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Carolina Cobras Game Notes

March 25, 2003 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Carolina Cobras News Release


QUICK FACTS:
Carolina Cobras (0-8) vs. San Jose SaberCats (6-2)
Date: March 28, 2003
Kickoff: 10:30 p.m.
Site: HP Pavilion at San Jose (14,041)
Officials: Dave Lambros (Referee), Al Granado (Umpire), Mike McCabe (Head Linesman), Craig Wrolstad (Line Judge), Dino Paganelli (Back Judge)
Series Record: San Jose leads all-time series 1-0
Coaches: Carolina: Mike Hold (1st Season, 0-8) San Jose: Darren Arbet (5th Season, 52-19)
THE SERIES: San Jose leads all-time series 1-0 San Jose 58, @ Carolina 41 – July 21, 2002

COBRAS LAST WEEK: In a game that featured 11 lead changes, it was a valiant goal-line stand by Dallas that kept the Cobras winless with a 47-43 loss. Carolina had five shots inside the Desperados' 10-yard line in the final minute before a Ja'Mar Toombs sack of Robert Hall on fourth down ended the Cobras hopes for their first victory of the season. Dallas QB Jim Kubiak finished 24-of-33 for 330 yards and five touchdowns. He threw two scoring passes to Jason Shelley, who caught five passes for 82 yards. Hall set a Cobras franchise-record with four rushing touchdowns and was 16-of-37 for 200 yards and two touchdowns in the air. Bernard Holmes caught eight passes for 118 yards and both touchdown receptions for Carolina. He finished the game with 229 all-purpose yards, his fifth consecutive game with 200 or more all-purpose yards.

SABERCATS LAST WEEK: James Roe made a circus catch in the endzone on the game's final play and Daron Alcorn converted the extra point to give San Jose a dramatic 59-58 victory over Arizona for their fifth straight win on the year and 17th consecutive at home. Roe, the game's MVP, had game-highs of 9 catches and 103 yards, but none bigger than his six-yard reception as the horn sounded. San Jose QB Mark Grieb completed a season-high 23 passes for 289 yards and five scores and the SaberCats piled up 349 yards of total offense. Jerry Reese, playing his first game since last year's ArenaBowl, had eight catches for 82 yards and three TDs.

HEAD COACHES: After two seasons as head coach of the af2 Augusta Stallions, Mike Hold is making his AFL coaching debut with the Cobras in 2003. He led the Stallions to a combined 22-10 record in his two years, including a 13-3 mark and playoff appearance in 2002. Prior to joining the coaching ranks, Hold spent 12 seasons as an AFL quarterback. He saw action for eight teams during his tenure and was the last remaining active player from the league's first season when he retired in 2000. Hold had training camp stints with the Denver Broncos (1986) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1987, 88). He appeared in three games for Tampa Bay during the NFL strike in 1987. A 1985 graduate of the University of South Carolina, Hold led the Gamecocks to the school's only 10-win season in 1984 and earned MVP honors of the Gator Bowl. Despite playing only two seasons, he ranks seventh on the school's all-time passing yards list with 2,981 yards.

Darren Arbet is in his fifth season as head coach of the San Jose SaberCats. Last season he led San Jose to its third consecutive Western Division title and first ever AFL Championship, winning his second AFL Coach of the Year award in three seasons. The SaberCats set league records for most consecutive games won in a regular season (12) and most wins in a season (16) in 2002, en route to setting an AFL record for largest margin of victory ever in an Arena Bowl with a 52-14 win over Arizona in ArenaBowl XVI. The winningest coach in SaberCats history, Arbet joined San Jose in 1995 as a defensive assistant and special teams coordinator. He played two seasons in the AFL as a FB/LB for the Los Angeles Cobras (1988) and Maryland Commandos (1989).

LAST YEAR'S COBRAS-SABERCATS MEETING:

San Jose 58, Carolina 41 (7/21/02 at Carolina) John Dutton threw five touchdown passes to help San Jose capture the league record for most regular season wins with a 58-41 victory over the Carolina Cobras. Trailing 26-24 at the half, Dutton opened the third quarter with a 33-yard strike to Barry Wagner. He found Wagner again on a seven-yard score in the third for an 11-point advantage and finished 17-of-25 for 214 yards. James Hundon had six catches for 87 yards and two scores and Wagner finished with three scores and 85 yards receiving for the SaberCats. John Fitzgerald completed 19-of-40 attempts for 275 yards and four touchdowns, but was intercepted twice in the game. He found Aaron Bailey five times for 48 yards and two touchdowns. Rj Anderson hauled in four catches for a game-high 89 yards for Carolina.

