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Chicago Rush Game Notes

March 18, 2003 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Chicago Rush News Release


The Quick Facts
TV: NBC ... Mike Breen, Ray Bentley, Marty Snider
Radio: ESPN Radio 1000 ... Marc Silverman, John Jurkovic
Overall Series Record: 1-0
Last Meeting: June 30, 2002 ... Rush won 55-45
Coaches (regular season records): Mike Hohensee (63-60 — 10th season) Todd Shell (30-27 — 5th season)
Officials: Pat Garvey (Referee), Paul King (Umpire), Rusty Spindel (Head Linesman), James Mello (Line Judge), Rich Wilborn (Back Judge)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK: Chicago and New York will be meeting for the second time. Last season, the Rush fought back from a 25-point deficit to defeat the Dragons 55-45 at Allstate Arena. Quarterback Billy Dicken led the Rush with 280 yards and 7 touchdowns while the Chicago defense intercepted Aaron Garcia four times.

Chicago left Las Vegas with a 68-48 victory. The Rush was trailing 27-21 with under a minute remaining in the first half. Chicago then scored the next 27 points to take a 48-27 lead. Offensive specialist Antonio Chatman led the Rush with 4 touchdowns and 244 all-purpose yards. Rookie fullback/linebacker Levelle Brown set the club record with 40 yards rushing in the game. Brown also scored 2 touchdowns and recorded his first career sack.

The Dragons picked up their first win of the season 65-57 in overtime at Detroit. New York was led by the right arm of Aaron Garcia, who passed for 389 yards and 9 touchdowns. Offensive specialist Mike Furrey was the receiving star, catching 15 passes for 229 yards and 6 scores.

Next week, the Rush begins a three-game road trip with its first stop at division-rival Grand Rapids. Chicago will be looking to extend its 2-game winning streak on the road. The Dragons will return home to face the Colorado Crush.

COACH MIKE HOHENSEE is in his 10th season as a head coach in the Arena Football League. Hohensee was hired as the first coach in Rush history on September 26, 2000.
- has a regular-season record of 63-60 (including an 19-16 mark with the Rush) ... has a career 5-6 mark in the postseason.
- has a 2-2 record against the New York/Iowa franchise ... is 1-0 against the Dragons and went 1-2 vs. the Barnstormers.
- signed a two-year contract extension through the 2005 season on August 1, 2002.
- became the sixth coach in league history to record 60 regular-season victories when the Rush defeated Dallas (58-52 in overtime) July 13, 2002.

THAT'S WHY HE'S A SPECIALIST: Antonio Chatman has scored 12 touchdowns in his last 4 contests. As a receiver, Chatman has caught 26 passes for 365 yards (14.0 yards per catch) and 10 touchdowns. He is averaging 27.9 yards per kick return in the 3 games (18-502) with 2 touchdowns. Chatman has also returned two missed field goals for 56 yards.

For the season, Chatman has caught 53 passes for 655 yards and 11 touchdowns. He is on pace to record 121 receptions and 1,497 yards, both of which would shatter existing Rush records. Chatman is also on pace to record 1,858 combined return yards, which would break his own team record of 1,608.

100-YARD DASH: Antonio Chatman has recorded 100-yard plus receiving contests three times this season. Chatman's season high is 144 yards March 1 against Buffalo, while he has recorded 10 catches in a game twice. In his brief career, Chatman has seven 100-plus yard games.

As a return man, Chatman has 13 100-plus yard games in his 21 career contests. He has reached the 200-yard mark in combined returns twice — March 9, 2003, against San Jose (263 yards) and June 15, 2002, at San Jose (245).

Chatman has recorded at least 100 all-purpose yards in every game that he has started.

BROWN IN A RUSH: Rookie fullback/linebacker Levelle Brown rushed for 40 yards on 3 carries last Sunday at Las Vegas. Brown, who also scored 2 touchdowns, had runs of 2, 18 and 20 yards. He set a pair of team records in the contest — most rushing yards in a game (40) and longest run from scrimmage (20 yards). On defense, Brown made 3.0 tackles and recorded his first sack.

Brown, a 1999 graduate of Northwestern University, made his AFL debut March 9 vs. San Jose. In 2 games, he has rushed for 46 yards on only 5 carries and scored 3 touchdowns.

RUNS IN THE FAMILY: Levelle Brown has some company in the rushing department. His younger brother, Chris, will skip his senior season at the University of Colorado and be eligible for the NFL draft. Chris Brown rushed for 1,744 yards and 18 touchdowns during his junior season for Colorado.

The brothers have something else in common as both played their collegiate football for Gary Barnett. Levelle was at Northwestern with Barnett from 1995-1998 while Chris spent the 2001-2002 campaigns with the coach. Barnett originally recruited Chris to Northwestern before taking the Colorado job in January of 1999.

