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Georgia Force Game Notes

February 11, 2003 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Georgia Force News Release


QUICK FACTS:
San Jose (1-1) at Georgia Force (1-1)
Date: February 16, 2003
Kickoff: 3:00 ET
Site: The Arena at Gwinnett Center (11,200)
Series Record: San Jose leads series 1-0
Television: NBC (Dan Hicks: play-by-play, Charles Davis: color analyst)
Radio: WQXI 790 AM The Zone (David Hubbard: play-by-play, Chuck Oliver: color analyst).
WPLO 610 AM RadioMex (Jose Medellin: play-by-play, Marcelo Godoy: color analyst).
Coaches: Marty Lowe- Georgia (6-5, 2nd Year). Darren Arbert- San Jose (47-18, 5th Year).

THE GAME:

The Georgia Force will open their 2003 home schedule this Sunday, February 16th, when they host the AFL World Champion San Jose SaberCats in the Arena at Gwinnett Center at 3:00 p.m. The Force-SaberCats contest will be the first-ever event in the new 11,200-seat venue.

Last week, Georgia dropped their first game of the season falling 31-38 at Detroit. Despite a balanced offensive attack that saw four different players find the endzone, the Force only tallied seven points in the second half, none in the fourth quarter. With the win, Detroit snapped a 12-game losing streak dating back to last season.

San Jose enters the game playing their third straight road contest to start the season. The SaberCats defeated the Arizona Rattlers 49-28 on February 2nd and loss 73-72 to the Los Angeles Avengers last week. Last season, San Jose began the season winning their first 12 games before falling to Arizona in Week 13. The SaberCats finished the 2002 season with a AFL record 13-1 regular season mark en route to their first ArenaBowl Championship.

Sunday's game will mark the second time this season that the Force's game will be broadcast nationally by NBC as part of the network's AFL coverage. Georgia is 1-0 this year in televised games as the Force defeated the Colorado Crush 44-40 in Week 1.

GEORGIA FORCE NEXT WEEK:

The Force will play their second straight home contest when they host the Buffalo Destroyers in the Arena at Gwinnett Center on Saturday, February 22 at 7:30 p.m. Georgia leads the all-time series against Buffalo 1-0 after handing the Destroyers a 54-33 defeat last season at Philips Arena.

THE ARENA AT GWINNETT CENTER:

On August 27, 2002, the Georgia Force announced they reached an agreement with the Gwinnett Convention and Visitors Bureau (GCVB) to make the Arena at Gwinnett Center its game venue, offices and training facilities.

"By moving our games to the new Arena at Gwinnett Center, we are in a better position to accommodate national NBC broadcast schedules, but more importantly we are moving closer to our fan base, which predominantly comes from the suburban metropolitan area," said team Owner and Chairman Virgil R. Williams.

As the primary tenant of the Arena at Gwinnett Center, the Force will have a stake in the success of the arena. The agreement includes a modest revenue sharing agreement on ticket sales and concessions.

The Arena at Gwinnett Center
· First event- Georgia Force vs. San Jose SaberCats on February 16, 2003.
· Capacity: 11,200 Arena Football, 11,500 Hockey, 13,200 Maximum other venues
· 363,000 square foot
· Seating levels: 2
· Luxury Suites: 38 total on both sides
· Club Seats: 1300
· Lower level seats 9,300
· Amenities: Club level lounge, high-end and regular concessions at two food court areas, branded foods, food and beverage service · Catering: On-site
· Locker rooms: 2 team dressing rooms, 3 performer dressing rooms
· Unique qualities: House reduction system that contains a curtain wall system that can divide the Arena within one hour into sections or theater set-ups for smaller events. Duel lighting system that allows conversion from a brightly lit sporting event to a soft-lit elegant event.
· Scoreboards: one 36'wide x16'high in each end zone. Each scoreboard will contain a 14'x9' videoboard.
· 880 feet of Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Vision(R) LEDerAD(R) fascia encircling the arena which is being debut nationally in the arena
· Escalators: 1
· Elevators: 3
· Carpeted concourse area
· Larger than standard upholstered seating
· 50% more women's restrooms than men's
· 4,500 secure well-lit parking spaces
· Free parking

HEAD COACHES:

MARTY LOWE, Georgia (6-5, 2nd Year): Marty Lowe begins his second season as Head Coach of the Georgia Force. Lowe guided the Force to a second place finish in the Southern Division and a 6-8 record in the team's inaugural season in 2002. He replaced Robert Lyles, who was relieved of his duties following the Force's 1-4 last year. Under his direction, the Force finished the year winning five of their last eight games.

