Florida Firecats game notes

August 18, 2004 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Florida Firecats News Release


QUICK FACTS:
Florida Firecats (12-6) at Wilkes-Barre Pioneers (14-3)
Date: Sunday, August 22, 2004
Kickoff: 6:00 p.m. EST
Site: Wachovia Arena (7,500)
National Anthem:
Coin Toss:
Game Ball Delivery:
Officials: Fred Weidower (Referee), Karl Swankee (Umpire), Dirk Bell (Head Linesman), Andy Britton (Line Judge), Jim DeBell (Back Judge)
Radio: ESPN 770 (Dave Parks)
TV: None
Series Record: Never Played Before
Last Meeting:
Streaks: Florida W2 Wilkes-Barre
Florida Coach: Ben Bennett (20-12 regular season; 2-1 playoffs, Second season)
Wilkes-Barre Coach:

THE STAKES: The stakes at this time are pretty plain and simple: win or go home. One team will be crowned the American Conference champions and will represent the conference in the Arena Cup. The loser will go home to think about what they could have done to have made it one step closer to gold.

THE SERIES: Never Played Before

THE IFs:
If Florida beats Wilkes-Barre, it would ...
- Crown Florida as the American Conference champions
- Advance Florida to the ArenaCup championship game
- Give Florida a 1-0 series record with Wilkes-Barre
- Give Ben Bennett a 3-1 postseason record as a head coach
- Give Florida a 6-2 franchise playoff record

FIRECATS WHEN THEY:
SCORE 30-LESS........... 0-0
SCORE 31-40............... 1-3
SCORE 41-50............... 4-1
SCORE 51-60............... 4-2
SCORE 61+.................. 3-0

ALLOW 30-LESS.......... 7-0
ALLOW 31-40.............. 4-0
ALLOW 41-50.............. 0-1
ALLOW 51-60..............0-5
ALLOW 61+................. 0-1

AT HOME...............................................6-3
ON THE ROAD.......................................6-3
FIRECATS SCORE FIRST........................6-3
OPPONENT SCORES FIRST....................6-3
LEADING AFTER 1ST QUARTER...............10-4
TRAILING AFTER 1ST QUARTER.............2-0
TIED AFTER 1ST QUARTER......................0-2
LEADING AT HALF.................................12-1
TRAILING AT HALF................................0-5
TIED AT HALF........................................0-0
LEADING AFTER 3RD QUARTER...............12-1
TRAILING AFTER 3RD QUARTER..............0-5
TIED AFTER 3RD QUARTER......................0-0
AGAINST TEAMS BELOW .500.................6-2
AGAINST TEAMS .500.............................0-1
AGAINST TEAMS ABOVE .500.................6-3

TALE OF THE TAPE: Here's how Florida and Wilkes-Barre stack up:
Statistical FIRECATS PIONEERS
Category Rank Stat Rank Stat
Scoring Offense 4 48.5 9 40.0
Scoring Defense 7 45.5 3 37.0
Total Offense 5 267.0 3 275.0
Total Defense 10 279.0 8 267.0
Pass Offense 4 245.5 3 254.0
Pass Defense 11 265.5 10 260.0
Rushing Offense 6 21.5 7 21.0
Rushing Defense 5 13.5 1 7.0
Scoring (Non-Kick) 2 78 9 32
Scoring (Kicking) 1 19 7 8
Pass Rating 9 104.9 4 115.5
Pass Def. Rating 9 109.1 8 107.9
Kickoff Returns 8 16.5 4 22.8
MFG Returns 4 13.0 12 0.0
Turnover Margin T-2 +1 T-5 0
Field Goals 1 1.000 3 .500
PAT Kicking T-7 .769 3 1.000
Sacks By 4 1 T-8 0
Sacks Against 11 3 8 2
First Downs 2 34 T-7 14
Opp. First Downs 11 31 7 19
Penalties 11 17 9 12
Opp. Penalties 9 77 2 40
Red Zone Offense 6 75.0% 10 57.1%
Red Zone Defense 1 58.3% 2 60.0%


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.

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 had 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.


af2 SINGLE SEASON RUSHING RECORD
MOST YARDS GAINED
1. STEVE GORRIE, FLORIDA, 2004, 500 YARDS
2. Darnell Arceneux, Hawaii, 2002, 439 yards
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

U.S. ARMY IRONMAN OF THE WEEK
BABY RUTH REAL DEAL OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE
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
14 Bakersfield Eric Mahanke
15 FLORIDA STEVE GORRIE/ CHRIS MORANT
16 Wilkes-Barre Rocco Forgione

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
14 Peoria Brandon Campbell
15
16 Laredo Traco Rachal

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
14 Columbus Troy Bergeron
15
16 Cent. Valley Kenyatte Morgan



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