NICE BIRTHDAY: Rush lineman Frank Moore, who celebrated his 27th birthday March 15, had a big game at Las Vegas. Moore tied career highs with 2.5 tackles and 1.0 sack. Moore signed in the off-season with the Rush after spending two seasons in Toronto and two years with New England.

HE'S BACK: The Rush has played 35 regular season games in its two-plus year history. Chicago's pass defense has allowed only four 300-yard games with the Rush going 3-1 in those contests. The last quarterback to throw for over 300 yards is this Sunday's opponent Aaron Garcia.

Garcia threw for 303 yards (27-44), 5 touchdown and 4 interceptions in last season's game. It has been 10 regular season games since the Rush allowed a 300-yard passer.

#2 DEFENSE vs. #1 OFFENSE: The Rush defense ranks No. 2 in the league in total defense, allowing 238.3 yards per game. The Chicago scoring defense leads the league with 43.7 points per contest.

The Dragons lead the league in total offense at 336.7 yards per game and are third in scoring offense at 57.1 points.

SOMETHING HAS TO GIVE: The league's No. 1 passing defense will meet the No. 1 passing offense this week at Allstate Arena. The Rush passing defense is only allowing 216.0 yards per contest while the Dragons are averaging 332.0 yards per game. The last quarterback to throw for over 300 yards against the Rush defense was Aaron Garcia (June 30, 2002).

Garcia has already thrown for 2,397 yards and 53 touchdowns in 7 games. Garcia is on pace to throw for 5,479 yards, 121 touchdown passes and only 9 interceptions this season.

LADD STILL STREAKING: Wide receiver/linebacker Anthony Ladd has scored at least one touchdown in each of his last 6 games. Ladd caught touchdown passes in 5 straight contests February 9-March 9 and added an interception return for touchdown March 16 at Las Vegas. Ladd has scored 15 touchdowns in his last 14 regular-season games dating back to June 8, 2002.

GOING THE OTHER WAY: Dameon Porter and Anthony Ladd each returned interceptions for touchdowns March 16 at Las Vegas. Ladd ended the first half with a 43-yard return while Porter ended the game with a 24-yard return. It was the first time in Rush history that two interceptions had been returned for scores in the same game.

There have been 6 interceptions returned for touchdowns in Rush history. Porter is the franchise leader with three while Ladd has returned two. The other return was by lineman Anthony Hutch, currently a New York Dragon. Hutch rumbled 31 yards with an interception for a score June 30, 2001, at Los Angeles.

RUSH TRY RUSHING: Chicago has rushed for 120 yards (40 attempts) so far this season in 7 games. Last season, the rushing attack netted 103 yards on 80 carries. The club record set in 2001 is 174 yards.

KA-LA-KNEE FOR SHORT: Halakilangi Muagututia (hah-lah-kee-LAHN-gi moo-ah-goo-too-TEE-ah) made a couple of big plays in his 2 game. In his AFL debut March 1 at Buffalo, Muagututia intercepted a pass toward the end of the first half. Against San Jose March 9, he recovered an Aaron Bailey fumble in the third quarter, which the Rush turned into a touchdown.

HERE WE KICK AGAIN: The Rush has signed its 14th kicker in franchise history. Actually, he makes the list at No. 11 also. Last week, Kenny Stucker was signed to kick for the Rush. Stucker was the Rush kicker last season during the playoffs, where he connected on 12-of-12 extra point attempts and 1-of-3 field goals in 2 games.

The Rush used Nick Gatto as an emergency kicker March 9 vs. San Jose before signing Stucker. Regular kicker Keith Gispert was injured March 1 at Buffalo and was placed on injured reserve March 14 with a sore left knee. Gispert has the distinction of being one of only three Rush kickers to make it through 5 games. He kicked in 5 games before being injured to join Pete Elezovic (12 games) and Bruce Rienecker (7 games) on the tenure list.

ROAD TRIP: The Rush has won its last two road contests after starting the season 0-2 as the visitor. The Rush has been victorious at Buffalo (40-13) and in Las Vegas (68-48). The Rush will play its next three games on the road March 29-April 13 before finishing the season with 4 out of 5 home contests.

DIVISION PLAY: The Rush return to division play next week in Grand Rapids. Chicago, the defending Central Division champions, has started 0-2 in the division this season with losses at Dallas (46-38) and at Indiana (28-23). The Rush has 4 division tilts left with 3 of them being at Allstate Arena. Last season, the Rush went 5-1 in division play.

APPROACHING .500: The Rush will be trying to get to the .500 mark for the first time this season with a win this week. Chicago tried to reach the .500 mark two weeks ago but was stopped by the San Jose SaberCats.

If the Rush is victorious, it will be the 20th win in franchise history.



Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from March 18, 2003


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