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Columbus Destroyers Weekly Release: Week 13 vs. Dallas Desperados

May 21, 2007 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Columbus Destroyers News Release


COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Columbus Destroyers (6-5), presented by Germain, will face the Dallas Desperados (10-1) on Huntington Field at Nationwide Arena on Saturday, May 26 at 7 p.m. (ET).

THIS WEEK: This will be the eighth meeting all time between these two Eastern Division rivals. The Desperados squeaked out a win on Apr. 5 earlier this year as kicker Todd Sievers sealed the Destroyers fate with a 16-yard field goal as time expired to give the Desperados a 53-51 victory. The Destroyers jumped out to a 37-7 lead with 0:30 left in the second quarter but were held scoreless until the 14:58 mark of the fourth quarter. Five defensive stops by Columbus in the first half led to the 30-point lead. The Desperados came out of the halftime break a brand new team as they scored on all-six possessions, outscoring the Destroyers 39-14 in the final 30-minutes of the contest. Quarterback Matt Nagy completed 24-of-44 passes for 224 yards, six touchdowns and one interception. Damien Groce led all receivers with 11 grabs for 112 yards and one touchdown. Four different Destroyers receivers caught a scoring pass - Tony Locke, David Saunders, Josh Bush and Groce.

PRACTICE SCHEDULE: The practice schedule for this week is below. Practices times and locations are subject to change. All practices at the Columbus FieldHouse are open to the public. Practices/Walk-Thru's at Nationwide Arena are closed to the public.

Day: Tuesday, May 22 Event: Practice Time: 10:35 a.m.-12:05 p.m.

Place: Nationwide Arena

Day: Wednesday, May 23 Event: Practice Time: 10-11:35 a.m. Place: Nationwide Arena

Day: Thursday, May 24 Event: Practice Time: 9:25-11 a.m. Place: Nationwide Arena

Day: Friday, May 25 Event: Walk-Thru Practice Time: 9-10 a.m. Place: Nationwide Arena

LAST WEEK: The Destroyers suffered a setback at the hands of the Colorado Crush (8-4) as they lost 58-40 in front of 15,326 fans at Pepsi Center last Friday night. Destroyers quarterback Matt Nagy suffered a left elbow sprain toward the end of the first quarter. Nagy completed 7-of-8 passes for 87 yards and one interception before Scott Driesbach filled in and completed 30-of-45 passes for 269 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions. The Destroyers turned the ball over four times - three interceptions and one fumble. The Crush capitalized on two of the costly mistakes and turned them into 14 points. Wide receiver Damien Groce corralled a career-high 14 receptions for a season-high 168 yards and two touchdowns. Groce is now two touchdowns from setting the franchise record for touchdown receptions in a season (23 - Cornelius White, 2004) and five touchdowns away from setting a franchise record for touchdowns in a season (30 - Sedrick Robinson, 2004).

NEXT WEEK: The Destroyers will travel to Atlanta to face the Georgia Force (9-2) on Saturday, June 2. Kickoff at Philips Arena is set for 7 p.m. (ET). It will mark the second meeting between the two teams this season. On Mar. 30, the Destroyers defeated the Force 62-61 in front of 12,103 fans on Huntington Field at Nationwide Arena Friday night. With the Destroyers trailing 54-48 in the fourth quarter, they went for it on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line. Nagy snuck in the corner of the end zone to knot the game 54-54 with 1:26 remaining. After a failed onside kick attempt by Columbus, Force quarterback Chris Greisen scored from a yard out to give the Force a 61-54 lead with 0:46 left.

GROUND CONTROL: The Columbus Destroyers ground game has taken off this season as they have put up an average of 21.9 yards per contest, the fifth best mark in the AFL. In fact, when the Destroyers rush for over 20 yards in a game they have a record of 6-1 in 2007. The rushing attack is led by fullback Harold Wells who has set career-highs with 54 carries and nine touchdowns. He has rushed for 133 yards this season and is one yard from setting another career best in that category. Quarterback Matt Nagy is also called upon in short yardage situations. He's carried the ball 12 times for 25 yards and scored six touchdowns. The Dallas Desperados are fourth in the league as they average 23.7 yards rushing per contest.

"WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE": The 2007 Columbus Destroyers have set a single-season franchise record with five wins on Huntington Field at Nationwide Arena. With a win over the Grand Rapids Rampage on May 11, the team moved to 5-1 on the season on home soil. The team bested the 2006 squad and the 2002 Buffalo Destroyers whom both won four games at home in their respective seasons. The 2002-03 Buffalo Destroyers put together a string of seven consecutive wins at home over the course of two seasons.

LOSING GROUND: With two tackles for loss this week, defensive lineman Ken Jones can set the all-time Arena Football League single-season record for tackles for loss in a season with 14. With 8.5 sacks (second in the AFL) and 3.5 tackles beyond the line of scrimmage, Jones leads the league with 12.0 tackles for loss in 2007. In 2005 defensive lineman Silas Demary (Los Angeles) and B.J. Cohen (New Orleans) finished their respective seasons with 13.5 tackles for loss.

DESTROYERS ON TELEVISION: The next edition of Columbus Sports Network's weekly magazine show, Destroyers Digest, will air on Wednesday, May 23 at 6 p.m. The show provides in-depth coverage and analysis of the team and the AFL. CSN's lead anchor Ray Crawford is the host of the half-hour show. CSN's broadcast of this week's contest between the Destroyers and Desperados on Saturday, May 26 will begin at 6:30 p.m. (ET) with the Destroyers Playbook hosted by Ray Crawford followed by all the exciting action of Destroyers football with Randy Rhinehart and Greg Frey at 7 p.m. (ET).

ON THE AIRWAVES: This week's contest between the Destroyers and the Desperados can be heard on your home for Destroyers football, the new WINK 107.1 FM with the broadcast tandem of Steve Sefner (play-by-play) and Rob Blackman (color commentator) on the call. Tune in at 6:30 p.m. (ET) as the Destroyers pre-game show gets underway with a one-on-one interview with Destroyers Head Coach Doug Kay, player interviews and insider information.

GAME PROMOTIONS: On Saturday, May 26, the Destroyers will host Youth and Amateur Football Night presented by Wendy's. The first 5,000 fans in attendance will receive an instructional CD, compliments of USA Football. Germain Racing's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers, Todd Bodine and Ted Musgrave will be in attendance. They will sign autographs and on display will be the #30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota Tundra race truck. ADT Rally Towels will be given out to fans in attendance. Dispatch/Mix 97.1 Family Night presented by Wendy's packages are available. Receive four tickets, four hot dogs, four Pepsi's, four popcorns, one foam football, four Dispatch Ice Haus skate passes and four Wendy's Frosty coupons for as low as $66. The Huntington $10 Ticket Blitz offers a minimum of 225 lower bowl seats to each home game for just $10. They will be available at the Nationwide Arena Box Office two hours prior to every home game. The Destroyers and Giant Eagle are teaming up with the Mid-Ohio FoodBank to TACKLE HUNGER in Central Ohio. Last year, with the help of fans, the Destroyers raised enough resources to provide over 27,000 meals to those in need. Fans are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items to all Destroyers home games to receive a raffle ticket. In addition, if fans bring a Giant Eagle branded non-perishable food item they will receive a voucher for $3 off a regularly priced ticket.

TICKET INFORMATION: Single game tickets are now on sale at the Nationwide Arena Box Office, ticketmaster outlets and The Blueline locations at Chiller Dublin, Chiller Easton, Chiller North and the Mall at Tuttle Crossing. Single game tickets for the 2007 season are available for as low as $12 by visiting www.ColumbusDestroyers.com. For information on season tickets call (877) COLS-AFL. Groups of 10 or more are eligible for group rates by calling (614) 246-HITS.



Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from May 21, 2007


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