FAMILIAR FACES: Cobras head coach Mike Hold and SaberCats head coach Darren Arbet were teammates with the Maryland Commandos in 1989...San Jose OS Aaron Bailey spent the last two seasons with Carolina and is the most prolific receiver in Cobras franchise history...He is Carolina's all-time career, single-season and single-game record holder in points, touchdowns, receptions, receiving yards, and 100-yard receiving games.

INJURY UPDATES: Linemen Kelvin Ingram (swelling in knee), Curt Lessman (right calf) and Craig Moore (left ankle sprain) are all listed as probable...OL/DL Decorye Hampton will not play after suffering a right foot sprain against Dallas...DS Buddy Crutchfield will return to practice on Monday...OL/DL Jim Stiebel and QB Ron Lopez are day-to-day to return to practice.

COBRAS MILESTONES:
K Matt George needs:
• 2 PAT to reach 250

QB Robert Hall needs:
• 15 completions to reach 600
• 397 passing yards to reach 7,500

OS Bernard Holmes needs:
• 72 receiving yards to reach 5,000
• 15 receptions to reach 400
• 75 kickoff return yards to reach 3,000

WR/LB Van Johnson needs:
• 7 receptions to reach 250

WR/DB Tramain Jones needs:
• 2.5 tackles to reach 100

WR/LB Ty Law needs:
• 2.0 tackles to reach 100
• 6 receptions to reach 200
• 6 receiving touchdowns to reach 50 COBRAS NEXT WEEK: The Cobras play their second straight game in California, when they visit the Los Angeles Avengers. Kickoff is slated for 10:30 p.m. eastern time/ 7:30 p.m. local time on Friday, April 4.

SNAKE BITES:

Holmes Continues To Shine: No player has had a bigger impact for the Cobras this season than WR/DB turned OS Bernard Holmes. He has recorded 200 or more all-purpose yards in each of his last five games played (he missed week five due to a family death). During that stretch, he has 46 receptions for 606 yards and 10 touchdowns and 33 kickoff returns for 700 yards, including 56-yard touchdowns against Detroit and Georgia. Last week against Dallas, Holmes had eight receptions for 118 yards and two touchdowns and returned five kickoffs for 111 yards. In his last five games, he has recorded the third (284 in week seven at Georgia), fourth (283 in week four vs. Orlando), fifth (272 in week three vs. Detroit) and sixth (258 in week six vs. Las Vegas) best single-game all-purpose yardage totals in franchise history. His 180 receiving yards on March 9 against Las Vegas marked a career-high for the six-year veteran.

Top Six All-Purpose Yardage Games: Holmes has four of the top six all-purpose yardage games in Cobras franchise history this season.

Climbing The Charts: Holmes is working his way into the AFL's record books with his all-around play this season. In six games played, he already ranks as one of only five players to have five or more games of 200 or more all-purpose yards in a season.

Player Season Team Games
Lamont Cooper 2001 Oklahoma 12
Steve Papin 1998 San Jose 10
Steve Papin 2002 New York 9
Steve Papin 2000 San Jose 8
Ben Bronson 2000 Houston 7
Steve Papin 1999 San Jose 7
Lamont Cooper 2000 Milwaukee 6
Michael Lewis 2000 New Jersey 5
Bernard Holmes 2003 Carolina 5

Casher Sets Franchise Record: Rookie DS Larry Casher posted a new Cobras record and tied the AFL season-high with 12.0 tackles on March 15 at Georgia. Despite playing in only six games, he ranks 11th in the league with 38.5 tackles on the season. Casher had 7.0 tackles last week against Dallas to go along with his second interception of the campaign.

The AFL's Version Of Slash: Cobras QB Robert Hall set a franchise record with four rushing touchdowns last week against Dallas and has six of the team's seven rushing TDs this season. He has also thrown for 19 touchdowns and has two receptions for 31 yards. Hall has seen action as both a quarterback and offensive specialist throughout his AFL career. He is the only player in league history to have 2,000 passing yards and 2,000 receiving yards in his career.

Improvement, But Still No Victory: While the Cobras are still searching for their first win of the 2003 season, they have shown improvement over the past three games. After losing by an average of 27.0 points and committing 14 turnovers in their first five games, Carolina has trimmed that margin to 7.3 points per game and has committed only four turnovers in the past three outings.

