Sports stats

Detroit Fury Game Notes

March 11, 2003 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Detroit Fury News Release


QUICK FACTS:
New York Dragons (0-6) at Detroit Fury (3-3)
Date: March 16, 2003
Kickoff: 12:00 p.m. ET
Site: The Palace of Auburn Hills (14,826)
Officials: Darrel Leftwich (Referee), Jeff Carr (Umpire), Bill Ward (Head Linesman), Jim Hatfield (Line Judge), Tony Lombardo (Back Judge)
Radio: WDFN, 1130 AM Jamie Samuelsen (Play-by-Play) Marc Spindler (Color Analyst)
TV: NBC Eli Gold (Play-by-Play) Charles Davis (Color Analyst)
Series Record: 0-1
Last Meeting: New York defeated Detroit 44-37 at The Palace on Friday, May 24, 2002.
Streaks: New York – Lose6 Detroit – Lose 2
Coaches: Todd Shell (0-2, 1st Year) Al Luginbill (3-3, 1st Year)

THE STAKES: The Fury have lost two straight games on the road, and are looking to rebound at home, before heading out on the road for another two weeks. Today's game against New York will be the Fury's first game of division play, and very important considering there is a three-way tie for first place in the Eastern Division. Despite being (0-6), New York has a powerful offense and could prove to be a spoiler within teams in the division. A Fury win would give Detroit a crucial win within their division and snap their two-game losing streak

THE SERIES: The Fury and Dragons have never played in The Palace. Last season, Detroit fell to New York, in New York, 44-37.

HEAD COACHES:

AL LUGINBILL, Detroit (3-3, 1st Year): Luginbill enters his first season as head coach and general manager of the Detroit Fury and his first season coaching in the Arena Football League. He brings over 33 years of football experience to the Fury. Luginbill began his coaching career at Pasadena City College, where he guided Pasadena City College to Jr. Rose Bowl Championship in his final season as a head coach. He then moved on to Arizona State University and worked as an assistant coach from 1977-1984 with a one-year coaching stint at the University of Wyoming. Finishing his career as a Sun Devil, he left ASU to pursue a job with the San Diego State University Athletic department. After three years on the administrative side, Luginbill was given the control over the slumping Aztec football program, where he served as head coach of SDSU for five years. He is the only coach in SDSU to ever have five consecutive winning seasons. Luginbill's career turned when he left the collegiate ranks to coach in the NFL Europe (World League). He served as head coach and director of football operations of Amsterdam Admirals from (1995-2000). In his tenure there, he guided the Admirals to the World Bowl. Luginbill moved back to States and took a job with up-start XFL and guided the Los Angeles Xtreme to XFL's first and only league championship. Throughout his career, Luginbill is credited with finding and developing NFL stars such as Marshall Faulk (San Diego St. Player), Kurt Warner (NFL Europe / Amsterdam Player) and most recently, Tommy Maddox (XFL). Luginbill currently holds a 86-56-2 overall record as a head coach. He has won three championships and appeared in five bowl games during his coaching tenure.

TODD SHELL, New York (0-2, 1st Year): Shell is taking over as the Dragons' head coach, after the team started the season off with a (0-4) record. Before coming to the Big Apple, Shell was a part of the Arizona Rattlers television broadcast crew. He served as the team's color commentator. Shell got his head coaching break in the Arena Football League with the San Jose SaberCats in 1995, where became the first head coach in SaberCats history. In San Jose's inaugural season, Shell led his 1995 squad to a record of 8-4 and a Western Division Championship. His team became the first expansion franchise in AFL history to win a division title. After four seasons at the helm in San Jose, Shell compiled a record of 29-25 earning playoff berths in three of four seasons. Before coming to San Jose, Shell served as the defensive coordinator for the Arizona Rattlers from 1992-1994, helping lead the Rattlers to their first ArenaBowl title in 1994. Shell was a 1984 first-round draft pick out of BYU by the San Francisco 49ers, where he proceeded to win two Super Bowl rings (1984 and 1988). Shell played five seasons in San Francisco before retiring due to injuries.

LAST WEEK:

Phoenix, Ariz. – The Detroit Fury could not come back from another halftime deficit and fell to the Arizona Rattlers 51-41. Detroit's offense struggled in the first half, turning the ball over two times, allowing Arizona to build a 10-point halftime lead.

