New number one in Coaches Poll
Published on April 26, 2006 under arenafootball2 (af2) News Release
CHICAGO - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers have taken over the top ranking of the weekly Coaches Poll, the arenafootball2 league office announced today. The Pioneers collected 218 of a possible 264 points and 12-of-23 first place votes in securing the top position. W-B/Scranton defeated the South Georgia Wildcats this past Friday at home, 36-33, to improve to 3-0. The Pioneers are just the second team of the 2006 season to obtain the No. 1 spot.
The Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz (3-0, 211 points, 5 first place votes) also moved up this week from No. 4 to No. 2 on the strength of their recent road win at Green Bay, 44-32. The Memphis Xplorers slipped from the top spot to No. 3 overall this week after suffering their first loss of the season, 60-55, at Florida. Prior to their defeat, the Xplorers (3-1, 194 points, 2 first place votes) had won nine straight games (including playoffs) and held the No. 1 ranking for the first four weeks of 2006.
Rounding out the top five in this week's poll are the expansion Spokane Shock (4-0, 186 points, 1 first place vote) and Florida Firecats (2-1, 171 points, 3 first place votes). The Week 5 schedule features two matchups of Top 12 teams. On Saturday night, the new No. 1-ranked W-B/Scranton Pioneers play at No. 7 Manchester and No. 8 Rio Grande Valley plays at No. 9 Tulsa.
Each week during the season af2 coaches will vote for the Top 12 teams in the league by ranking them one through 12 on a ballot. Teams ranked first receive 12 points with the point value decreasing by one for each place below first, meaning a team ranked 12th would receive one point. Total points will determine the Top 12 list. In the event of a tie in total points, the team with the greater number of first-place votes will be ranked higher. The af2 Coaches Poll will be announced every Wednesday during the regular season. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own team and the poll results have no bearing on postseason qualification.
The complete Top 12 is listed below. The number in parentheses indicates the number of first place votes the team received.
WEEK 5 TOP 12
RANK TEAM PTS
1 W-B/Scranton 218 (12)
2 Oklahoma City 211 (5)
3 Memphis 194 (2)
4 Spokane 186 (1)
5 Florida 171 (3)
6 Arkansas 147
7 Manchester 132
8 Rio Grande Valley 115
9 Tulsa 89
10 Bakersfield 72
11 Central Valley 69
12 Albany 59
Other teams receiving significant votes this week include the Green Bay Blizzard (53 points) and Louisville Fire (34 points).
arenafootball2 Stories from April 26, 2006
- Green Bay's "9th Man" Helps Blizzard Lead League In Attendance - Green Bay Blizzard
- Coyotes to Meet the Hawks for the First Time - Central Valley Coyotes
- Wolves' general manager, head coach, others resign - Manchester Wolves
- OKC Yard Dawgz Partner with Dodge - Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz
- New number one in Coaches Poll - af2
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