Games Turnovers PPG Opp PPG Margin
First 5 14 31.2 58.2 -27.0
Last 3 4 40.3 47.6 -7.3

Record Setting Losing Streaks: Last week's loss to Dallas was the Cobras' eighth consecutive, tying a franchise record set from May 4, 2000 through June 16, 2000. The March 15 loss at Georgia was Carolina's fourth straight road defeat, tying the franchise record set during the 2000 season.

Cobras Among League Leaders: OS Bernard Holmes is one of only three players in the league that is averaging over 200 all-purpose yards per game and ranks 2nd in that category with 221.5 ypg...In other categories, Holmes is 5th in receiving yards per game (101.5), 6th in kickoff return yardage (700), 7th in kickoff returns (33), 8th in all-purpose yardage (1329) and tied for 4th in kickoff return touchdowns (2)...DS Larry Casher ranks 11th in the league in tackles with 38.5...QB Robert Hall is tied for 3rd with six rushing TDs...K Matt George leads the league in field goal attempts (23) and is tied for 6th in field goals made (7).

A Passing Frenzy: The Cobras defense has allowed opponents to complete 71.2 percent of their passes over the last four games (89-of-125)...Dallas QB Jim Kubiak became the first QB to post over 300 yards against Carolina this season, throwing for 323 yards last week.

The Quarterback Carousel: The Cobras started five different quarterbacks in their first six games this season. Chad DeGrenier started the season opener at Tampa Bay, throwing four interceptions. Stewart Patridge got the nod in week two at Buffalo. Robert Hall was the starter in weeks three and four against Detroit and Orlando. Rookie Glen Gauntt got the start in week five at Grand Rapids. Seven-year AFL veteran Ron Lopez got the starting nod in Week 6 against Las Vegas. Lopez was replaced in the fourth quarter of that game by Hall, who has started the last two weeks.

Hall vs. The Field: Continuing with the quarterback trend, here's how Robert Hall matches up in his six games playing quarterback against the other four quarterbacks. Hall has a touchdown to interception ratio of 6.33 compared to the other quarterbacks' ratio of 1.0.

Gm QB C-Att Pct. Yds TD INT
6 Hall 100-185 .541 1148 19 3
4 Others 54-114 .474 556 10 10

A Breakout Game For the Offense: Carolina's 319 yards of total offense against Las Vegas on March 9 shattered the team's previous season-high of 221 yards, and their 300 passing yards bested the previous high of 210. The last time the Cobras topped the 300-yard mark in a regular season game was week 12 of last season against the Toronto Phantoms.

From Teammate to Coach: OS Ben Bronson, QB Robert Hall and OS Bernard Holmes were teammates of Cobras head coach Mike Hold with the Houston ThunderBears.

It's A Small World: Defensive coordinator Flint Fleming was a teammate of OL/DL Jim Stiebel with the Buffalo Destroyers in 2000. Fleming played with WR/DB Bernard Holmes, WR/DB Tramain Jones and WR/DB Nick Ward as a member of the Florida Bobcats in 2001.

Coming With The Coach: WR/LB Chris Johnson, OL/DL Blaine Mensch, FB/LB Glen Mitts and defensive backs coach Maurice Blanding came to Carolina with head coach Mike Hold from the af2 Augusta Stallions.

COBRAS PLAYERS TO WATCH:

OS Bernard Holmes: Against Dallas, Holmes had 8 receptions for 118 yards and two touchdowns and returned five kickoffs for 111 yards, topping the 200 all-purpose yardage mark for the fifth consecutive week. In his last five games played (he missed week five due to a family death), Holmes has 46 receptions for 606 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also has 33 kickoff returns for 700 yards, including 56-yard touchdowns against Detroit and Georgia. In his last five games, he has the third (284 in week seven at Georgia), fourth (283 in week four vs. Orlando), fifth (272 in week three vs. Detroit) and sixth (258 in week six vs. Las Vegas) best single-game all-purpose yardage totals in franchise history. His 180 receiving yards on March 9 against Las Vegas marked a career-high for the six-year veteran.

DS Larry Casher: Casher leads the Cobras and ranks 11th in the AFL with 38.5 tackles. Last week against Dallas, he had 7.0 tackles and picked off his second pass of the season. An AFL rookie, Casher posted a Cobras franchise record 12.0 tackles on March 15 against Georgia, matching the most by an AFL player this season.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS:

March 25: Signed Jerness Gethers to the practice squad.
March 20: Signed Decorye Hampton from the practice squad.
March 19: Signed Johnny Frost to the practice squad.
March 17: Waived Thaddeus Bullard.
March 13: Signed Stewart Patridge from the practice squad, placed Ron Lopez on injured reserve.

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