Rio Grande Valley Dorados game notes
May 12, 2006 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Rio Grande Valley Dorados News Release
Rio Grande Valley Dorados (4-2) vs. Bakersfield Blitz (4-1)
Date: Saturday, May 13, 2006
Kickoff: 9:00 p.m. CT
Site: Rabobank Arena
National Anthem: TBA
Coin Toss: Head Official
Dorados Radio: ESPN Radio 1240 (KSOX); free online audio at doradosfootball.com
TV: none
Series Record: RGV 2-0
Last Meeting: 38-27 RGV win, July 30, 2005
Streaks: Both teams won four of last five
RGV Head Coach: Marty Hammond (4-2, 0-0 playoffs, 1st Season)
DORADOS MEDIA CONTACT:
Dorados: Rich Bocchini (O: 956-843-7825, C: 956-227-4940), media@doradosfootball.com
THE SCENARIO: The Dorados grinded out a 43-28 win over winless Bossier-Shreveport last week to improve to 4-2 on the season...Bakersfield avenged a Week 2 loss to Spokane and handed the Shock their first loss of the season in a 52-20 final.
THE SERIES: This is the third regular season meting between the clubs...RGV has won both previous contests by a combined 78-59.
7/30/05 BAKERSFIELD W 38-27
4/22/05 @ Bakersfield W 40-32
OFF THE NET
§ Assistant Head Coach Brett Clark is a Bakersfield native and was an assistant with the Blitz last season.
§ OL/DL Kevin Lacey played the last two seasons in Bakersfield, while Mel Long was there in 2005.
§ The Dorados have won four of their last five games, something they accomplished three times last season.
§ The Blitz are 4-0 on the road and 0-1 at home. Their only loss was a Week 2 decision (49-45) to Spokane. The Shock went undefeated through four weeks, but were handily shut down by the Blitz 52-20 in the return match last week.
THIS WEEK'S QUOTES courtesy of themonitor.com
Landrick Brody on last week's game-turning sack
"In arena football, if your offense isn't coming up, your defense has to step up for you," Brody said. "We were working hard all week and it paid off.
Travis McAlpine on last week's win
"A win's a win, so you don't want to take that away from us. We have a lot of things we need to work on. Coming in our house, we made a lot of mistakes we shouldn't have made at home. It's about going in and making corrections and getting better next week."
WEEK 7 COACHES POLL
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers have maintained their No. 1 ranking in the Weekly Coaches Poll for the third consecutive week, the arenafootball2 (af2) league office announced today. The Pioneers garnered 258 out of a possible 264 points and 18-of-23 first place votes in securing the top position. The Pioneers defeated the Green Bay Blizzard this past Friday at home, 42-27, to improve to 5-0. With Spokane's weekend loss to Bakersfield, W-B/Scranton is now the only undefeated team in the af2.
The Florida Firecats (4-1, 217 points, 1 first place vote) moved up two spots this week from No. 4 to No. 2 on the strength of their recent road win against South Division rival Tennessee Valley, 76-37. The Memphis Xplorers (5-1, 216 points, 2 first place votes), last week's No. 2, dropped one position to No. 3. The defending ArenaCup Champions may have hurt their standing slightly with a hard-fought, overtime win at home against Manchester, 58-52.
Rounding out the top five in this week's poll are the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz (4-1, 186 points) and Bakersfield Blitz (4-1, 169 points, 2 first place votes). The Week 7 schedule features four matchups of Top 12 teams. On Saturday night, No. 12 Manchester plays at No. 9 Albany, No. 11 Tulsa plays at No. 1 W-B/Scranton, No. 4 Oklahoma City plays at No. 7 Arkansas, and No. 8 Rio Grande Valley plays at No. 5 Bakersfield.
QB REPORT
Josh Kellett leads af2 QB's with 258 offensive plays and 136 completions and is fourth with 31 passing TD's. He is averaging 251.7 yards per game, good for 10th in af2. he has started every game, and has played all but a brief stint in Week 6 vs. Bossier.
JR Davies got his first game action starting the third quarter vs. Bossier, going 7-for-10 with 1 interception.
SECOND HALF BLUES
The Dorados have been outscored in the second half 150-111 including a 78-53 margin in the fourth quarter. By comparison, they've outscored opponents 112-76 in the second quarter and 173-132 in the first half.
BIG GAME FOR BRODY
Linebacker Landrick Brody led an RGV defense that held Bossier-Shreveport to 184 yards, had two sacks and forced three turnovers. Brody himself had a pair of scores within a 4:34 span of the third quarter. The first came on a safety when he sacked JJ Raterink, then he bolted for a 6-yard TD run for a 36-13 RGV with 8:18 left in the third. John Bradley also had a sack vs. Bossier.
CANTY LEADS AF2 RUSHERS IN WEEK 6
Chris Canty led the af2 in rushing with two carries for 43 yards in Week 6 vs. Bossier. One of his two runs was a 35-yard gain to the Bossier 5-yard line that set up a Josh Kellett touchdown pass to Mel Long. Canty also contributed with two pass breakups vs. the Battle Wings, and leads the Dorados in rushing for the season.
DECEIVING KICKING STATS
Dustin Bell is just 2-for-6 on field goal attempts this season, but four of those chances have been from 50 yards out or more. His four misses came from 62 (thrice) and 57 yards out. Bell is 2-for-2 from 20-29 yards, his longest from 24 yards vs. Arkansas. His average of .333 is on par with the rest of the league. Bell is 29-for-39 on PAT attempts.
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Brent Withers leads the team with 38.5 tackles, 33 of which are solo. He pitched in with four solo tackles last week vs. Bossier, Following up a five-solo week at Tulsa. Withers had a team-season-high nine solo tackles vs. Birmingham in Week 3. Corl Bucknor stepped up with five solo tackles vs. Bossier and also had three assists.
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