Florida Firecats game notes
June 27, 2006 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Florida Firecats News Release
QUICK FACTS:
Green Bay Blizzard (7-5, 5-3) @
Florida Firecats (9-2, 8-1)
Date: Saturday, July 1, 2006
Kickoff: 8:00 p.m. EST
Site: Germain Arena, Estero, FL (7,128)
National Anthem:
Coin Toss: Referee
Officials: Referee: Mike Pavese
Umpire: Brent Sowell
Head Linesman: Mitch Geier
Line Judge: Rich Martinez
Back Judge: Folayan Kindred
Radio: WGUF 98.9FM (Dave Parks)
TV: None
Series Record: 1-0
Last Meeting: Florida 48, Green Bay 47 7/23/05
Streaks: Florida (W4), GB (W2)
Coaches: Kevin Bouis (23-4) Second season
Bob Landsee (16-12) Second season
THE STAKES: With Memphis hot on their heels, the Firecats must keep winning to stay on top of the American South division to set themselves up nicely for the playoffs.
THE SERIES: These teams have played only once, last year with Florida winning a 48-47 thriller scoring a 2 point conversion with no time remaining to win.
THE IFs:
If Florida defeats Green Bay, it would ...
- Get Florida to 10 wins for the 4th straight year.
- Give Florida a five game winning streak
- Give Coach Bouis his 24th victory in the af2
Florida Firecats (9-2; 8-1; WON 4)
Date Opponent Result Score
4/8 @ Memphis 8:00 L 78-46
4/15 @ Macon 7:30 W 53-40
4/22 Memphis 7:30 W 60-55
4/29 @ Bossier-Shreveport 8:00 W 47-26
5/6 @ Tennessee Valley 8:30 W 76-37
5/13 Birmingham 8:00 W 44-62
5/20 @ Manchester 7:30 L 62-79
5/27 South Georgia 7:30 W 28-64
6/3 Tennessee Valley 7:30 W 33-74
6/17 Macon 7:30 W 54-66
6/24 @ Birmingham 8:00 W 60-26
Date Opponent Result Score
7/1 Green Bay 7:30
7/8 @ W.B. / Scranton 7:00
7/15 Albany 7:30
7/22 Louisville 7:30
4/29 @ South Georgia 7:30
Birmingham Steeldogs (6-5; 4-2; Won 2)
Date Opponent W/L Score
3/31 Albany 8:00 L 48-40
4/7 @ Manchester 8:00 W 48-34
4/15 @ Quad City 7:30 W 57-34
4/21 Oklahoma City 7:30 L 44-32
4/29 @ Louisville 8:00 L 39-45
5/5 @ WB Scranton 8:00 L 27-42
5/13 Macon 8:30 W 19-53
5/19 Quad City 8:00 W 35-40
5/27 @ Albany 10:30 W 56-51
6/10 Stockton 8:00 L 68-62
6/17 @ South Georgia 8:00 W 52-50
6/24 WB Scranton 8:30 W 35-65
Date Opponent Result Score
7/1 Florida 8:00
7/71 Manchester 8:30
7/15 @ Everett 7:30
7/28 Louisville 8:00
HEAD COACH:
Kevin Bouis is set to embark on his 2nd year as head coach and 5th year overall with the Florida Firecats. In his 1st season at the helm he guided the team to a franchise best 15-3 record, the best 05' regular season league record at 14-2, a 2nd straight South Divisional Championship, home field advantage in the playoffs and a berth in the American Conference Championship. As the defensive coordinator, Bouis helped coach the team to an Arena Cup Championship in 2004. That year Kevin's Defense was ranked #1 in total defense, #1 in pass defense, #3 in rush defense & #2 in scoring defense(38.2 pts/g).
Stifling defense has been a signature of the Firecats since Bouis arrived in 2002 when the Firecats finished 5th in scoring defense (38.1 pts/g), 5th in rushing defense and 7th in pass def rating on their way to their 1st arena cup appearance and the American Conference Championship. In 2003 his defense to finished 2nd in scoring defense (39.2 pts/g), 7th total defense and 4th in pass def rating.