Prior to joining the Force, Lowe served as running back coach for the University of Texas-El Paso. Lowe's coaching career in the Arena Football League started when he joined the Nashville Kats as an offensive assistant in March 2000 after spending three seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Louisville. With the Kats, Lowe had Nashville's offense clicking on all cylinders in the 2000 playoffs, scoring more than 50 points in each of the team's first three post-season contests to quality for Arena Bowl XIV. Lowe went on to serve as the Kats offensive coordinator and assistant coach, where his duties included creating and implementing the offensive game plan and coaching the team's wide receivers and quarterbacks.

Lowe, who played quarterback at the University of Louisville from 1991-95, spent two seasons in the Arena Football League. He played quarterback for the St. Louis Stampede in 1996 and joined the Texas Terrors. He was a starter at Texas until a knee injury ended his playing career. In college, he started 22 consecutive games for the Cardinals, passing for 2,268 yards and 16 touchdowns as a senior in 1995. He is one of only four passers in Louisville history to throw for more than 2,000 yards in back-to-back seasons. Lowe joined the Louisville coaching staff in 1997, breaking down practice and game tape. A native of Chattanooga, Lowe was Mr. Football in Tennessee as a senior at Red Bank High School in 1990.

DARREN ARBERT, San Jose (47-18, 5th Year): Last season Arbet guided the SaberCats to the best regular season record (13-1) ever in league history, the most victories in a season (16) and the franchise's first league title. Arbet has compiled a 42-15 (.737) career mark in regular season games and currently owns the third-best regular season winning percentage in AFL history among coaches with at least 10 victories. Named AFL Coach of the Year in 2000 and 2002, Arbet's teams have gone 41-9 (.820) overall in the past four seasons. Spanning the 2000 and 2001 seasons, Arbet led the SaberCats to a league record 15-game regular season winning streak and twice in the last three years the SaberCats have had 12-game win streaks.

LAST WEEK:

AUBURN HILLS, MI. – The Georgia Force (1-1) fell to the Detroit Fury (1-1) 31-38 this afternoon at the Palace of Auburn Hills. The Force were held scoreless in the fourth quarter and only scored seven points in the second half as Detroit snapped a 12-game losing streak dating back to last season. With the win, Fury Head Coach Al Luginbill claimed his first career AFL coaching victory.

After the first 15 minutes of play, Detroit held onto a 10-7 lead. On Georgia's first possession, the Force drove down into Detroit territory, but a bobbled snap on the field goal attempt left the Force short of any points. The Fury started the game's scoring when Matt McNew connected on an 18-yard field goal giving Detroit an early 3-0 lead. Georgia responded when Dan Curran scampered around the right side of the line for a 19-yard touchdown run and a 7-3 Force advantage. The Fury closed out the first quarter when Andy Kelly connected with Bunkie Perkins from four-yards out regaining the Detroit lead.

Detroit connected on the game's first big play when Kelly hit Sulecio Sanford for a 45-yard touchdown. They Fury's scoring drive gave them a 17-10 advantage after Steve McLaughlin split the up-rights with a 33-yard field goal to tie the score at ten a piece. Two strong runs powered the Force's next drive, the first by Curran to take Georgia down to Detroit's three yardline. The next play, Darryl Hammond took a Donnie Davis handoff in for the 17-17 tying score. On the Fury's next possession, Force defensive lineman Stacy Evans recovered a Kelly fumble giving Georgia great field position. Davis' first pass was completed to Jarrick Hillery, who then fumbled the ball giving the advantage back to Detroit with less then two minutes remaining in the half. An interception by Cliff Green gave the Force the ball back on the half's third straight turnover. One play later, Davis hit Hillery for a 24-yard touchdown and a 24-17 Georgia lead. The Fury closed the half when McNew made good on his second field goal from 25-yard out.

