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Portland faces LA KISS for third, last time in 2015

June 2, 2015 - Arena Football League (AFL)
Portland Thunder News Release


PORTLAND - The Portland Thunder (3-6, 1-2 in Pacific) travel south to Los Angeles looking for a season sweep of their expansion rivals, as they take on the winless KISS (0-9, 0-3 in West) Sunday afternoon from the Honda Center. Kickoff is set for 3:00pm and fans can listen on 750AM/102.9FM THE GAME starting at 2:30pm, and watch live on ESPN3, or the WatchESPN.com app.

This is the third and final matchup of the 2015 season for the AFL's 2014 expansion teams. The series record is knotted at three games apiece, with the Thunder taking each of the first two meetings with LA this season. The Thunder have won each of their last three overall meetings with the KISS, but have yet to win in Los Angeles in this rivalry's short history.

A 63-47 win on May 16th for Portland the last time these sides met ended a difficult three game losing streak for the Thunder. Injured quarterback Darron Thomas was the story of that encounter, but not to be forgotten were the performances by Thunder wide-outs V'Keon Lacey and Jared Perry. Lacey hauled in eight catches for 75 yards and four scores, while Perry's six catches totaled a team high 109 yards that evening.

While Portland's numbers against the KISS this season are not astronomical, they are economical. Despite being outgained by LA in both contests, the Thunder offense have converted 10 of their 13 red-zone possessions, and have averaged a passer rating of 112.99 between both Kyle Rowley's start in the home opener, and Thomas' start 3 weeks ago. Portland's defense and special teams can take partial credit for that rate of success. The Thunder's average starting field position against the KISS in 2015 has been their own 23 yard line, with the defense forcing five turnovers on downs, and KR Duane Brooks averaging 13 yards a runback.

Brooks has shown his muscle of late, scoring four kick return touchdowns over the last four games, including two against San Jose in the Thunder's 61-42 home loss last weekend. Brooks has skyrocketed to the top of the league leaderboards for both return yardage and return touchdowns during that stretch, sitting on 1018 yards and the four scores respectively.

Driving with less than 30 seconds left, down 41-35 at home against the surging Jacksonville Sharks last Sunday, former Thunder and current KISS quarterback Danny Southwick was intercepted in the endzone on the final play of the game to send Los Angeles to their 10th straight loss to start the season. While the KISS offense has found some stability under Southwick since he joined the team on May 13th, they have yet to put together a complete performance, with their line being the most glaring inefficiency. LA's offensive front have allowed six sacks in their last two outings, including four to the Thunder in that last meeting on May 16th.

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