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Rush Game Notes

February 18, 2003 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Chicago Rush News Release


The Quick Facts
TV: NBC ... Mike Breen, Ray Bentley, Marty Snider
Radio: ESPN Radio 1000 ... Tom Dore, John Jurkovic
Overall Series Record: 0-1
Last Meeting: June 30, 2001 ... Los Angeles won 55-47
Coaches (regular season records): Mike Hohensee (60-59 — 10th season) Ed Hodgkiss (11-6 — 2nd season)
Officials: Wes Fritz (Referee), Tony Payne (Umpire), Rich Grube (Head Linesman), Kent Payne (Line Judge), James Cole (Back Judge)

HIGH-SCORIN' AVENGERS: The Western Division leading Los Angeles Avengers arrive at Allstate Arena on Sunday with a perfect 3-0 record, having defeated the Las Vegas Gladiators (60-48), the San Jose SaberCats (73-72) and the Colorado Crush (59-53). The Avengers have scored 192 points in 3 games and are averaging 64.0 points per game — the best in the league. Chicago enters the contest with a 0-3 record and looking for a way to score points. The Rush have only scored 96 points this season, an average of 32.0 points per game. The Chicago defense has done its part, only allowing 40.3 points per game.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: The Rush will play two of its next three games at Allstate Arena. After the Avengers, the Rush will travel to Buffalo to face the Destroyers for the first time in team history. The team will return to Chicago to face the defending ArenaBowl champion San Jose on March 9.

The Buffalo game begins a streak in which the Rush will play 5 of its next 7 games on the road.

LET'S NOT MAKE IT FIVE: The Rush has tied its club record of 4 consecutive regular-season losses. The current losing streak dates back to July 20, 2002, when the Rush lost the season-finale to Indiana. The last time Chicago lost 4 straight contests was June 15-July 7, 2001. The Rush has also lost back-to-back home games for the first time since May 19-June 23, 2001. Chicago has an overall 11-4 home record but has dropped the last 2 regular-season contests.

COACH MIKE HOHENSEE is in his 10th season as a head coach in the Arena Football League. Hohensee was hired as the first coach in Rush history on September 26, 2000.
- has a regular-season record of 60-59 (including a 16-15 mark with the Rush) ... has a career 5-6 mark in the postseason.
- has a 0-2 record against the Avengers.
- signed a two-year contract extension through the 2005 season on August 1, 2002.
- became the sixth coach in league history to record 60 regular-season victories when the Rush defeated Dallas (58-52 in overtime) July 13, 2002.

IMPRESSIVE DEFENSE: The Rush defense only allowed 14 points in the 28-23 loss to the Firebirds. Indiana's Raymond Philyaw hit receiver Brett Bech for a pair of first-half touchdowns and the Firebirds two second half touchdowns were on a kick return and an interception. The defense has only allowed 121 points in 3 games — the 2nd-best total in the league. The Rush is one of only two teams in the league not to allow 50 points in a game, joining the Georgia Force.

Here are the best 3-game stretches for the defense in team history.
Points Dates
83 (52, 14, 17) May 25-June 8, 2002
112 (29, 41, 42) July 14, 2001-April 19, 2002
121 (47, 46, 28) February 2-February 16, 2003

The best 4-game stretches:
Points Dates
145 (62, 52, 14, 17) May 18-June 8, 2002
161 (29, 41, 42, 49) July 14, 2001-April 26, 2002
172 (51, 47, 46, 28) July 20, 2002-February 16, 2003

AN OFFENSIVE NOTE: Chicago's offense has struggled mightily this season, scoring only 96 points in three games. The Rush is averaging 32 points and 234.7 yards per contest.

Here are the worst 3-game stretches for the offense in team history.
Points Dates
96 (35, 38, 23) February 2-February 16, 2003
114 (30, 37, 47) June 15-June 30, 2001
124 (44, 41, 39) April 21-May 6, 2001

The worst 4-game stretches:
Points Dates
137 (41, 35, 38, 23) July 20, 2002-February 16, 2003
172 (30, 37, 47, 58) June 15-June 30, 2001

STREAK BROKEN: When Chad Salisbury started last Sunday, it broke Billy Dicken's starting streak of 27 games. It was the first game Dicken had not started since May 6, 2001, at Detroit (when Jeff Loots started his final contest). Salisbury became just the third starting quarterback for the Rush, joining Dicken and Loots (3 games).

