Sports stats



Game Preview (week 6): Stockton Lightning At Boise Burn

May 2, 2009 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Stockton Lightning News Release


QUICK FACTS:

Stockton Lightning (1-3)

at Boise Burn (3-1)

Date: May 2, 2009

Kickoff: 6:10 p.m. PT

Site: Qwest Arena (5,006)

Internet: www.NiFTyTV.com/af2 (Steve McElroy, J.J. Stokes)

Officials: Referee - James Core; Umpire - Chris Shepherd; Head Linesman - Todd Migchelbrink; Line Judge - Bart Longson; Back Judge - Jeff Rink

Series Record: Boise leads, 4-1

Coaches: Chad Carlson (Stockton - 10-19 overall, 2nd season)

Brent Winter (Boise - 3-1 overall, 1st season)

If Stockton defeats Boise it would ...

- Give the Lightning a 2-3 season record

- Give the Lightning 2-4 all-time record against Boise

- Give the Lightning a 2-1 road record in 2009

- Give the Lightning a 1-0 season record against Boise

THE STAKES: The Lightning are looking to snap a three-game losing streak by taking to the road against the Boise Burn, the first matchup in Idaho between both teams since May 2008. The Lightning, who have significantly changed its roster and coaching staff (Head Coach Chad Carlson) now leads the team, look to also snap a four-game losing streak against the Burn. Stockton is 1-1 this season on the road and was victorious in the season opener on Mar. 28 against the Central Valley Coyotes. Boise won last week, 52-45 at Central Valley and are looking to notch their first home victory in 2009 after losing 63-45 to Spokane on April 18.

HEAD COACH PROFILES:

Chad Carlson - Stockton: Chad Carlson is the third Head Coach in Lightning history, named to the team's top post on an interim basis on May 27, 2008, succeeding Doug Murray. Carlson was appointed to the position on a full-time basis on August 13, 2008.

The 36-yead old enters his third af2 head coaching venture after serving as General Manager/Head Coach for the Hawaiian Islanders (2002) and Head Coach of the Bossier City Battle Wings (2003), compiling an overall record of 6-12 before moving on to serve as a Volunteer Coach for the Arena Football League's Colorado Crush for the remainder of the 2003 season.

Carlson, who guided Hawaii to a 4-1 finish in the 2002 season after inheriting the team in the middle of the season, helped the Islanders finish second in the league for red zone offense (83.1 percent), tied for 10th in total offense (4,126 yards) and rank as the af2's leader in rushing offense (852 yards).

After Carlson inherited the Islanders offense that averaged 38 points per game through five contests, his offense went on to score an average of 50.4 points per game and finish 13th in af2 scoring offense.

Following two separate stints in the Canadian Football League with the Edmonton Eskimos (1994) and Ottawa Rough Riders (1996), the Portland, Oregon native spent the 1997 season with the AFL's Portland Forest Dragons as a wide receiver/defensive back and quarterback and was slated to sign with the Los Angeles Avengers of the AFL in 2000, but had his career cut short with a career-ending knee injury that he sustained during an indoor football campaign in 1999.

Converted from the quarterback position, Carlson finished his college career as a standout receiver at Lewis & Clark College (NCAA) and was named an NAIA All-American as a 1993 senior, leading the nation in yards per catch while creating accolades that still shine in Pioneer lore. Carlson's 209 receiving yards amassed in a game against Central Washington was the second-best single game output in program history at the time of his exit and he ranked 13th on Lewis and Clark's all-time list for receptions at the time of his exit.

A key member of an athletic family, Chad's wife, Monica, was a contestant winner in 2008 on the television show "American Gladiators" and plays the role of "Jet" on the current season. Chad and Monica reside in Portland during the offseason with two twin daughters, Ellee Jo (8) and Emma Ray (8).

Brent Winter - Boise: Brent Winter enters his first season as an af2 head coach after spending the past 10 years as an Assistant in the AFL. Coach Winter spent 2 years in New England, one season in Chicago, and the past 7 seasons as the Offensive coordinator with the L.A. Avengers.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING (courtesy of The Record)

"He's got the feet of a linebacker in a big man's body," Vavao said. "It's great to have someone with that much talent at this level. He has the power. He has the agility. He has everything you would want."