He is a former player for the National Indoor Football League's Mississippi Firedogs. He helped his team win two League championships, 2000 and 2001, winning All-NIFL honors. In three seasons with the Firedogs (99-01), Bouis totaled 30 defensive turnovers, 23 interceptions and 7 fumble recoveries. In 2000 and 2001 Bouis led the team in tackles and interceptions. He won the honor of being the IPFL defensive player of the week in 2000. In 1999, Bouis helped the Firedogs qualify for the first round of the playoffs in their inaugural season (9-7). During his tenure with the Firedogs he registered 189 tackles including 81 in 2000.
As a player at the University of Texas El Paso/University of Kentucky, Bouis was furnished with a full scholarship and was a two-year varsity letterman in Football at UTEP, who started as a true freshman and sophomore. He then transferred and completed his college football career at the University of Kentucky.
Bouis holds a B.A. in Education from UK and has an M.B.A. from William Carey College.
Assistant Head Coach OL/DL & FB/LB: Victor Hall "Sack Man" coached with the Firecats in 2003 before returning to the field as a player in 2004. Hall returned to the sideline in 2005 as the Assistant Head Coach. The Auburn grad who was in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings from 1991-1993 and the Indianapolis Colts for the 93-94 season has an Orlando Predators Arena Bowl ring to go along with the hardware he received last year and has the distinction as being the only player to win both an AFL and AF2 championship.
Hall is also an ex-police officer and became the youngest Chief of Police in Alabama at the age of 23. Vic can be seen as an extra through out the Adam Sandler film "The Waterboy".
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR: Ken Mastrole is in his 2nd year as coordinator after leading the Firecats to the championship as QB in 2004. Coach Bouis' 1st choice for the job played his college ball at Maryland & Rhode Island also had stints with the Chicago Bears in the NFL, The Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe & the Detroit Fury in the AFL.
LAST SERIES MEETING: GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) - Magic Benton barely caught the Chris Wallace pass in the end zone for the game-winning 2-point conversion with no time remaining, vaulting the Florida Firecats ahead of the Green Bay Blizzard 48-47.
The Blizzard had the lead with 23 seconds remaining because of a Matt Huebner 3-yard touchdown run. Huebner had the chance to fall down on the 1-yard line in a chance to let the clock run down, but elected to get the score.
The Firecats used the time wisely, using short dump passes to move the ball to Green Bay 4-yard line. The Blizzard questionably accepted a delay-of-game penalty with 4.7 seconds remaining, giving the Firecats' receivers more room to get open, which Cainon Lamb did in the back corner of the end zone, putting the Firecats within one and no time remaining.
Green Bay outscored the Firecats 17-15 in the fourth quarter on two running touchdowns and a Henrik Juul-Nielsen 23-yard field goal. Juul-Nielsen missed a PAT in the third quarter after the Blizzard was penalized for delaying the game for a ball that was spiked into the stands.
Firecats' kicker Brandon Kornblue also missed a PAT, had a field goal blocked and had a bad snap turn into an interception for a second PAT.
Johnny Turman had a relatively clean game, and was named the Offensive Player of the Game, going 22-for34 for 213 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. Brent Holmes was his favorite target, catching eight passes for 117 yards and a touchdown.
Lance Taylor hauled in six passes for 42 yards and a touchdown and added three tackles on his way to being named the U.S. Army Ironman of the game. Leo Fenceroy was named ADT Defensive Player of the Game, having a key interception at the end of the first half, ending a Firecats scoring chance.
