Florida Firecats game notes

July 12, 2004 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Florida Firecats News Release


QUICK FACTS:
Laredo Law (3-10) at Florida Firecats (8-5)
Date: Saturday, July 17, 2004
Kickoff: 7:40 p.m. EST
Site: Germain Arena (7,128)
National Anthem: Loni Schultz
Coin Toss: Joe Banta
Officials: Mike Pavese (Referee), Brent Sowell (Umpire),
Rich Misner (Head Linesman), Mike Mongoven (Line Judge), Barry Hendon (Back Judge)
Radio: ESPN 770 (Dave Parks)
TV: None
Series Record: Never Played
Last Meeting: Never Played
Streaks: Florida W1Laredo W1
Florida Coach: Ben Bennett (18-11 regular season; 0-1 playoffs, Second season)
Laredo Law: Scott Maynard (3-10 regular season, First season)

THE STAKES: The Laredo Law could be a dangerous team to the Florida Firecats because they have nothing to lose. The Firecats are still battling for the American South Division crown. If Florida wins out, and Birmingham loses one more game, then the Firecats will take the division title. With a win against Laredo and a loss by Memphis, the Firecats will clinch a playoff spot.

THE SERIES: This will be the first meeting between these two teams. The Laredo Law is currently in the midst of their inaugural season.

THE IFs:
If Florida beats Laredo, it would ...
· Give Florida a 1-0 series record with Laredo
· Give Florida a 5-2 home record in 2004
· Give Ben Bennett a 19-11 regular season record as a head coach
· Give Florida a 9-5 record for the season
· Give Florida a 1-0 record against the National Conference
· Keep Florida no more than one game behind Birmingham in the American South Division



FLORIDA (8-5, Won 1)
Date Opponent Result Score
4/104/174/245/15/85/145/225/296/46/126/196/267/37/10 BOSSIER @MEMPHISCAPE FEAR@MACON@COLUMBUS@BIRMINGHAM@TENN. VALLEYMEMPHIS@MACONCOLUMBUS@CAPE FEARMACONBYEBIRMINGHAM WLLWWLWWWWLLW 46-3151-5435-5558-2362-3334-5553-3043-2041-2954-3449-5734-4355-28
Date Opponent Streak Series
7/17 LAREDO NEVER PLAYED
7/26 @COLUMBUS FLO 5-0
7/31 TENN. VALLEY TV 2-1




LAREDO LAW (3-10, Won 1)
Date Opponent Result Score
4/34/104/235/15/85/155/225/296/56/116/197/37/97/177/247/31 @RIO GRANDE@WICHITATENN. VALLEYRIO GRANDE@OKLA. CITYTULSA@RIO GRANDE@WICHITAOKLA. CITYBOSSIER-SHREVE@OKLA. CITYTULSAARKANSAS@FLORIDAWICHITA@TULSA LLLLLWWLLLLLW 6-3722-4443-6838-5848-7957-4842-4034-6441-6663-7839-5840-6050-47






HEAD COACH: Firecats' Head Coach Ben Bennett played college ball at Duke under Steve Spurrier. Bennett was the 1980 ACC Rookie of the Year, and he was named ACC Player of the Year in 1982 and 1983. Bennett went on to have one of the most prolific careers of any quarterback in Arena Football League history. He was named the AFL Most Valuable Player in 1988 while playing with the Chicago Bruisers. He is the only quarterback in AFL history to lead three different teams to a total of five Arena Bowls.

