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Coyotes 2004 season review

November 12, 2004 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Central Valley Coyotes News Release


Centralvalleycoyotes.com will take a look back at the 2004 season in a two part piece. The first segment will cover the overall team's performance while the second segment will focus on impact players of the campaign.

The 2004 Central Valley Coyote season hardly started off with a bang. While other teams in the West Division found their groove early, the Coyote's struggled to find their first win.

The season opened at home with a 68-35 loss to divisional foe, Hawaii. Coyote QB, Jose Fuentes showed signs of promise with 223 passing yards and four touchdowns but was held back by three interceptions. His favorite target was offensive specialist Kenyatte Morgan who hauled in nine grabs for 123 yards and two touchdowns. This would be the first of many outstanding games for the emerging top receiver.

After the poor opening performance, the Coyotes turned to newly acquired quarterback Wesley Phillips the next four games against Bakersfield, San Diego, Peoria and Green Bay. Even with the quarterback change, Central Valley was on the short end in each of those contests including a heartbreaking one point loss to Peoria.

Despite the 0-5 start, Kenyatte Morgan continued to be a bright spot while leading the team in receiving yards, total yards and running back three kick returns for touchdowns in the first five games.

Searching for their first win in week seven, the Coyote's turned to rookie quarterback Kyle Biggs. In his debut, Biggs helped reverse the team's bad fortune by leading them to their first victory of the season with six touchdown passes in a 42-25 win against Rio Grande Valley. Defensively, lineman Ricky Leung-Wai recorded three sacks which later helped him earn Defensive Player of the Week honors as selected by the league.

The taste of triumph did not last long for Central Valley as Biggs and the Coyotes dropped their next three before a trip to Hawaii. Their 1-8 record brought about not only another quarterback switch but more importantly a coaching change.

Going into Week 11, coach Cree Morris stepped down from his head coaching position. The decision left the Coyote's to turn over the duties to offensive coordinator, Fred Biletnikoff Jr. The interim head coach decided to give rookie quarterback Frank Borba a chance to change their luck in Hawaii.

Although Borba's efforts fell short in a 70-42 loss to the Islanders, the spotlight was focused on Kenyatte Morgan's record setting night. Morgan set the team's single season all-purpose yardage record surpassing Steve Wofford's mark of 2,212 yards. After just ten games, Morgan had already accumulated 2,284 total yards.

As the offense sputtered in another defeat at Bakersfield the following week, Biletnikoff Jr. looked to the AFL ranks to find a new quarterback, acquiring Juston Wood, from the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League.

While Wood was unable to lead his team to victory in his first two starts, he was able to throw seven touchdowns in his second game against San Diego.

The QB carousel continued when the coaching staff decided to go back to Frank Borba due to Wood dealing with personal issues. In the fourteenth game of the season, wide receiver Kenyatte Morgan broke the franchise record for receiving yards in a single season with 1,266.

With a 1-13 record and virtually nothing but pride to play for, Central Valley fought hard to win their final two games of the season while spoiling the playoff hopes of Hawaii and San Diego. The back-to-back wins brought about a 3-13 record and a frustrating conclusion to the year.

Although it took Central Valley the entire season to find their groove, they were able to end their season with a bang.

Amidst the player and coaching changes, the team was able to finish the year with a promising end and a two game win streak. A streak that they hope to build on as next season approaches.

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