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Chicago Rush Game Notes

May 13, 2003 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Chicago Rush News Release


TV: NBC ... Mike Breen, Ray Bentley, Marty Snider
Radio: WAIT (850 AM) ... Tom Dore, John Jurkovic
Overall Series Record: 2-3
Last Meeting: February 16, 2003 ... Firebirds won 28-23
Coaches (regular season records): Mike Hohensee (67-64 — 10th season) Mike Dailey (58-41 — 7th season)
Officials: Perry Havener (Referee), Frank Kosman (Umpire), Neil Brunner (Head Linesman), David Meslow (Line Judge), Greg Steed (Back Judge)

WIN OR GO HOME: By losing last Sunday to Arizona, the Rush has a simple task this week vs. Indiana — win or start the summer early. Chicago was defeated by the Firebirds earlier this season 28-23 at Conseco Fieldhouse. Indiana defeated Grand Rapids 71-68 to remain in the playoff picture.

The Rush had its chances to defeat Arizona but the Rattlers proved to be to powerful, winning 56-44. The Rattlers had the ball 10 times in the game and fumbled on their first and last possessions. Unfortunately for the Rush, Arizona scored touchdowns on the 8 possessions in between the fumbles. Chicago wasted an impressive performance by lineman John Moyer, who established his career highs in sacks (3.0) and tackles (6.5).

The Firebirds stayed within striking distance of the Rush with a 71-68 victory at Grand Rapids. Indiana withstood a furious comeback by the Rampage, as Grand Rapids scored 28 fourth quarter points. The Firebirds were led by Raymond Philyaw's 7 touchdown passes, including 3 to wide receiver Jay Jones, and Shawn Foreman's 4.0 tackles and 2 interceptions.

The postseason will begin next weekend with two games on each Saturday and Sunday. 15 DOWN, 1 TO GO: With one week remaining in the regular-season, here is how the playoff situation looks:
- the best 12 teams will make the playoffs, with the top 4 teams receiving a bye in the first round ... the division winners are guaranteed a home game.
- the quest for the league championship will begin May 24-May 25 with ArenaBowl XVII scheduled for June 22 ... the ArenaBowl will be played at the home site of the highest remaining seed.
- all postseason games will be seen on NBC.

LINEMAN OF THE YEAR CANDIDATE: John Moyer has established himself as a Lineman of the Year candidate. Moyer is having a career season with 27.5 tackles, 9.0 sacks, 1 interception, 9 quarterback hurries, 3 forced fumbles and 2 fumble recoveries in 14 games. The tackles, sacks and interception are career highs. Moyer was a second-team all-Arena selection last season.

Moyer earned his second ADT Defensive Player of the Week award for his performance May 11 against Arizona, recording 6.5 tackles, 3.0 sacks and a forced fumble. Moyer also earned Defensive Player of the Week honors for Week 10 (April 4 at Detroit), collecting 2.0 sacks, 4.0 tackles, 2 forced fumbles and his first career interception.

Moyer's 9.0 sacks this season are a club record, breaking Anthony Hutch's team record of 5.5 (set in 2001). Moyer recorded 3.0 sacks May 11 vs. Arizona and 2.0 sacks April 4 at Detroit. Moyer has recorded a team-record 13.0 sacks during his Rush career. Moyer recently signed a two-year contract extension with the Rush through the 2005 season.

ALL-PURPOSE CHATMAN: Antonio Chatman leads the AFL with 3,278 all-purpose yards. Chatman needs 181 yards in the season finale to establish the AFL record for all-purpose yards in a season (3,459 yards by Oklahoma's Lamont Cooper in 2001). Here is a comparison between Chatman and Cooper's seasons.

Player G RUSH REC FG KR TOTAL AVG/G
Chatman 15 8 1,418 121 1,731 3,278 218.5
Cooper 14 33 1,418 229 1,779 3,459 247.1

Against Dallas April 20, Chatman recorded 335 yards — the 2nd-best all-purpose total of his career. Chatman has recorded at least 100 all-purpose yards in each of the 27 games that he has started in his career.