Statistics Leaders
Passing: Wallace (FLA) - 41-30-1, 252 yards, 4TD; Turman (GBB) - 34-22-0,
213 yards, 3TD
Receiving: Holmes (GBB) - 8-117, 1TD; Benton (FLA) - 12-116, 1TD
Rushing: Steve Gorrie (FLA) - 3-18; Huebner (GBB) - 2-6, 1TD
Attendance: 5632 (Blizzard all-time home record)
Time of Game: 2:45
LEAGUE TOP 10s: Players from this week's match up who rank among af2's statistical leaders:
Firecats
Player Rank Category Stat
Chris Wallace 7 Total Offense 261.2 ypg
Chris Wallace 6 Tot. Offense TD 72
Magic Benton 4 Scoring 17.6 ppg
Chris Wallace 9 Tot. Offense yds 2873 yds
Magic Benton 4 Scoring (TD's) 31
Clent Crossley 2 Rushing 23.3 ypg
Clent Crossley 2 Rushing TD's 14
Chris Morant 8 Yards per rush 4.3 ypr
Clent Crossley 1 Rush yards 256 yds
Chris Wallace 4 Passing TD's 69
Chris Wallace 7 Pass Efficiency 114.7
Chris Wallace 8 Pass Interceptions 10
Magic Benton 6 Reception yds 1178
Brittney Tellis 7 Yards per catch 15.9 ypc
Brandon Kornblue 7 PAT attempts 80
Levy Brown 2 Interceptions 6
Quincy Sorrel 5 Tackles 6.6 tpg
Cory Bailey 9 Tackles 6.1 tpg
Blizzard
Player Rank Category Stat
Dallas Pelz 1 Scoring (kick) 11.7 ppg
Jam Macpherson 3 Tot. Off avg/ply 8.3 ypp
Matt Pagel 4 Tot. Off avg/ply 8.0 ypp
Peter Lazare 4 Rushing 18.8 ypg
Matt Pagel 7 Rushing 16.0 ypg
Peter Lazare 3 Rush Attempts 51
Peter Lazare T2 Rushing TDs 14
Ronnie Gordon 8 Rushing TDs 9
Matt Pagel 1 Yards per rush 8.0 ypr
Peter Lazare 4 Rush Yards 207 yds
Jam Macpherson 2 Pass yds/comp. 14.3 ypc
Ronnie Gordon 4 Pass yds/comp. 13.6 ypc
Jam Macpherson 8 Pass Efficiency 114.5
Brent Holmes 1 Yards per catch 19.9 ypc
Dallas Perez 1 Field Goals 1.67 fgpg
Dallas Perez 7 PAT kick pct. 83.3
Brent Holmes 6 MFG Return yds 87 yds
David Crocker 1 Tackles 7.5 tpg
TALE OF THE TAPE: Here's how the Firecats and Vipers stack up:
Statistical Blizzard Firecats
Category Rank Stat Rank Stat
Scoring Offense 14 47.6 ppg 1 60.9 ppg
Scoring Defense 2 42.1 ppg 7 45.5 ppg
Total Offense 11 265.9 ypg 4 286.1 ypg
Total Defense 11 261.2 ypg 7 248.2 ypg
Pass Offense 17 224.5 ypg 7 255.7 ypg
Pass Defense 15 245.7 ypg 6 227.5 ypg
Rushing Offense 1 41.4 ypg 4 30.4 ypg
Rushing Defense 3 15.5 ypg 12 20.6 ypg
Scoring (kicking) T7 6.6 ppg 19 5.5 ppg
Pass Rating 10 106.4 6 113.8
Pass Def. Rating 8 94.6 4 90.6
Kickoff returns 7 18.9 ypg 10 18.0 ypg
MFG Returns 11 21.3 ypg 14 16.8 ypg
Turnover Margin 3 +1.17 2 +1.36
Turnovers +14 +15
Field Goals T5 .400 T5 .400
PAT Kicking 18 .724 21 .675
Sacks By T8 21 13 14
Sacks Against 3 6 T4 7
First Downs 14 207 16 203
Opp. First Downs 23 247 3 185
Penalties 18 65.6 ypg 17 65.5 ypg
Opp. Penalties 22 44.4 ypg 11 57.6 ypg
MILESTONES: OS Magic Benton has tied Kevin Williams 784 points scored in a career last week with two touchdowns. One more score for Magic will place him alone at number one. Magic also now has 129 career TD's.