- Lightning assistant coach Mathias Vavao on OL/DL Manuel Wright, a former member of the New York Giants in 2007

"He's a diehard football coach and he wants the best out of his team," he said. "He will push you to the very end and if you hadn't had a coach like that before it takes time to get used to, but he's on you for the best reasons."

- QB Andy Collins on Lightning head coach Chad Carlson

LIKE A BROKEN RECORD:

ANDY COLLINS (QB): Collins set a Lightning record in a Week 4 loss to Central Valley, rushing for four touchdowns against the Coyotes. Through 3 games, Collins leads the af2 in rushing touchdowns (9) and actually broke his own franchise record he originally set, with 3 rushing touchdowns in a Week 1 victory at Central Valley.

JUSTIN TAPLIN (WR): Taplin broke a Lightning single-game record with 216 receiving yards in Week 5 against the Spokane Shock, additionally hauling in three touchdown receptions and 14 catches, which was one off the Lightning record (Phil Goodman, 2006). Taplin's total for receiving yards against Spokane marked the second-highest total in the af2 for 2009, finishing 17 yards off Jesse Schmidt's mark set against Peoria in Week 1.

RETURN TO SENDER:

Ruschard Dodd-Masters leads the Lightning and ranks 9th in the arenafootball2 league for kick return average (20.4 yards per game). Dodd-Masters, a product of UNLV, ran back a 52-yard return against the Central Valley Coyotes on April 18, standing as a team season-high.

COLLINS HAULS IN THE WEEK 1 HONORS:

Lightning QB Andy Collins was named Russell Athletic af2 Offensive Player of the Week for Week 1. Collins (6-2, 215, Occidental College) led the Lightning to a 68-54 Week 1 road victory at West Division rival Central Valley. The 25-year old signal caller completed 24-of-28 passes (85.7 percent) in the contest for 287 yards and six touchdowns with just one interception. He also scored a career-high three rushing touchdowns to lead the Lightning to their biggest offensive output to open a season in team history. This is the first af2 weekly award of Collins' career.

ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?: Two members of the Lightning share the honor of winning a championship or advancing to the Finals stage at the professional football level. OL/DL Manuel Wright was in uniform in Glendale, Ariz. for the New York Giants Super Bowl championship team in 2007, who upset the New England Patriots 17-14. WR Justin Taplin helped guide the Arizona Rattlers to an Arena Bowl playoff berth in 2006 and previously, was part of a 2004 Rattlers team that advanced to Arena Bowl XVIII.

DROPBACK: Quarterback Nick Davila threw for eight touchdown passes and 252 yards to help the Spokane Shock embark a 35-0 run in the second half send the Stockton Lightning (1-3) to their third consecutive defeat in a 71-50 loss before 3,543 fans at Stockton Arena last Saturday, in Week 5 of arenafootball2 play.

WR Justin Taplin broke a Lightning record with 216 receiving yards on 14 catches and three touchdown receptions but the Lightning were forced to deal with a blow to their offensive personnel in the loss of QB Andy Collins for the game to a knee injury, via a second-quarter sack by Justin Warren. Collins, who had an 11-for-19 completion rate with 146 passing yards and two touchdowns before exiting, was officially listed as "day-to-day" and is scheduled to undergo an MRI exam on Monday.

QB Chad Cavender, a former NAIA national champion quarterback at Sioux Falls University, replaced Collins and completed 13-of-19 passes for 209 passing yards and five touchdowns in his professional debut.

Spokane capitalized on a game-opening interception with Nick Davila's 21-yard touchdown strike to Raul Vijil in the left corner of the end zone, putting the Shock up 7-0 with 10:30 left in the first quarter. John Booker then took Davila's flip pass in for a 28-yard touchdown on the ensuing drive, increasing Spokane's lead to 13-0 with 5:36 left with a missed point-after attempt.

Roger Moppin's one-yard blast up the middle cut the deficit to 13-7 with 2:24 left, finally getting the Lightning on the board.

Spokane increased its lead to 16-7 on a Brian Jackson 25-yard field goal in the second quarter with 11:29 left in the second quarter, but the Lightning retaliated on a highlight-reel touchdown grab by Taplin, which earned Catch of the Game honors.

