Sports stats



Louisville Fire game notes

April 7, 2005 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Louisville Fire News Release


QUICK FACTS:
#6 Louisville Fire (0-0)
At #5 Rio Grande Valley Dorados (0-0)
Date: Saturday, April 9, 2005
Kickoff: 8:30 p.m. CT
Site: Dodge Arena (5,500)
National Anthem:
Coin Toss: Head Referee
Officials: David Malone (Referee),
Eric Griffin (Umpire) Bradford Edwards (Head Linesman), Wayne Winkler (Line Judge), Mike Williams (Back Judge)
Radio: WKJK 1080-AM; Play-by-play Paul Wilman
TV: None
Series Record: First meeting
Streaks: First game for both teams
Coaches: Tommy Johnson (14-18; 1-1 playoffs, Third Season)
Kevin Guy (0-0, 0-0 playoffs, First Season)

THE STAKES: The Fire looks to start the season 1 – 0 for the third straight year. The Fire is also looking for a win in their first game ever against the Dorados.

THE SERIES: This is the first time the Fire and Dorados have met.

THE IFs:
If Louisville defeats Rio Grande Valley, it would ...
· Give the Fire their third straight 1 – 0 start
· Move the Fire into a tie in the East Division of the American Conference
· Give the Fire their first win against Kevin Guy
· Give the Fire their first road victory of the 2005 season


#6 LOUISVILLE (0-0)
Date Opponent Time Streak Series
4/9 @ Rio Grande Valley 8:30 -- 1st Meeting
4/15 SOUTH GEORGIA 7:30 L 1 SG 1-0
4/22 @WB/S 7:00 W 1 Tied 1 – 1
4/30 BIRMINGHAM 7:30 W 1 BIR 3 – 1
5/6 @ Manchester 7:30 L 1 MAN 1 – 0
5/14 @ Green Bay 8:00 W 3 FIRE 3 – 1
5/21 FLORIDA 7:30 -- 1st Meeting
5/27 ALBANY 7:30 L 1 Tied 1 – 1
6/4 @ Quad City 8:30 W 1 QC 6 – 2
6/11 @ Birmingham 8:00 W 1 BIR 3 – 1
6/18 GREEN BAY 7:30 W 3 FIRE 3 – 1
6/24 @ Albany 7:30 L 1 Tied 1 – 1
7/9 SAN DIEGO 7:30 L 1 SAN 1 – 0
7/16 @ Oklahoma City 8:30 -- 1st Meeting
7/23 MANCHESTER 7:30 L 1 MAN 1 – 0
7/30 QUAD CITY 7:30 W 1 QC 6 -2

#5 RIO GRANDE VALLEY (0-0)
Date Opponent Time Streak Series
4/9 LOUISVILLE 8:30
4/16 @Florida 7:30
4/22 @Bakersfield 10:00
5/2 BOSSIER-SHREVEPORT 8:30
5/7 SAN DIEGO 8:30
5/14 @ Central Valley 10:30
5/21 WB SCRANTON 8:30
5/28 @South Georgia 7:30
6/4 @Oklahoma City 8:30
6/11 TULSA 8:30
6/18 CENTRAL VALLEY 8:30
6/25 @San Diego 10:00
7/9 @Bossier-Shreveport 8:00
7/16 @Tulsa 8:00
7/23 OKLAHOMA CITY 8:30
7/30 BAKERSFIELD 8:30

HEAD COACHES:
Tommy Johnson
Louisville Fire head coach Tommy Johnson, was born in Rome, Ga., and raised in Niceville, Fla. He began his football career as a player at DeFuniak Springs (Fla.) High School. He later transferred to Niceville High School. Johnson then attended the University of Alabama, where he played defensive back. His senior class at U of A was known for having the most wins in a four-year time period (45-5-1). In 1992, he played on the Crimson Tide squad that defeated the University of Miami for the National Championship. Johnson then continued his football career with the Jacksonville Jaguars for a year. He also was given the opportunity to compete in NFL Europe. He started his Arena football career with the Albany Firebirds, and moved on to the Carolina Cobras. Johnson presently holds the record for the longest interception return for a touchdown in AFL history. In 2001, Johnson began his coaching career with the Fire as defensive coordinator. After two seasons as defensive coordinator Johnson was named head coach three games into the 2003 season, when the Fire made the late run winning two of those three games. In 2004, Johnson led the Fire to its first winning season (9-7), first af2 play-offs appearance and first play-off victory over Quad City 52-47. Since Johnson was named head coach, the Fire has winning record of 12-9-0.

Kevin Guy
Guy, a 31 year-old native of Birmingham, Alabama, joins the Dorados organization after serving as the Head Coach / Dir. of Football Operations for the Huntsville, Alabama based Tennessee Valley Vipers over the past three af2 seasons. He leaves the Vipers with a 39-9 coaching record, which places him amongst the af2's top five career coaching leaders in wins (39) and winning percentage (81.25%), and places him with the best coaching record in af2 history based on tenure. Guy began his Vipers coaching career in 2002 and posted a 13-3 record. The Vipers won 14 consecutive games to begin the 2003 season and ended up with a 14-2 finish, which led to Guy claiming af2 "Coach of the Year" honors. Last season, Guy kept his three-year streak alive of consecutive division winning finishes by posting a 12-4 record. A graduate of Shelby County High School in Columbiana, Alabama, Guy played college football at West Alabama (Livingston, Alabama) and lettered from 1991-95.

LAST SERIES MEETING: First Meeting

FAMILIAR FACES: Matthew Sauk vs. Kevin Guy:
Kevin Guy was the head coach in Tennessee Valley in 2003 when Fire quarterback Matthew Sauk was his starting quarterback.

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES:
Tommy Johnson, on the kicking-off 2005: "After a couple of weeks of hitting each other in camp it's going to be exciting to go out and see what we can do against someone else. "
On the Dorados: "Coach Guy has brought in some veterans and this should be a good test to open the season."
On his team: "We have a good mix of veterans and new guys. I think we have done a good job of recruiting guys who are comfortable with each other on the field."

MILESTONES:
MATT SAUK... Sauk needs 54 touchdown passes to reach the 300 touchdown pass mark.

JAMES SCOTT... Needs 12 touchdown receptions for 100 in his career.

ARKEE THOMPSON... Looks to build on his af2 record of 27 career interceptions.

FIRE ALL-TIME RECORDS

All-Time Record 23-43

All-Time Home Record 15-17

All-Time Road Record 8-26

All-Time March Record 1-0

All-Time April Record 5-9

All-Time May Record 7-11

All-Time June Record 5-12

All-Time July Record 4-10

All-Time August Record 1-1

All-Time In Playoffs 1-1

All-Time Record in Openers 2-2

All-Time Record on Fridays 6-6

All-Time Record on Saturdays 17-37

All-Time Against 2005 Opponents 8-14

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

arenafootball2 Stories from April 7, 2005


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.

Other Recent Louisville Fire Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central