QB Chris Wallace has thrown for 296 career scores, 3rd best in af2 history.
FB/LB Clenton Crossley leads the league with 256 yards rushing he still needs 90 more to have the 'Cats 2nd best single season performance. His 14 rushing TD's however have him just 4 shy of setting a new single season team record.
WR/DB Brent Burnside has 2 INT's this year and 20 for his career leaving him just 7 shy of Arkee Thompson's all-time mark of 27.
DROPBACK: (courtesy of www.af2.com)
Chris Wallace finished 20 of 32 for 255 yards and seven touchdowns as the Florida Firecats defeated the Birmingham Steeldogs, 60-27, in front of 5,121 fans at the BJCC Arena.
With the win, Florida secured their hold on the South Division, improving their record to 9-2. Birmingham falls back to .500 with the loss, at 6-6.
The Firecats scored touchdowns on each of their first nine drives, with Ethenic Sands pulling down two quick Wallace touchdown passes in the first quarter to give Florida a 14-0 lead. Birmingham never could catch up.
Florida's Brittney Tellis caught nine passes for 103 yards and two touchdowns while Sands caught six passes for 48 yards and four scores. Lawrence Story led the Steeldogs' receiving corps, catching five passes for 84 yards, including a 45-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Hawk.
Hawk struggled under center, completing six of 11 passes for 76 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He was spelled by Robert Kent in the second half, who completed nine of 19 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown. He threw an interception on the last play of the game.
Schutt: Chris Wallace (FLA)
U.S. Army: Ethenic Sands (FLA)
ADT: Levy Brown (FLA)
Cutter's: Levy Brown interception with 10:24 remaining in the 2nd Qtr
FORWARD MOTION: Florida has 4 games left on the schedule. Two homes games sandwiched between two away games. 3 of the 4 are against teams in the East division.
PLAYERS/MATCHUPS TO WATCH:
Blizzard's running game vs. Florida's defense: Green Bay poses the biggest rushing threat Florida has faced all year running for over 40 yards per game, but the Firecats have been stout against the run giving up only half that much at 20 per game.
Blizzard's Defense vs. Florida's Offense: Florida has the af2's top ranked offense scoring better than 60 pts a game. Green Bay however is 2nd best in the league surrendering only 42.1. The Firecats have only been held to less than 50pts in one game this season, their 1st of the year.
Chris Wallace: He is having a record breaking year on pace to break the Firecats single season record for touchdowns (80). He currently has 69 and has been averaging just over 6 per game.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME AWARD
(selected by media)
Week Opp. Player
3 Macon Chris Wallace
4 Memphis Magic Benton
5 Bos-Shv Ethenic Sands
6 TennValley Magic Benton
7 Birmingham Magic Benton
9 So. Georgia Chris Wallace
10 Tenn. Valley Chris Wallace
13 Birmingham Chris Wallace
IRONMAN OF THE GAME AWARD
(selected by media)
Week Opp. Player
6 TennValley Brittney Tellis
7 Birmingham Brittney Tellis
9 So. Georgia Clenton Crossley
10 Tenn. Valley Comone Fisher
12 Macon Ethenic Sands
13 Birmingham Ethenic Sands
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME AWARD
(selected by media)
Week Opp. Player
3 Macon Quincy Sorrell
5 Bos-Shv Ethenic Sands (co-player)
6 TennValley Levy Brown
7 Birmingham Cory Bailey
9 So. Georgia Quincy Sorrell
10 Tenn. Valley Cory Bailey
12 Macon Cory Bailey
13 Birmingham Levy Brown
Cutters Catch of the Game Award
(selected by media)
Week Opp. Player
5 Bos-Shv Ethenic Sands
6 TennValley Magic Benton
9 So. Georgia Brittney Tellis
10 Tenn. Valley Magic Benton
12 Macon Magic Benton
13 Birmingham Levy Brown
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arenafootball2 Stories from June 27, 2006
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- Florida Firecats game notes - Florida Firecats
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