A.C. AND OTHER RECORDS: Antonio Chatman is also carving his name into a few other AFL records. Chatman is averaging 23.7 yards per kick return, which should be the highest overall average in league history. Chatman will end up in the top five in AFL history in kick return yards (1,731 with 1 games to go) and kick return touchdowns (6). The record for kick return touchdowns in a season is 7, held by four players (most recently, San Jose's Clevan Thomas last season).

Chatman has 8 games with over 200 all-purpose yards this season, giving him 17 for his career — both of which rank in the top 5. ONE FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS: Antonio Chatman became the 4th player in AFL history to record 25 receiving touchdowns, 100 receptions, 1,000 receiving yards and 1,000 return yards in a season May 4 at Carolina. Here are the four players already in the record book and those attempting to join this season.

SCORING MACHINE: Antonio Chatman has scored 204 points this season, breaking Joe Douglass' Rush mark of 188. Chatman has scored 33 touchdowns this season — 27 receiving and 6 on kick returns. In addition, he has caught three 2-point conversions.

Chatman is also the Rush's career scoring leader at 360 points.

GISPERT FOR ALL-ROOKIE TEAM: Kicker Keith Gispert is finishing the season on a roll. Gispert has connected on his last 13 extra point attempts and on 3-of-6 field goals tries. The three field goal misses are all from over 45 yards.

Gispert has kicked in 12 games this season, missing 3 contests due to a sore left knee, making 7-of-17 field goal attempts (41.1 percent) and 60-of-73 extra points tries (82.2 percent). Gispert's field goal percentage is second in Rush history to only David Cool's 46.2 percent (6-13). Six of Gispert's 10 missed field goals have come from over 45 yards.

With an appearance in this Sunday's game with Indiana, Gispert will become the longest tenured kicker with the Rush. He is currently tied with Pete Elezovic at 12 games.

Gispert's competition for the all-Rookie team consists of:
Player G FG FG% XPT XPT% PTS
Gispert 12 7-17 41.2 60-73 82.2 81
Groshelle (Col) 11 4-10 40.0 48-66 72.7 60
Kral (Buf) 8 2-17 11.8 21-28 75.0 27

McGOURTY AND McMILLEN REACH 100: Fullbacks Jamie McGourty and Bob McMillen have each reached 100 yards rushing this season. McGourty has 120 yards on 42 carries while McMillen has 100 yards on 30 carries. They have combined for 15 rushing touchdowns. It is the first time that McGourty has reached the 100-yard mark in his 5-year career. For McMillen, it is the fifth straight season that he has recorded 100 yards rushing.

In case you were wondering if it is rare in the AFL to have teammates rush for 100 yards each, the answer is no. Four teams this season already have two 100-yard rushers (San Jose, Indiana, Orlando, the Rush). One more team is trying to accomplish the feat (Tampa Bay).

TURN AROUND ON TURNOVERS: Heading into the April 4 game at Detroit with a 3-6 record, the Rush had a –10 turnover margin (15th in the league). Six weeks later, Chicago has reached the +1 mark on turnovers while going 4-2. The Rush has forced 16 turnovers in the 6 contests while committing only 5.

BARON HITS 100: Lineman James Baron will play in his 100th career regular-season AFL game this Sunday against Indiana. Baron is in his 7th season in the league, having played 5 seasons with the Nashville Kats before joining the Rush.

Baron trails only Tony Bowick (120 games including this Sunday) for longest AFL service time among Rush players. Bob McMillen (95) and Cedric Walker (88), barring injury, will hit 100 games next season.

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 67-64 (including a 23-20 mark with the Rush) ... has a career 5-6 mark in the postseason.
- is 4-7 against the Firebirds franchise ... was 2-4 vs. Albany (1990-2000) and is 2-3 against Indiana.
- became the sixth head coach in AFL history to achieve 70 career wins ... his 70th win was April 13, 2003, at Colorado (76-58).
- was the sixth coach in league history to record 60 regular-season victories when the Rush defeated Dallas (58-52 in overtime) July 13, 2002.

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Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from May 13, 2003


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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