Four 'Wheelers Win all-af2 Honors
Published on August 12, 2003 under arenafootball2 (af2)
Quad City Steamwheelers News Release
DAVENPORT, Iowa â The arenafootball2 league office announced late Tuesday the American and National conference all-af2 squads. Heading the list were four Steamwheelers, three of which earned first-team honors.
After leading the Steamwheelers to a 14-2 regular season, QB Tony Zimmerman earned first team honors along with WR/DB Tim Dodge and recently NFL promoted OS Ira Gooch.
Gooch also received second team honors for his special teams' skills. FB/LB Josh Fourdyce was the fourth Steamwheelers player who was honored as he was named to the second team.
Zimmerman led all af2 quarterback's with his af2 record breaking 93 touchdowns on 286-of-512 passing. Zimmerman threw for 4,357 yards and only seven interceptions to earn the honor.
Zimmerman also rushed for 17 more scores giving him 110 total touchdowns (passing and rushing). Zimmerman accounted for 84% of the team's scores this season.
Zimmerman never won a weekly league honor but was named Game MVP five times this season.
Dodge, who is known as the "60-Minute Man," was one of three Steamwheelers receivers who eclipsed the 1,000 receiving yards barrier this season as he caught 80 passes for 1,275 yards and 22 touchdowns, which ranked third on the team. Dodge also ranked third in rushing, as he rushed ten times for 37 yards and two touchdowns.
On the defensive side, Dodge recorded 75.5 tackles, five interceptions returned for 46 yards, two fumble recoveries returned for 23 yards, and four forced fumbles, all led the Steamwheelers defense. Dodge also added 16 pass breakups, which ranked second on the team. Dodge was named Ironman of the Game seven times and ADT Defensive Player of the Game once.
Gooch, who was the Steamwheelers top receiver and kick returner, had another outstanding year, one that was outstanding enough that it raised the eyebrows of the NFL. Gooch caught 91 passes for 1,465 yards, and 37 touchdowns. On kick returns, Gooch had 56 for 1,196 yards. Gooch took three of those returns to the house for the six-point score.
Gooch led the team in scoring with 246 points, which were six touchdowns better than anyone else. Gooch average 174.1 all-purpose yards per game, ranking fifth in the league.
Gooch earned league weekly MVP honors twice and earned Game MVP honors three times.
After the completion of the regular season, Gooch was invited to the New Orleans Saints camp.
Fourdyce, playing in his fourth season with the Steamwheelers, had 11 rushes for 13 yards, two touchdowns, while grabbing two of Zimmerman's passes for 21 yards. Fourdyce was seventh on the team in tackles with 23 and added four quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles and a sack.
Fourdyce had a strong presence on both sides of the ball and made one of the biggest plays of the season at Wichita, when he stopped the Stealth's Brian Goolsby on the one-yard line as time expired, securing the Steamwheelers 62-56 victory.
Fourdyce was named ADT Defensive Player of the Game twice this season. Left off the list, were two key components to the Steamwheelers 14-2, National Conference championship season, WR/DB Jeff Hewitt and DS Asa Francis.
Hewitt was the Steamwheelers second best receiver with 88 receptions for 1,338 yards and 31 touchdowns. Hewitt also had 16 kick returns for 313 yards, one returned all the way for a touchdown.
On the defensive side, Hewitt had 30 tackles, five interceptions returned for 60 yards and two touchdowns, and ten pass breakups.
Hewitt earned Offensive Player of the Week once, ADT Defensive Player of the Week once, Game MVP three times, Ironman three times and ADT Defensive Player of the Week once.
The other key, Francis, broke a league record for sacks with 13.5 and the best part about it, Francis recorded 13 of those sacks in the last seven games of the season after being moved from FB/LB to DS. Three of those sacks went for safeties and combined for a total loss of 106 yards.
Francis also added 36 tackles, 7.5 tackles for a loss of 34 yards; an interception returned 17 yards for a touchdown, six quarterback hurries, four forced fumbles, and one pass breakup.
Francis was named af2 ADT Defensive Player of the Week twice, Game MVP once and ADT Defensive Player of the Week five times, all in a row, which was the most by any Steamwheelers player.
The Steamwheelers had four recipients of the league honors. The team that saw the most was Tulsa who has eight followed by Tennessee Valley who has six.
All 27 teams in the af2 vote on the awards. Each coach and the local sports writers that cover their respective team vote for the honors and cannot vote for their own players. The league office then tallies the votes and then the list is composed.
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