Sports stats

Sixth seeded Destroyers one win away from Arena Bowl XXI in New Orleans

July 9, 2007 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Columbus Destroyers News Release


COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Columbus Destroyers, presented by Germain, will travel to take on the Georgia Force in the National Conference Championship game 1 p.m. (ET) Saturday, July 14th at Philips Arena.

THIS WEEK: The Destroyers (2-0) will take on the Force (1-0) in the team's third meeting of the season and eighth meeting in history. The Force holds a 5-2 advantage over the Destroyers all-time. The teams met twice during the regular season, with the Destroyers scoring a one-point victory at home in the first game and Georgia winning by 21-points in the most recent contest, in Atlanta.

On Mar. 30 in Columbus, Ohio, the Destroyers were victorious 62-61 in dramatic fashion. Quarterback Matt Nagy found wide receiver Marcus Knight in the front corner of the end zone for a touchdown, which brought the home team to within one point, 61-60. The decision was made to go for a two-point conversion and Nagy completed a pass to Knight in the same corner of the end zone that the touchdown was scored. Columbus had a 41-27 halftime lead, however Georgia was able to take a 54-48 lead early in the fourth quarter. The loss for Georgia was one of only two suffered during the 2007 regular season.

On June 2, in the teams' second meeting, Columbus had a 7-6 lead after the first quarter but fell 54-33 to the Force . Georgia outscored the Destroyers 26-6 in the second and third quarters combined to take control of the game. Columbus scored 20 fourth-quarter points in the defeat.

The Force have collected a 23-10 record over the past two seasons, including playoff games. A season ago, Georgia beat the New York Dragons in the first round of the Arena Football League playoffs, before losing in the Divisional Round to the Dallas Desperados 62-27. The Force offense is led by First-Team All-Arena players, quarterback Chris Greisen and wide receiver Chris Jackson. In addition, they had three players make Second-Team All-Arena; wide receiver Troy Bergeron, offensive lineman Marcus Keys, defensive lineman Jermaine Smith, and linebacker Umar Mohammad. Georgia's defense finished the regular season Tied-8th in the AFL giving up 52.2 points per contest while the Destroyers finished 5th surrendering 49.6 points per game.

LAST WEEK: The Destroyers defeated the Dallas Desperados 66-59 in a National Conference Divisional Round match-up last Saturday afternoon in front of 15,572 at American Airlines Center in Dallas. Trailing 38-28 at halftime, the Destroyers caught a break when Peter Martinez opened the second half as his kickoff hit the left upright. Wide receiver Josh Bush recovered the bouncing ball on the one-yard line and rolled into the end zone for a touchdown. On the ensuing kickoff, Martinez hit the right upright and this time defensive back Brandon Hefflin recovered the ball at the four-yard line. It took Columbus just one play to get into the end zone and re-take the lead, one which they would not relinquish. The playoff win was the second all-time in franchise history, the first coming in the Wild Card Round game versus the Tampa Bay Storm in the previous week.

PRACTICE SCHEDULE: The practice schedule for this week is below. Practices times and locations are subject to change. All practices at the Columbus FieldHouse are open to the public. Practices/Walk-Thru's at Nationwide Arena are closed to the public.

Day Event Time Place

Tuesday, July 10 Practice 10 -11:35 p.m. Columbus FieldHouse

Wednesday, July 11 Practice 9:30-11:05 a.m. Columbus FieldHouse

Thursday, July 12 Practice 9:30-10:30 a.m. Columbus FieldHouse

Friday, July 13 Walk-thru Practice 9-10 a.m. Columbus FieldHouse

"THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM" - In the 20-plus year history of the Arena Football League, two teams have faced each other three times in one season on 51 occasions. The Destroyers became the 11th team in League history to defeat a team after losing the first two contests with their 66-59 Divisional Round victory over the Desperados last Saturday night. The Desperados won the two regular season contests by a combined 11 points (Apr. 5, 53-51 - May 26, 56-47).

THE "ESPN FACTOR" - The Columbus Destroyers are 3-0 in games broadcast on ESPN this season. Columbus played host to the Philadelphia Soul as part of Russell Athletic ESPN Arena Football Monday Night on Apr. 23 and won 43-21. The past two weekends ESPN analysts Mark Jones and Merril Hoge have been the broadcast crew for Destroyers playoff games, at Tampa Bay and at Dallas. The Destroyers were victorious over the Storm 56-55 in the Wild Card Round and defeated the Desperados 66-59 in the Divisional Round.

THE MAGIC NUMBER - With the 66-59 victory over the Desperados, the Destroyers hold a perfect 9-0 record in games in which they score 60-plus points. The team is 4-0 this season (Week 4 vs. Georgia, 62-61; Week 7 vs. Austin 72-49; Week 17 at New York 74-43) when reaching the 60-point plateau.

END OF YEAR AWARDS - Destroyers center Will Rabatin was selected to the 2007 AFL All-Rookie Team on June 27. Defensive lineman Ken Jones was named to the First-Team All-Arena on June 28. Wide receiver/linebacker B.J. Barre and fullback/linebacker Harold Wells were named to the AFL's All-Ironman team on June 29.

DESTROYERS ON TELEVISION: The next edition of Columbus Sports Network's weekly magazine show, Destroyers Digest, will air on Wednesday, July 11 at 6 p.m. The show provides in-depth coverage and analysis of the team and the AFL. CSN's lead anchor Ray Crawford is the host of the half-hour show. This week's National Conference Championship Game will be shown on Saturday, July 14 at 1 p.m. (ET) on Russell Athletic ESPN Arena Football with Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic calling the action.

ON THE AIRWAVES: This week's National Conference Championship Game between the Destroyers and Force can be heard on your home for Destroyers football, the new WINK 107.1 FM with the broadcast tandem of Steve Sefner (play-by-play) and Rob Blackman (color commentator) on the call. Tune in at 12:30 p.m. (ET) as the Destroyers pre-game show gets underway with a one-on-one interview with Destroyers Head Coach Doug Kay, player interviews and insider information.

TICKET INFORMATION: For information on 2008 Destroyers season tickets call (877) COLS-AFL. Groups of 10 or more are eligible for group rates by calling (614) 246-HITS. Tickets for this week's National Conference Championship Game can be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com.



Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from July 9, 2007


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.

Other Recent Columbus Destroyers Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central