Riptide - Blitz Game Preview

June 30, 2004 - arenafootball2 (af2)
San Diego Riptide News Release


2004 RECORDS:

San Diego Riptide (5-6, 3rd National West)

Hawaiian Islanders (6-5,2nd National West)

SERIES HISTORY: 9 games (SDG 4, HAW 5) The Riptide won the past two meetings of the series and look to continue the streak this week. With a win, the ‘Tide would tie the series at five.

2004 SEASON: 3 games (SDG 2, HAW 1) – The Riptide lead the series two games to one, winning the last two. Their Week 6 meeting resulted in a heartbreaking loss after Hawaii made a two-point conversion in overtime. But in Week 9, the Riptide defeated the Islanders, 91-77, the highest combined score in af2 history. In Week 12, the Riptide sealed a win late in the fourth quarter after Kane Claunch hooked up with Dwight Carter for a touchdown and Nakoa McElrath picked off a Darnell Arceneaux pass.

GAME NOTES: The Riptide's winning streak was snapped in a heartbreaking loss against the Bakersfield Blitz, losing by four points after coming back from a 21-point deficit at the half. This week is the Riptide looks to bounce back from the loss by finishing off the Islander-Riptide series with a win. The series has proved to be the most exciting match up of their 2004 season with the Riptide leading the series 2-1.

The Riptide and the Islanders are match up evenly with both teams ranking in the top ten for scoring offense, total offense, and passing offense. Both quarterbacks, Darnell Arceneaux and Claunch, rank in the top ten for passing yardage and total offense. On defense, Hawaii's Josh Robinson has 63.5 tackles on the season, ranked 5th in the league, but is closely followed by San Diego's Quincy LeJay, ranked 6th in the league, with 57.5 tackles. In the first game of the 2004 season, the Islanders took the game in overtime after Darnell Arceneaux scored on a two-point conversion. In their second meeting, both teams came together to break af2 records including scoring a combined 168 points, converting 13 PAT's, scoring 13 touchdowns, 23 first downs, and 403 passing yards.

Although Quarterback Kane Claunch struggled last week against the Blitz, he's having a phenomenal season. In the past eleven games, Claunch only had two games where he threw less than five touchdown passes. He also averages 265.3yards per game, fourth in the af2. After last weeks performance, he surpassed the 10,000-yard passing mark and has recorded 59 passing touchdowns this season, four shy of his career high and the Riptide single-season record, 63. And a good quarterback needs good receivers and Dwight Carter is one of them. He has become the first Riptide receiver to break 1,000 receiving yards in a season and has 21 receiving touchdowns, scoring eight times in his last two games. He is tied for 7th in receptions with 80 total receptions and averages 7.27 receptions per game . Carter is also ranked in the top ten in all purpose yards. The Riptide offense ranks second in total offense with 288 yards per game.

In this last meeting of the 2004 series, the Arceneaux brothers are looking for redemption against the Riptide. Quarterback Darnell Arceneaux ranks in the top 10 in af2 in virtually every rushing and passing category. He proved that he deserves top honors in his last meeting against the Riptide, throwing a franchise high seven touchdowns and bringing his total to 11 touchdowns against the ‘Tide. He's rushed for 44 yards and has passed for 870 yards in the series. His brother, Anthony Arceneaux has caught 16 passes for 215 yards and has four touchdowns in the series. He also returned an af2-record three kicks for touchdowns in the second game of the series. The Riptide must contain this double threat in order to pull off the win and revive the ‘Tide.



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