlier today via confrence call. Centralvalleycoyotes.com will do a weekly story via conference call with the Coyotes opposing team head coach and key player. Check back on a regular basis to follow all the latest and greatest news.

With the first match-up between the Bakersfield Blitz and the Central Valley Coyotes set to take place this Saturday, Blitz head coach Rick Van Horne is not looking at this contest as the "Old Blitz" versus the "New Blitz."

Like the Coyotes the Blitz have started the season 0-1. Each team posted 35 points in their season openers, with the Coyotes falling 68-35 against the Hawaiian Islanders and the Blitz dropping their contest 60-35. The Blitz are a new expansion team to the af2 this season, after the original Bakersfield Blitz franchise relocated to Fresno, CA, to later be named the Central Valley Coyotes.

Bakersfield was able to keep 14 players that have had at least one year experience with the Coyotes franchise, while Central Valley kept only one player, Ricky Leung-Wai who was a First-Team All-af2 selection last season.

"I'm not really taking the game as the old Blitz versus the New Blitz," said Van Horne. "Many of the faces are different, names have changed and the only soul connection is Ricky Leung-Wai. We're not putting the hype on the old Blitz versus the new, we're putting the hype on the Bakersfield, Central Valley rivalry."

The Blitz return 16 veteran's, compared to the Coyotes 16 rookies. Central Valley possesses the veteran head coach, while Bakersfield head coach Rick Van Horne is in his first season.

"It makes it nice when you have several players that have played in this league, have been with the organization and know the system we are running here," said Van Horne. "That helps a lot because guys know what to expect, they know the lay of the land over here in Bakersfield and that makes it much easier on me."

The Blitz opened up the season against the Tennessee Valley Vipers last weekend, playing tough for one half and then sputtering in the second half. Despite the loss Bakersfield was able to put up 246-yards of total offense.

But Blitz coach Rick Van Horne believes the first game jitters are over and his team will rally.

"We played them tough [Tennessee Valley] for 35 minutes, and then within a 10 second span their up on us by two touchdowns," he said. "I was very impressed with the crispness of our offense, our timing was off a little bit, but I expect that in the first game. We just have to come out and play hard."

The Coyotes franchise is very familiar with current Blitz wide receiver/linebacker and Fresno State graduate Eric Mahanke. He led the Blitz in 2003 in receptions (84), receiving yardage (1,129) and touchdowns (29). Mahanke currently holds a few franchise records, including career receiving TDs (29), single season scoring (182) and single game receiving touchdowns (7).

This season Mahanke and the Blitz have beefed up their receiving corps with the return of Steve Wofford, Vaughn Corley and the new addition of Mel Miller.

"They definitely take the added pressure off of me," said Mahanke. "If you watched the game you saw that we spread the ball out rather well, which led to each of us scoring a touchdown. Having these other receivers around myself allows me to be more consistent."

Said Mahanke: "I'm going to be excited more then anything to play in Fresno, because I know a lot of people around the community that attended Fresno State or been affiliated with Fresno State will be there. A lot of my friends and family will also be at the game, so I'm going to be pretty hyped up. Central Valley is a good team, and so we can't take any team lightly on our schedule. I'm ready to get out on the field and play.



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