The second half began with Green intercepting his second pass of the game off of Kelly. Green's second pick tied the team record for most interceptions in a game. Georgia capitalized on the turnover when Davis found Tyronne Jones for a 16-yard touchdown increasing the Georgia lead to 31-20. The Force defense held tough limiting the Fury to a field goal cutting the score to 31-23. The third period ended with the Force holding on to their eight-point lead.

Detroit tied the game 31-31 with 8:28 remaining in the game when Kelly and Kelly Snell teamed up for a three-yard touchdown and the Fury made good on a two-point conversion. Former Georgia DS now with Detroit, Ron Carpenter intercepted Davis in Force territory giving the Fury the ball with 3:46 left in the game. With 56 seconds showing on the clock, Kelly threw his fourth touchdown of the game to Angel Rubio from 13-yards out to give Detroit a 38-31 lead. Detroit's Ernest Ross intercepted Davis with 10 seconds left as the Fury ran out the clock to claim the win.

Carpenter was named to Game's MVP and Snell was named the contest's Iroman.

LAST MEETING with SAN JOSE:

SAN JOSE, CA (May 4, 2002) - The Georgia Force (1-2) fell to the San Jose SaberCats (3-0) 59-53 on Saturday night at the Compaq Center in San Jose in their first road game of the year. In a game that featured the league's first and third ranked scoring offenses entering the game, Georgia was held scoreless in the fourth quarter as San Jose came from behind to capture the victory. Entering the game, San Jose was only one of two teams that were still undefeated along with the Toronto Phantoms.

The first quarter ended with the SaberCats leading 14-13 as both teams scored on every possession. Georgia took the opening kickoff and drove down into San Jose territory, as newly signed Scott Szeredy instantly paid dividends connecting on a 35-yard field goal to give the Force a 3-0 lead. Szeredy was signed by the Force earlier in the week after playing the 2002 preseason with the Chicago Rush.

The SaberCats answered scoring on their opening possession as Barry Wagner scored on a one-yard rush to give San Jose a 3-7 lead. Georgia quickly responded 29 seconds later with a touchdown of their own as Kevin McDougal found Markeith Cooper on the first play on the Force's second drive on a 30-yard touchdown strike to regain the lead 10-7.

San Jose quarterback Mark Grieb then found James Hudson for a nine-yard score to regain the lead for the SaberCats. Grieb was 6-for-6 passing for 58 yards and one touchdown in the first quarter. He finished the game with 24 completions on 34 attempts for 292 yards and six touchdowns.

The second quarter opened with Szedery connecting on his second field goal of the game. The Georgia defense then made the first defensive stop of the night as Cliff Green scooped up a Grieb fumble on the SaberCats first drive of the second period and returned it 33-yards for a touchdown to give the Force a 20-14 lead.

Cooper would add his third touchdown of the half on a 54-yard kickoff return and then add a fourth score on his third receiving touchdown from McDougal as the Force took a 39-36 lead into the break.

AFL leading rusher Travis Reece scored his fifth rushing touchdown of the season on a five-yard run to open the second half giving Georgia a 10 point 46-36 advantage. Later in the quarter, McDougal connected on his fourth touchdown pass of the game finding a racing Scott Thomas down the right side of the field for a 42-yard score and a 53-43 Force lead.

San Jose answered with Hundon scoring his third touchdown of the game as the third quarter came to a close. The SaberCats made good on a two-point conversion as Grieb ran it in to cut the Georgia lead to two 53-51.

San Jose recaptured their first lead of the game since being ahead 14-13 when Grieb hit Hundon on a 45-yard touchdown completion. A second successful two-point conversion gave the SaberCats a 59-53 advantage. Hundon's fifth touchdown reception of the contest was a new San Jose single-game high. Hundon earned Game MVP honors for his game-high 13 receptions for 184 yards and five TD effort.