The second-year receiver caught an 11-yard pass from Collins which was tipped off the Spokane defense and into the hands of Taplin, who dove to his right for the scoring catch. Taplin's scoring grab cut the Spokane lead to 16-13 with 7:12 left, preceding a missed two-point conversion.

Vijil then caught his second touchdown pass of the game on a 24-yard slant route to the left corner of the end zone with 3:41 left in the second quarter, boosting Spokane's lead to 22-13. Collins followed on the ensuing possession by hitting WR Troy McBroom with a 36-yard bomb to the left corner of the end zone with 1:41 left in the half to cut the Lightning deficit to 22-20.

WR Patrick Bugg caught a seven-yard heave from Davila with 37 seconds left to put the Shock up by nine points and the Lightning threatened with one final drive in the quarter which claimed Collins on Warren's four-yard sack. Cavender stepped in and found the end zone on just his second pass of his pro career, a 14-yard strike to WR Andre Taylor with four seconds left to put Stockton down 29-26 after Stephen Irvine's failed PAT attempt.

Spokane responded with a whopping 28-0 run in the third quarter to lead 57-26. Davila began the run with a 28-yard touchdown snare to Markee White with 12:51 left in the quarter, followed by three straight touchdown strikes from Davila to Vijil. The final scoring play of the quarter came with 2:09 left when Davila found Vijil on a deflected seven-yard pass over the middle of the end zone.

Following Harris Nikolao's one-yard blast with 12:20 left in the fourth quarter, the Lightning broke the Spokane flurry with Taplin's 11-yard touchdown reception from Cavender and Moppin followed with his second TD of the game on a 6-yard lob from Cavender with five minutes left in the game, cutting Spokane's lead to 64-38. Vijil's sixth and final touchdown reception of the game, a 43-yard bomb from backup QB Casey Hansen, put Spokane ahead 70-38 with 2:56 left in the game.

The Lightning posted the game's final 12 points in Taplin's fifth touchdown catch of the game - an 18-yard missile from Cavender with 46 seconds left and another Cavender three-yard throw to McBroom over the middle as time expired.

Vijil racked up 141 receiving yards and six touchdown catches to lead all Spokane receivers.

LOOKING AHEAD: The Lightning are back to the road for the next two contests, after playing back-to-back home games against Central Valley (Apr. 18) and Spokane (Apr. 25). Following this week's contest at Boise, the Lightning visit the Tri-Cities Fever on May 9 for the first time this season, marking the first time both teams meet in the state of Washington since Week 1 of the 2008 season. Following the Tri-Cities matchup, the Lightning return home for four games in the next five weeks, starting with a May 16 matchup against Rio Grande Valley at Stockton Arena.

TRANSACTION UPDATE: The Lightning announced several transactions on the eve of its Week 6 matchup with the Boise Burn. QB Andy Collins and WR Andre Taylor were placed on the injured reserve list, while FB/LB Marquese Bacon was placed on the "team suspension" list. FB/LB Roger Moppin and OL/DL Humberto Padilla were placed on recallable reassignment and the Lightning welcomed four newcomers to the 2009 roster. Rookies Brandon Horace (WR), Tim McCullouch (WR/DB), Kai Oredugba (WR/DB) and third-year Lightning FB/LB Peter Tuialuuluu were assigned to the team by the af2 league office.

***FOR MORE, PLEASE SEE PLAYER BIOS ON PAGE 9

LIGHTNING VS. BURN SERIES NOTES: The Stockton Lightning are 1-4 in the lifetime series against Boise, dropping the last meeting in a 55-51 loss in Week 13 of the 2008 season. Boise swept the 2008 season series in three games and beat the Lightning 77-14 on May 3, 2008 which was the last time both teams met at Qwest Arena.

In the last meeting on June 21, Casey Allen's 8-yard touchdown reception with 11 seconds left helped the Boise Burn erase a nine-point deficit in the last minute of regulation and cap a 13-0 run to send the Stockton Lightning to a 55-51 loss before a crowd of 3,921 at Stockton Arena in Week 13.

The Lightning receivers were led by Justin Taplin, who garnered eight catches, a game-high 116 yards and two touchdowns. QB Andy Collins threw for 265 yards, five touchdowns and a 22-for-37 effort while QB Royal Gill led Boise's passing attack with six touchdowns, 288 yards and a 24-for-41 passing effort.

