af2 arenafootball2

Role reversals

August 25, 2004 - arenafootball2 (af2) News Release


The last time that the Peoria Pirates and the Florida Firecats met it was in Peoria, Illinois on August 23, 2002 for the 2002 ArenaCup championship. Florida had won three straight road games in the playoffs to advance to the title game and was looking to become the first road team ever to win the af2 championship but the Peoria Pirates defeated them by a score of 65 to 47.

"We have a lot of guys from 2002 on this team. Since we are playing the same team, it is more incentive and more want, they took it away from us last time. We still have a bad taste in our mouth and we are still hungry," said Firecats offensive specialist Magic Benton.

Now in this year's re-match, the roles are reversed with the Peoria Pirates trying to become the first road team to ever win the af2 championship after winning their first three road games in the 2004 playoffs, but this is not the only way the roles have been reversed for this game.

In 2002, the Peoria Pirates were only forced to play one road game en route to their af2 championship and the Firecats had to go on the road for four games. This year, both teams have had to travel during the playoffs with Florida having one home game and two road games up to the championship game, while Peoria has had to travel to all three of their playoff games thus far. Florida gets the honor of hosting the af2 championship by having a better record than the Peoria Pirates at the end of the 2004 regular season.

This season the main difference in statistical categories and reversal of roles is that Florida comes into this game with better offensive rankings than Peoria, which was not the case in 2002. Florida is ranked 11th in scoring offense and 12th in total offense, while the Pirates are 25th in both categories. In 2002 the Pirates were 6th in scoring offense and 21st in total offense with the Firecats sitting at 26th and 30th respectively.

The Pirates have also made a huge reversal when it comes to their total defense since the 2002 game. In 2002, the Pirates were 20th in total defense now in 2004 they are 2nd and are giving up about twenty less yards per game than they did in 2002. The Firecats were 11th in 2002 and in 2004 are now the top ranked total defensive team in af2.

Also in 2002 when these two teams met, the Pirates had the better signal caller on the field in Walter Church, one of the top rated passers in af2. This year it is the Firecats that have one of the top rated passers in the league in Ken Mastrole. Church led the Pirates with a 109.2 pass rating and Mastrole leads the Firecats with a 111.5 pass rating.

Defensively in 2002, the Pirates had one of the top tacklers in the league in Lincoln Dupree. Dupree led the Pirates with 80.5 tackles and 13 interceptions with 17 pass defenses. In 2004, the Firecats have the leading tackler in the af2 in Quincy Sorrell. Sorrell finished the 2004 season with 100.5 tackles, two interceptions, and 13 pass defenses.

These role reversals deal not only with the last time these two teams met, but also they go back to earlier in the 2004 season. The Peoria Pirates were sitting at 3-6 going into their tenth game and quickly reversed their own role during the second half of the season. The Pirates went on to win six consecutive games and get into the 2004 playoffs and have gone on to win three playoff games to find themselves in this Friday's championship game.

With all of the different roles that have been reversed since 2002 or since earlier this season, the only one that really matters is that the Florida Firecats hope to reverse the role of champion that the Peoria Pirates held in 2002 and lay claim to the ArenaCup2004 championship. "In 2002 we had so many distractions (to pit us against each other), but we fought through it. This year, with what happened to Dunston Anderson, it made us a closer family. Dunston had a dream, and that was to win a championship. As a family, we decided to keep his dream alive," said Firecats defensive specialist Roy Stabler.

On the other side of the ball, the Peoria Pirates hope to reverse the role of the road team's past failures in every ArenaCup up to this point and defeat the Firecats and return the af2 championship to the city of Peoria.



arenafootball2 Stories from August 25, 2004


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.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central