Georgia was held on their next possession and with no timeouts left San Jose was able to run the clock out for the victory. The Force had used their last timeout with 3:21 remaining in the third quarter.

McDougal tied his season-high with four touchdown passes on 13-of-23 passing for 173 yards. He also recorded four TD passes in the Force's season opener vs. Orlando. Cooper finished with career highs with seven catches for 85 yards and three receiving touchdowns and three kickoff returns for 74 yards.

San Jose's Jerry Reese gained Ironman honors with two receptions for 23 yards and a score and a team-high 4.5 tackles on defense.

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

QB Donnie Davis:
- Finished last season ranked 2nd in the AFL in passer rating with a 116.4 rating.
- Ended the 2002 season ranked 4th in the AFL in completion percentage at 64.4 percent.
-Completed 21-of-26 passes for 304 yards and seven touchdowns at Chicago (May 18) despite only playing for the last two minutes of the first half and the full second half of the game.
- Graduate of Georgia Tech, where he finished his career fifth on the Yellow Jackets career-passing list with 3,261 yards.

DS Cliff Green:
- In 2002, ranked 4th in the AFL in tackles with 80.5 tackles.
- Finished last season tied-4th in the AFL in passes defended with 22 (16 breakups and six interceptions).
- Last season ranked tied-4th in the AFL in interceptions with 6 INTs and finished tied-4th in interception return yards with 113 yards.
- Green won the AFL Defensive Player of the Month for June last season.
- Attended Southwest Dekalb High School in Decatur, Georgia.

OS Tyronne Jones:
- Ranked 10th in the AFL last season in yards per catch with a 13.9 yards average.
- One of the most dangerous all-purpose players in the AFL.
- Holds the AFL record for the most consecutive games with a kickoff return for a touchdown with four.

WR/LB Darryl Hammond:
- Enters his 13th season in the AFL breaking the league record for career years of service. (Previous mark 12 years- Sylvester Bembery 1988-2000 and George LaFrance 1988-2000).
- Ranks second in the AFL with 529.5 career tackles.
- Ranks in the top 15 in AFL in career scoring with 754 points.
- Ranks in the top 10 in AFL in career pass receptions with 589.
- Has had 7 seasons of 50 or more pass receptions.

WR/DB Jarrick Hillery:
- Over the last ten games in 2002 had 52 receptions for 672 yards and thirteen touchdowns.
- Was named to the AFL First-Team in 2001.
- Attended Brunswick High School in Brunswick, Georgia.

FB/LB Travis Reece:
- Named to the AFL's All-Ironman team last season.
- In 2002, ranked 2nd in the AFL in rushing with 168 yards on 53 carries (3.2 avg).
-Finished last season tied-2nd in the AFL in rushing touchdowns with 10.
-Tied-3rd in the AFL last season in fumble recoveries with two.
- Won the AFL rushing title his rookie season in 2000 with 190 yards on 42 carries.
- Spent three seasons with the Detroit Lions from 1998-2000.

OL/DL Jermaine Smith:
-Named to the AFL's All-Rookie team after a breakout first season.
- Ranked tied-8th in the AFL last season in sacks with 3.5.
- Blocked two kicks in 2002 at Orlando (7/13), one field goal and one PAT.
- Finished as the team's Ford Built Tough Player of the Year nominee after receiving the most nominations after each game throughout the season.
- Graduate of the University of Georgia and former fourth round draft pick of the Green Bay Packer in 1997.

K Steve McLaughlin:
- Led all kickers in 2001 with 152 points, which also put him ninth overall in scoring.
- Stands ninth overall in career points by a kicker with 440.
- Sits seventh all time for most one point PAT's with 257 and is also tied for seventh all time for most three-point field goals with 61.
- Was a third round selection by the St. Louis Rams in 1995.

Kevin Gaines:
- Signed with the Force this off-season as a free agent from the Carolina Cobras.
- In 2002, led the Cobras and ranked fifth in the AFL in tackles with 73.5
- Five-year AFL veteran (Orlando, 1998-99; New Jersey; 2000-01; Florida, 2001; Carolina, 2002).
- Was a member of the Orlando Predators' 1998 ArenaBowl XII championship team.

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