RILEY CATCHES RAYMOND: Riley Kleinhesselink caught Indiana quarterback Raymond Philyaw from behind in the first quarter and forced him to fumble just before crossing the goal line. On the next offensive series by the Rush, he recovered a Chad Salisbury fumble. In addition, he recorded a career-high 2.0 tackles in the game.

Kleinhesselink played in 6 games for the Rush during the 2001 campaign before signing with the New York Jets. He spent last season with the Jets, who allocated him to the Rhein Fire in NFL Europe. While with Rhein, he recorded 15 tackles and a team-high 3.0 sacks in 8 games.

ANOTHER DEFENSIVE EFFORT: By allowing 121 points in 3 games, the Rush ranks 2nd in the league in points allowed. The league leader is Buffalo, next week's opponent, which has allowed 115 points (54 points to Grand Rapids, 16 to Carolina and 45 to Arizona). The Avengers have allowed 173 points in their 3 games.

IF ONLY STATISTICS LIED: By looking only at the statistics from Sunday's game at Indiana, one would think the Rush won the game. Chicago dominated in almost every category, including total yards (236-170), offensive plays (50-31), passing yards (227-140) and total time of possession (35:59-24:01). Indiana, however, dominated the return categories, returning 4 kickoffs for 106 yards (including a 56-yard touchdown) and 2 interceptions for 21 yards and a touchdown.

LESS THAN 40 POINTS: The Rush has scored only 96 points in its first three contests, losing by scores of 47-35, 46-38 and 28-23. This is the first time in Rush history that the team has failed to score at least 40 points in 3 straight games.

With its 96 points scored, the Rush trail only the Carolina Cobras for least points scored. The Cobras have scored 80 points, losing 60-20 at Tampa Bay, 44-16 at Buffalo and 49-44 against Detroit.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU: Lineman Salem Simon will turn 24 on February 21. Head coach Mike Hohensee will be celebrating his 42nd birthday February 22 while lineman John Moyer will turn 28 on February 24.

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO: By scoring only 23 points Sunday at Indiana, the Rush established its franchise low for points scored. In addition, Chicago scored its fewest points in the first half (13), second half (10) and the fourth quarter (3).

STRANGE BUT TRUE: On Sunday, the Indiana offense did not see any action in the third quarter. The Rush held the ball for 13 minutes and 15 seconds while scoring 10 points. The Firebirds scored on a 56-yard kick return on their only possession of the quarter.

INTERCEPTION RETURNS: The Firebirds' Donnie Caldwell became only the third player to return an interception for a touchdown against the Rush. The last time it happened was June 30, 2001, against Los Angeles (Mark Ricks).

SLIM PICKINGS: After leading the league last season with 22 interceptions, the Rush has been shut out in the first 3 games this season.

Last year, the Rush had only 4 games in which it did not pick off a pass.

KICK ‘EM HIGH AND HARD: Rookie kicker Keith Gispert has enjoyed a successful first 3 AFL games. Gispert has connected on 10-of-12 extra point attempts and 2-of-5 field goal attempts. Two of the missed field goals were from over 60 yards.

Last Sunday, he connected on a 21-yard field goal and hit the net on all 5 of his kickoffs. Gispert is among the league leaders in almost all kicking categories, including field goal percentage (40 percent) and extra point percentage (83.3 percent).

Gispert kicked for the Augusta Stallions in the af2 for the last two seasons, where he connected on 176-of-203 extra point attempts (87 percent).

CAN WE CHAT?: Offensive specialist Antonio Chatman, has caught 27 passes for 290 yards in the first 3 games. Chatman caught his first touchdown pass of the season February 9 against Dallas, an 11-yard strike from Chad Salisbury. Chatman is also averaging 18.2 yards per return on special teams.

Chatman accumulated 266 all-purpose yards against Dallas — the 2nd-best total of his young career. Last week against Indiana, he caught 9 passes for 69 yards.

300-YARD PASSERS: The Rush has played 31 regular season games in its two-plus year history. Chicago's pass defense has allowed only four 300-yard games. The Rush has gone 3-1 in those contests.

Quarterback Date Yards
Clint Dolezel 7/7/01 @ Grand Rapids 342
Clint Dolezel 5/4/02 vs. Grand Rapids 321
Donnie Davis 5/18/02 vs. Georgia 304
Aaron Garcia 6/30/02 vs. New York 303

Since allowing Aaron Garcia's 303 yards last season, the Rush passing defense is allowing only 223.8 yards per game during the regular season (1,343 yards in 6 games). In those games, the highest passing total was 264 yards by Dallas' Jim Kubiak July 13, 2002.



Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from February 18, 2003


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