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Kansas City Brigade Weekly

March 30, 2006 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Kansas City Brigade News Release


The Brigade returns to the friendly confines of "The Hangar" at Kemper Arena looking to rebound from its fifth-straight loss. The situation is looking up for the team after four trading deadline deals added fresh faces and attitude to the roster. Two of the new players, Cyron Brown and Gillis Wilson, made an immediate impact last week against New York, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. Two other new players arrived this week and could contribute against Georgia.

The other roster changes, made in time for the game at Austin two weeks ago, installed Chris Sanders as the new starting quarterback and MacKenzie Hoambrecker as the new kicker. Both players have performed admirably, especially last week in the close loss at New York. Sanders continues to make plays with his legs as well as his arm, an added dimension to the offense that opposing teams are still learning how to scheme. Hoambrecker had provided a consistently strong leg to prevent short field against the Brigade defense and reliably on extra point attempts.

Are all of the recent changes enough to beat an up-and-down Georgia team? The Brigade will certainly have the Feb. 24 loss in Atlanta on its mind come Saturday, but revenge alone might not carry the team. The offense must produce points early in the game and limit turnovers to maximize its possessions. The defense has to make plays in order stop Georgia at critical junctures and give its offense a short field.

News, Notes and League Rankings

- One player who does know how to answer the question "What would you be doing if you weren't playing football?" is Kyle Rasmussen. He attended the WWE event at Kemper Arena Tuesday night and is seriously considering a wrestling career. At 6'5 and 325 lbs., Rasmussen would be as intimidating a presence in the ring as he is on the field. Teammates Chris Sanders, Andy Kelly, Steve Bellisari, Aaron Boone, MacKenzie Hoambrecker and Chris Morant attended with Rasmussen and gave him an equally intimidating nickname: "The Unicorn", in honor of the animal that is part of the Rasmussen family crest tattooed on Kyle's back.

- Local favorite John Booth made a standout professional debut against New York last week. He caught four passes, two of which went for touchdowns, including a 39-yard touchdown, the longest pass of the game.

- Chris Sanders had a second-straight productive game last week against New York. He accounted for all seven Brigade touchdowns-five passing and two rushing. Sanders is already second on the team in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns.

- New kicker MacKenzie Hoambrecker is becoming a household name thanks to his consistency on extra points. He missed only one attempt against New York after being perfect the previous week.

- Jerel Myers ranks 13th in the league with 69 receptions.

- Dawan Moss is sixth in the league with 81 rushing yards.

- Denario Smalls is ninth in the league in solo tackles (47) and eighth in total tackles (53.5).

- Last week proved once again that the Brigade is a second-half team. New York was held to 58 total yards and 19 points in the final 30 minutes of play and the Brigade racked up 227 yards and 35 points. The second-half point total is the most all season.

- Last week saw a turnover in the roster as the Brigade coaching staff gave a lot of players opportunities to prove themselves. Eight players who have appeared in two games or less this season, including Tremaine Neal and Alvin Porter, saw action against New York.

- Five players recorded at least three receptions last week.

- The Brigade's 48 points against New York is its second-highest total this season.

- Four sacks by the defense last week is the most all season. Two was the previous single-game high and the team had only four individual sacks going into the game against New York.

- The defense held New York to just 35 kickoff return yards.

Roster Moves

The Brigade made slight changes to the roster after the game against New York last week. Newly acquired OL/DL Bryan Henderson and WR/LB Rob Johnson were activated from refused to report. To make room on the roster, FB/LB Dawan Moss and WR/DB Jacques Rumph were placed on injured reserve.

Community Events

- FB/LB Chris Morant, Calvin Spears, and Denario Smalls will appear at the Negro League Baseball Museum on April 17 for "Reading around the Bases," a program for school groups.

- Brigade players, coaches, cheerleaders and staff will put on their hard hats and work gloves as part of Habitat for Humanity in Kansas City. The organization will work on two sites in the heart of Kansas City on April 10 from 1 to 5 p.m.

- In conjunction with the American Red Cross, the Brigade will sponsor a blood drive on April 24. The Red Cross will raffle off tickets to anyone who donates for the home finale on May 6 against the Orlando Predators. Players and cheerleaders will be there to sign autographs.

- The Kansas City Brigade has implemented a brand new program called ‘Reading for the Future' which requires students to read for 15 minutes, four nights a week, and a parent or guardian must sign off each day's entry. If 14 nights of reading is completed each student will receive a single ticket to the Kansas City Brigade's last regular season home game on Saturday, May 6. If 20 nights of reading is accomplished, the student and a parent or guardian will each receive a ticket.

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