SaberCats practice with Brigade
Published on February 18, 2008 under Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
San Jose SaberCats News Release
SAN JOSE, Calif. (Feb. 18, 2008) - The combined practice session today between the defending ArenaBowl champion San Jose SaberCats and Kansas City Brigade took place, it just happened to be about four hours later than originally scheduled.
Kansas City's flight Sunday was cancelled due to bad weather in the Midwest and the Brigade didn't arrive in the Bay Area until just after 9:00 a.m. today. Four hours later they were on the field at Woodside High School.
"It was an adventure," said Brigade head coach Kevin Porter. "But that's part of it. You have to be able to roll with the punches. Our guys were great about it. The flight couldn't go out yesterday so we told them you have to get up at four in the morning and go then."
Despite the Brigade's travel mishaps and tired bodies, the teams competed in a spirited practice that lasted nearly two hours. "I thought the guys played hard," said SaberCats' head coach and general manager Darren Arbet. "Kansas City did a tremendous job coming in, getting off the plane and working out. I thought both teams looked good and I'm excited about the scrimmage tomorrow."
SAN JOSE STATE CONNECTION
Teammates at San Jose State during the 2003 season, SaberCats' Trestin George, Scott Rislov and William Obeng, along with Kansas City's Tony Ficklin enjoyed a bit of a reunion at today's practice.
Ficklin, a linebacker/defensive end courted by the SaberCats during the offseason, squared off against his college buddy Obeng, a starting offensive lineman, during one-on-one drills at practice. "It was real competitive it reminded me of when we were in college," said Ficklin. "Obeng would always come out and joke around but when it's time to get down in the trenches we'd execute."
"Everybody loved Fick, he was the man," added George. "It's good to be able to come out here on a professional level and still see guys doing the same thing they were doing in college."
A SHOT OF PATRONE
New SaberCats' secondary coach Lou Patrone got a first-hand look at his troops in a practice against some different competition and learned from the experience. "I think you do (learn things) anytime you go against somebody new," he stated. "You get used to seeing the same routes and such when you're playing against somebody all the time. But we didn't know what to expect today so it was good for us to be able to react to it. We reacted well at times and we reacted bad at times."
A former defensive coordinator at Sacramento State, Patrone enters his first season coaching in the AFL ranks. "Everyday is a learning day for me and I tell you what it's a good group of guys to coach," Patrone exclaimed. "I'm blessed I have a cupboard that's full."
LONG DAY FOR KC
By the time the Brigade took the field at Woodside High School this afternoon the team had traveled nearly 2,000 miles, had a stop in Las Vegas and had been awake for 12 hours.
"Unfortunately it was a long day," said kicker Peter Martinez, who played against the SaberCats in ArenaBowl XXI as a member of the Columbus Destroyers. "We had a little mishap with the weather yesterday. As your guys' time goes we were up at 2 (AM) and have been up since then."
"Yes," stated Brigade head coach Kevin Porter when asked if he was going to relax tonight. "Everybody's tired. When we were getting on the bus coming over here guys were saying 'coach we've already been up 11 hours.'"
CAMP PRACTICE INFORMATION
Following their scrimmage with Kansas City in Stockton on Tuesday, the SaberCats will hold three more practices before trimming their roster to the league-mandated 24 on Saturday.
Week Two Practice Schedule
Tue., Feb. 19 Scrimmage vs Kansas City, 7:00 pm
(Stockton Arena)
Wed., Feb. 20 NO ON-FIELD PRACTICE
Thu., Feb. 21 8:30 - 10:45 am 3:00 - 4:35 pm
Fri., Feb. 22 8:30 - 10:45
Sat., Feb. 23 Cut Down Day
A premiere franchise in the Arena Football League, San Jose has won three ArenaBowl championships and captured seven Western Division titles, eight consecutive playoff appearances and owns the league's best regular season record this decade. The SaberCats begin defense of their AFL title on March 3 in Chicago on ESPN2.
Season tickets for the 2008 season are now on sale. Contact a SaberCats' account executive at (408) 573-5577 to reserve your seats today. Individual game tickets can be purchased at the HP Pavilion box office and all Ticketmaster locations. More information is also available on the team's official website www.sanjosesabercats.com.
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