LEAGUE TOP 10s:
FIRECATS
Player Rank Category Stat
Cainon Lamb 8 Scoring 174
Cainon Lamb T-8 Scoring (TD) 174
Ken Mastrole 9 Pass Rating 110.7
Steve Gorrie 1 Rushing 421
Chris Morant 8 Rushing 156
Cainon Lamb 10 Receptions 86
Chris Morant 2 Tackles For Loss 9.5
Desmond Washington T-9 Passes Defended 19
Quincy Sorrell 1 Tackles 75.5

LAW
Player Rank Category Stat
Rocky Perez 3 Rushing 235
Traco Rachal 3 Interceptions 7
Traco Rachal T-9 Passes Defended 19
Traco Rachal 7 Tackles 65.5


FIRECATS RECORD WATCH
Player Record Stat To Break
C.Lamb (Career) Rec Yds 2,196 +133
Q.Sorrell (Team) Tackles 75.5 +4.5
C.Morant Sacks 6.0 +2.0

1000 RECEIVING YARDS WATCH
Player Rec. Yds To 1000
M.Benton 974 yds. +26
C.Lamb 889 yds. +111




af2 SINGLE SEASON RUSHING RECORD
MOST YARDS GAINED
1. Darnell Arceneux, Hawaii, 2002, 439 yards
2. STEVE GORRIE, FLORIDA, 2004, 421 YARDS (-19)
3. Sherard Poteete, Bossier, 2002, 405 yards
4. Quentin Cradle, Memphis, 2001, 402 yards
5. Wilmont Perry, Cape Fear, 2003, 397 yards
6. Darnell Small, Arkansas, 2002, 370 yards
7. Jeremy Scruggs, Memphis, 2001, 333 yards
8. Matt D'Orazio, Rochester, 2002, 332 yards
9. Kenyata Spruill, Charleston, 2001, 324 yards
10. Randy Sullivan, Carolina, 2001, 316 yards




TALE OF THE TAPE: Here's how Florida and Laredo stack up:
Statistical FIRECATS LAW
Category Rank Stat Rank Stat
Scoring Offense 15 47.3 22 40.2
Scoring Defense 2 37.8 26 57.5
Total Offense 15 254.8 17 244.6
Total Defense 1 206.0 19 264.0
Pass Offense 22 208.6 19 221.3
Pass Defense 1 191.5 18 237.4
Rushing Offense 1 46.2 8 23.3
Rushing Defense 6 14.5 22 26.6
Scoring (Non-Kick) T-14 546 24 452
Scoring (Kicking) 19 69 21 67
Pass Rating 7 110.5 17 104.6
Pass Def. Rating 6 98.3 23 114.5
Kickoff Returns 16 19.3 17 18.7
MFG Returns 19 15.3 9 17.8
Turnover Margin 22 -6 21 -5
Field Goals 9 .357 18 .310
PAT Kicking 17 .740 20 .702
Sacks By 13 16 10 17
Sacks Against 1 4 26 60
First Downs 9 208 19 190
Opp. First Downs 3 176 11 194
Penalties 21 884 6 628
Opp. Penalties 5 649 10 752
Red Zone Offense 8 78% 26 61.7%
Red Zone Defense 4 65.4% 24 81.8%

FIRECATS WHEN THEY:
SCORE 30-LESS........... 0-0
SCORE 31-40............... 0-3
SCORE 41-50............... 3-1
SCORE 51-60............... 4-1
SCORE 61+.................. 1-0

ALLOW 30-LESS.......... 5-0
ALLOW 31-40.............. 3-0
ALLOW 41-50.............. 0-1
ALLOW 51-60..............0-4
ALLOW 61+................. 0-0

AT HOME...............................................4-2
ON THE ROAD.......................................4-3
FIRECATS SCORE FIRST........................4-2
OPPONENT SCORES FIRST....................4-3
LEADING AFTER 1ST QUARTER...............7-3
TRAILING AFTER 1ST QUARTER.............1-0
TIED AFTER 1ST QUARTER......................0-2
LEADING AT HALF.................................8-1
TRAILING AT HALF................................0-4
TIED AT HALF........................................0-0
LEADING AFTER 3RD QUARTER...............8-1
TRAILING AFTER 3RD QUARTER..............0-4
TIED AFTER 3RD QUARTER......................0-0
AGAINST TEAMS BELOW .500.................4-2
AGAINST TEAMS .500.............................0-1
AGAINST TEAMS ABOVE .500.................4-2
PLAYERS TO WATCH:
QB Ken Mastrole- Mastrole has an extensive professional resume. He began his career with the Chicago Bears, and he played a season with the Amsterdam Admirals of the NFL Europe. He threw for 2,284 yards and 55 touchdowns in only 11 games last season.