Rattlers Chris Horn that proved to be too much for the Fury. Horn, named the game's MVP, led the Rattlers offense, catching 10 passes for 113 yards, four touchdowns and returned three kicks for 87 yards and one touchdown. Arizona QB Sherdrick Bonner completed 24-of-41 for 259 yards, five touchdowns and one interception.

Despite getting off to a slow start, Fury QB Andy Kelly completed 19-of-30 for 273 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions. Ty Grovesteen led Detroit's receivers with six catches for 61 yards and two touchdowns.

The Fury offense could not get it going in the second quarter. Detroit hit its first snag when Rattlers Randy Gatewood intercepted QB Andy Kelly on the Arizona one-yard line. Arizona then capitalized on the turnover on a scoring pass from Bonner to Gatewood.

On Detroit's next possession, Rattlers Orshawante Bryant intercepted Kelly in the end zone for the Fury's second turnover in a row. The Fury defense stepped up and was able to hold the Rattlers to a 32-yard field goal, but with only 11 seconds remaining in the half, the Fury offense was unable to score, missing on a 48-yard field goal attempt as time expired.

The second half opened up much like the first half. Each team traded quick touchdown scores, but neither team was able to make a defensive stop.

In the fourth quarter, the Fury were finally able to hold the Rattlers on a fourth down play, but there was only 11 seconds remaining in the game. Kelly tried for the end zone but threw his third interception of the game as time expired to give Arizona the win.

DETROIT FURY NEXT WEEK:

The Fury return to the road to begin another two-game road trip. Detroit will head to the Pepsi Center in Denver, to face the expansion Colorado Crush. This will be a meeting of new names in old AFL cities. The Denver Dynamite and Detroit Drive were both original members of the AFL in 1987, but now both teams are now defunct.

FURY NOTES / TRENDS:

Early Lead in the Division: Right now there is a three-way tie for first place in the Eastern Division. Detroit, Buffalo and Las Vegas are sit at 3-3, but Detroit can grab the early edge with a win this Sunday. With a victory, Detroit can grab a division win, while Buffalo and Las Vegas are competing against two hot teams. Buffalo is playing the defending champs, San Jose SaberCats, in San Jose, and Las Vegas is hosting a hot and streaky Chicago Rush squad. No team has had sole possession of the Eastern Division since the 2003 season began.

Nobody from New York: So far this season, there is an early pattern to the Fury's success and failure, and it comes from each team in the league. In all three victories, the Fury has had members from each of the team's 2002 squads. In week two, the Fury's Ron Carpenter and Rupert Grant were all members of the 2002 Force squad. In week three, Fury OL/DL Jon McCall and Dary Myricks played with the 2002 Cobras, and in week four, Fury QB Andy Kelly, OL/DL Matt Norwood and WR/DB Jason Kaiser all played with the Desperados in 2002. In all three losses, the Fury did not have any free agents that were either members of the Firebirds, Storm or Rattlers rosters in 2002. Preparing for New York, the Fury do not have any players from last year's Dragons squad, and the Fury will be trying to overcome this trend.

Rotating Jobs: So far this season, the offensive and defensive specialist positions for the Fury have not been held by any one person for more than two weeks at a time. With the exception of DS Ron Carpenter, many different Fury players have had their chance at the position. This week, Thomas Bailey will get his second chance at the OS position. Before him, Junior Lord played the OS position for two weeks, Marcus Nash played the OS for week three and Sulecio Sanford played the Fury OS in weeks one and two. On the DS side of the ball, Kelly Snell came back to play the other DS position last week. Before Snell, Richard Jones played at the DS position for weeks four and five, Ernest Ross played DS in weeks two and three and Mario Kelso held the job in week one.

Competing for another Milestone: Although he has just become the first quarterback to throw for 25,000 yards, Fury QB Andy Kelly is not done yet. He only needs eight more touchdown passes to become the first professional quarterback, in any football league, to throw for 500 touchdowns in one league. Kelly is currently on pace to hit the 500 mark when the Fury face off against the Dragons. Dragons QB Aaron Garcia is only four touchdowns behind Kelly and the battle for number one could come down to the Fury vs. Dragons game.

RUNNING WITH THE RECORDS: Watch as Fury Quarterback Andy Kelly continues his assault on the Arena Football League's record books, as he hopes to remain the league's all-time leading passer. AFL Veterans Aaron Garcia (NY) and Sherdrick Bonner (AZ) are right behind.



Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from March 11, 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.

Other Recent Detroit Fury Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central