Stockton is looking to avenge its most lopsided defeat in the all-time matchup history, when George Williams scored six total touchdowns and had 104 yards of total offense to help the Boise Burn send the Lightning to a 77-14 loss in week 6.

The Lightning surrendered 59 unanswered points before Kenyatte Morgan ran a kickoff back 55 yards for a third quarter touchdown in his season debut.

QB Royal Gill totaled 191 passing yards, five touchdown passes and a 10-for-17 effort for Boise while Casey Allen led the Boise receivers with five catches and 78 receiving yards.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Burn lead, 4-1

All-time Stockton vs. Boise series

Score Date Site

Lightning 57, Burn 33 5/26/07 Qwest Arena

Burn 58, Lightning 46 7/14/07 Stockton Arena

Burn 51, Lightning 43 4/13/08 Stockton Arena

Burn 77, Lightning 14 5/3/08 Qwest Arena

Burn 55, Lightning 51 6/21/08 Stockton Arena

PLAYERS/MATCHUPS TO WATCH:

CHAD CAVENDER (QB) - Stepping in for injured QB Andy Collins last week in his first taste of af2 action, Chad Cavender posted a 13-for-19 effort with 209 yards and five touchdown passes in just two quarters-plus alone, despite the Lightning taking a 71-50 defeat at the hands of Spokane. Even though he did not play the full game, Cavender's pass rating of 144.52 shattered the Lightning single-game best, previously held by Evan Gray in 2007 (129.69 vs. Everett).

Cavender is second on the Lightning depth chart at the QB position, behind Collins, and a start this Saturday at Boise would mark the first of his af2 career.

SMALL SCHOOLS, BIG ARMS: A possible duel at the QB position is on tap for the Week 6 matchup, should Cavender earn a start for the Lightning and face second-year QB Rudy Carlton, currently in his first season with the Boise Burn. Both players are products of NAIA power institutions, University of Sioux Falls (S.D.) and Azusa Pacific University (Calif.), respectively. Both players also have ties to the state of California and ended their college careers with the "Cougars" moniker.

Cavender, a product of Shasta (Calif.) Community College, honed his game in college at Sioux Falls for the last two seasons of his college career and guided the USF Cougars to a 27-1 record in that span. In 2006, Cavender and USF won the NAIA national championship with a 14-0 record and guided the Cougars to the Championship game in 2007.

Carlton, who grew up in the Azusa Pacific program that advanced to the NAIA Championship Series Semifinal in 2004 (the program's third trip in seven seasons), capped off a college career in 2007 where he tallied a 142.51 pass rating, 28 touchdown tosses and a 57.3 completion rate (197-for-344).

JUSTIN TAPLIN (WR) - A former four-year veteran of the Arena Football League with Arizona, Utah and Georgia, Justin Taplin made a big splash after a mid-season arrival to Stockton last year. Taplin caught 61 passes for 795 yards and 15 touchdowns in just 9 games, leading the Lightning in all receiving categories.

Currently ranking third in the league for receiving yards per game (138.0), Taplin leads all Lightning receivers with 12 touchdown catches this year. In Week 1, his monster game of 5 touchdown receptions, 13 catches and 168 yards broke career-high marks and surpassed the career-highs in catches (14) and reception yards (216) last week vs. Spokane.

Taplin played for four years (2004-07) of his Arena Football League career with the Arizona Rattlers, Utah Blaze and Georgia Force, registering 31 receptions, 377 career receiving yards and eight touchdown receptions. In 2006, Taplin recorded a career-high 29 tackles and three pass breakups with Utah and helped guide the team to an Arena Bowl playoff berth. Additionally, Taplin was part of a 2004 Rattlers team that advanced to Arena Bowl XVIII.

RUSCHARD DODD-MASTERS (DB) - Returning for his third season in a Lightning uniform, overall, Dodd-Masters is ninth in the af2 for kick return average (20.4), leading the Lightning in that category. His 22.5 tackles are tied for the Lightning lead and he currently paces the team with four pass breakups. Dodd-Masters ranked 8th in af2 kick return average last year (22.8 yards per game).

• Discuss this story on the arenafootball2 message board...

arenafootball2 Stories from May 2, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central