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Friday Night Matchup

July 31, 2008 - arenafootball2 (af2) News Release


NO. 6 LEXINGTON HORSEMEN (9-7) AT NO. 3 GREEN BAY BLIZZARD (11-5)

FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 2008 - The Resch Center (7,695) 9:00 P.M. ET

The first round of the 2008 af2 playoffs gets underway on Friday night when the No. 6 seed Lexington Horsemen head to Green Bay, Wisc. on the Midwest Division Champion and No. 3 seed Blizzard. Although Green Bay claimed the division title, Lexington was 2-0 against the Blizzard in head-to-head matchups in 2008. Both contests were one-point decisions. In the most recent matchup in Week 16, the Horsemen won at home in overtime, 55-54. The win helped Lexington clinch their spot in the playoffs. After Green Bay opened overtime with a touchdown to take a 54-47 lead, the Horsemen scored shortly thereafter on a 26-yard TD pass from QB EDDIE EVISTON to WR JOHN COOPER. Instead of going for the tie, Lexington went for and got the win after Eviston found Cooper again for the two-point conversion. Eviston had an outstanding game overall, completing 28-of-40 passes for 331 yards with five touchdowns. He was especially sharp in the second half as he completed 19-of-21 passes. WR TAVON MCGEE had a career night with 182 yards receiving on 13 catches with one touchdown. Since the Week 16 home win, the Horsemen finished the regular season with losses in the last two weeks. Lexington's most recent result was a 81-79 road loss to Quad City. The Horsemen were led by Eviston who completed 34-of-48 passes for 378 yards with seven touchdowns and interceptions. He also had one rushing score. Receivers HARRY LEWIS and CHAD SPENCER both caught 10 passes for over 100 yards. The defense was led by CHRIS ROYAL who had seven tackles. BRIAN CRUM and WILLIAM MULDER had four tackles apiece. Although Royal led in tackles last week, Mulder finished as the team leader with 57.5 overall. Green Bay enters the postseason on a more positive note. Since the team's loss at Lexington, the Blizzard have won their last two games. Last week they finished up the regular season by earning a dominating road win at Mahoning Valley, 61-13. In his first start since last season, Green Bay QB GINO GUIDUGLI threw two touchdown passes in the first half and rushed for another to earn him the Schutt Offensive Player of the Game nod. Guidugli is the sixth starting quarterback utilized by Green Bay in 2008. He started eight games for the squad in 2007. The Blizzard silenced the Thunder offense by forcing four straight turnovers in the first half to take command of the contest. Green Bay's defense was led by DB RUSTY MIDLAM who recorded a pair of interceptions. Midlam also led the squad with 12 interceptions on the season. Fellow DB NATE GREEN is the team leader in tackles (87.5). JOE SYKES brings the rush up front. Sykes has been arguably the league's most dominant lineman with an af2-best 19.5 sacks and 22.5 tackles for loss. If the first two head-to-head affairs of the season are any indication, the third meeting should be an intense battle from start to finish.

HORSEMEN BLIZZARD

SERIES LEADER Lexington leads 2-0

LAST MEETING Lexington won 55-54 in OT 7/12/2008

LAST FIVE GAMES 2-3 3-2

LAST GAME Lost 79-81 at Quad City on 7/24/08 Won 61-13 at Mah. Valley on 7/26/08

LEADERS HORSEMEN BLIZZARD

PASSING Eviston: 289-486-21; 3498; 75 TDs Drafts: 121-209-7; 1473; 27 TDs

RECEIVING McGee: 71-1000; 21 TDs Burnoski: 83-1103; 24 TDs

RUSHING Eviston: 43-146; 6 TDs Young: 56-250; 8 TDs

TACKLES Mulder: 57.5 Green: 87.5

SACKS Martin: 8 Sykes: 19.5

INTERCEPTIONS Mulder and Haskins: 3 Midlam: 12

KICKING Daniel: 82-98 PAT; 4-22 FGs; 94 PTs Forstrom:75-94 PAT;15-41 FGs;120PTs

TEAM OFFENSE 48.5 PPG; 252.1 YPG 48.2 PPG; 254.6 YPG

TEAM DEFENSE 47.5 PPG; 262.6 YPG 38.1 PPG; 200.0 YPG

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