WR/LB Cainon Lamb- Lamb returns to the Firecats after a stellar 2003 season. He caught 110 passes for 1,297 yards and 32 touchdowns. Lamb is on pace to own all Firecat receiving and scoring records by the end of the season.

WR/LB Anthony Snead- Snead comes to the Firecats after spending the 2003 season with the Macon Knights. He caught 90 passes for 1,140 yards and 17 touchdowns.

OS Magic Benton- Benton caught 77 passes for 821 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2003. Benton has been with the Firecats since the team was established.

FB/LB Chris Morant- Morant has been getting it done on all phases of the ball this season, whether it be on offense, defense, or special teams.

DS Quincy Sorrell- Sorrell returns to the Firecats after a solid 2003 season. Sorrell had 54 tackles, 2 interceptions, and two forced fumbles last year.

FB/LB Steve Gorrie- Gorrie came into the NFL draft as one of the top ranked fullbacks in the draft. He is also a former Division II Player of the Year. Gorrie currently leads the league in rushing.

DS Roy Stabler- Stabler led the team last year with 79.5 tackles. He also has four interceptions, 19 pass breakups, and four fumble recoveries.

OL/DL Victor Hall- Hall is number ten on the AFL all-time sack list. He was the line coach last year for the Firecats. He recently came out of retirement to return to the game.

OL/DL Comone Fisher- Fisher had 23 tackles, 2 sacks, and 2 fumble recoveries in 2003 for the Firecats.


LAST SERIES MEETING: This will be the first-ever meeting between these two teams.

FORWARD MOTION: The Firecats will hit the road for a crucial match up with their division rivals, the Columbus Wardogs, on Monday, July 26. Columbus is fighting for the sixth playoff spot, and Florida is fighting for the division title. The game will be an instrumental win for either team.



U.S. ARMY IRONMAN OF THE WEEK
BABY RUTH REAL DEAL OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF
Week Team Player
1 T-Valley Jerrian James
2 Okla. City Al Hunt
3 WB/Scran Leroy McFadden
4 Tulsa Bjorn Barre
5 FLORIDA STEVE GORRIE
6 Louisville Takuya Furatani
7 Green Bay Deronn Finley
8 Columbus Terrence Samuel
9 San Diego Nakoa McElrath
10 Cape Fear Mitch Galloway
11 T-Valley Travis McAlpine
12 Birmingham Carlos McNearny
13 Columbus Adrian Cockfield


ADT DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Week Team Player
1 Rio Grande Karleton Thomas
2 Birmingham Jerry Turner
3 Louisville Justin Thomas
4 Louisville Demtrius Formey
5 Quad City Matt Forbes
6 Birmingham Anthony Jordan
7 Cent. Valley Ricky Lenng-Wai
8 Hawaii Joshua Robinson
9 Peoria Lawrence Matthews
10 Green Bay Robert Garth
11 Wichita Henry Bryant
12 Wilkes-Barre Jamie Hattley
13 Macon Marcus Bradley


BABY RUTH REAL DEAL OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Week Team Player
1 Quad City Jeff Hewitt
2 Green Bay Randall Lane
3 Cape Fear Matt Burstein
4 Wichita Aaron Sparrow
5 Manchester Chris Sanders
6 Bossier Bo Smith
7 Green Bay Chris Greisen
8 Memphis Brian Jones
9 Louisville Anthony Payton
10 Bossier Sherard Poteete
11 Albany Tony Locke
12 Tulsa Bob Bees
13 Columbus Troy Bergeron



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