Steamwheelers Release 2004 Schedule

February 2, 2004 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Quad City Steamwheelers News Release


DAVENPORT, Iowa – The Quad City Steamwheelers announced their 2004 Fifth Anniversary schedule on Monday. Their 16-game season will begin on Saturday, April 3 at home against the Manchester (N.H.) Wolves at The MARK of the Quad Cities.

The 16-game schedule will span 18-weeks and includes two "bye" weeks. The "bye" weeks are the weekends of May 28-29 and July 23-24. The latter separates the Steamwheelers final two games of the season, both of which are at home.

"I like it," Steamwheelers head coach and Pittsburgh native Rich Ingold said of the 2004 schedule. "We have some new teams on the schedule including some teams out east. It will be nice to head back east, where I am from. "We haven't had the opportunity to play out east since I became the head coach here."

The Steamwheelers will have their usual home-and-away series' with National Conference Midwest Division foes: Peoria Pirates, Green Bay Blizzard and Louisville Fire. The Steamwheelers will also have home-and-away series with their archrival Tennessee Valley Vipers, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers, and the aforementioned Manchester Wolves, who are owned by former Quad City Mallards owner Eric Marganeau.

"The trips to the east coast will be nice not only for me, but some of our players as we currently have six players on the training camp roster who played college football on the east coast," Ingold added. "It will be good to have our families be able to come watch us play and I can't wait for people from Pittsburgh to come see us in person."

Other teams that will enter The MARK this season are: the Wichita Stealth (May 15) and Birmingham Steeldogs (July 17).

The only time that the ‘Wheelers will play an opponent on back-to-back occasions is at the beginning of the season against Manchester. After opening on April 3 with the Wolves at The MARK, the ‘Wheelers will turn around the next weekend and travel to Manchester, N.H., both games are going to be played on Saturday and kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. in each teams respective time zones.

The Friday, July 2 game against Peoria will be the only Steamwheelers home game that will not be played on Saturday, since the Fourth of July falls on a Sunday this year. Friday night became the most accepted night to play based on a research done by the team. All Steamwheelers home games (Friday and Saturday games) will kickoff at 7:30 p.m. The schedule also includes a re-match against the Arkansas Twisters. The Twisters knocked the Steamwheelers out of the playoffs last season in the ArenaCup quarterfinals. Twisters' kicker Mark Norris connected on an 18-yard field goal as time expired to give the Twisters a 63-61 victory at The MARK. The Friday, June 25 game will be played in Little Rock, Ark. and kickoff at 7:30 p.m.

"It's a different year and both teams have different players, but it will be good for the players who were on last seasons team," Ingold added. "I can't wait to get down there, that date can't come fast enough. I am excited to play them."

The Steamwheelers will also meet up again with the San Diego Riptide. The Steamwheelers have faced the Riptide in each of the past two seasons, with both games taking place at The MARK. This time around the Steamwheelers will travel to San Diego, Calif. The Steamwheelers will travel just over 5,700 miles this season, an average of 715 miles per trip.

"From a local event conflict standpoint, the 2004 schedule is the best the ‘Wheelers have had in their five seasons," according to Steamwheelers Managing Owner/Operator Jim Foster. The home schedule misses some of the largest annual events in the Quad Cities, including the Bix Fest Weekend, the John Deere Classic, the Quad City Air Show and the Taste of the Quad Cities.

It also misses the Swing of the Quad City's opening weekend at the newly renovated John O'Donnell Stadium, the Grand Excursion Festival, most of the major fests in the District of Rock Island and a traditionally very busy Memorial Day weekend.

"This will make our fans lives a lot easier than in past years when they had to choose between our game and other major area events," Foster said. "It should help our attendance, complete with the new "Pick 5" season ticket package, which allows fans to buy a full rights season ticket by picking out their best five games of the eight available in 2004.

"We have provided a great opportunity for Quad City area football fans to support us in 2004."

Below is the 2004 schedule:

Date Opponent Time Place
Saturday, April 3 Manchester Wolves 7:30 p.m. The MARK of the Quad Cities
Saturday, April 10 Manchester Wolves 7:30 p.m. Manchester, N.H.
Saturday, April 17 Tennessee Valley Vipers 7:30 p.m. The MARK of the Quad Cities
Saturday, April 24 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers 7:00 p.m. (EST) Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Saturday, May 1 Green Bay Blizzard 7:30 p.m. The MARK of the Quad Cities
Friday, May 7 Peoria Pirates 7:00 p.m. Peoria, Ill.
Saturday, May 15 Wichita Stealth 7:30 p.m. The MARK of the Quad Cities
Saturday, May 22 San Diego Riptide 7:00 p.m. (PST) San Diego, Calif.
Saturday, June 5 Louisville Fire 7:30 p.m. (EST) Louisville, Ky.
Saturday, June 12 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers 7:30 p.m. The MARK of the Quad Cities
Friday, June 18 Green Bay Blizzard 7:30 p.m. Green Bay, Wis.
Friday, June 25 Arkansas Twisters 7:30 p.m. Little Rock, Ark.
Friday, July 2 Peoria Pirates 7:30 p.m. The MARK of the Quad Cities
Saturday, July 10 Tennessee Valley Vipers 7:30 p.m. Huntsville, Ala.
Saturday, July 17 Birmingham Steeldogs 7:30 p.m. The MARK of the Quad Cities
Saturday, July 31 Louisville Fire 7:30 p.m. The MARK of the Quad Cities

All times are Central except for the ones that are noted.

Other Steamwheelers News and Notes: Over the weekend, teams in the 19-team Arena Football League began making their final cuts for their 2004 season, which opens this Friday. Among this past weekends cuts were former Steamwheelers: WR/DB Jeff Hewitt (Dallas Desperados), OS Shon King (Philadelphia Soul) and QB Jay McDonagh (Colorado Crush). Despite being waived by their respective teams, all still have the opportunity to be signed to their teams practice squads. AFL teams must have their rosters finalized by Monday night at 5 p.m. A total of 15 former Steamwheelers still remain in the AFL.

It was announced Monday that former Steamwheelers offensive specialist Ira Gooch has made the 20-man roster for the New Orleans VooDoo. He is one of two offensive specialists for the VooDoo. Gooch will be competing against Aaron Bailey for the starting role.

Also, former ‘Wheelers quarterback Billy Dicken, who led the 2000 Steamwheelers to an af2 championship and perfect 19-0 season and who is in camp with the Detroit Fury, was named the backup to AFL veteran and previous all-AFL selection Andy Kelly.

The arenafootball2 league is in its Fifth Anniversary season and serves as the AFL's developmental league. The arenafootball2 (af2) league consists of 26 teams in small- to medium-sized markets with the purpose of training players, coaches and officials for higher levels of football. Several former af2 coaches have joined AFL teams and more than 175 players have advanced to the AFL over the past three years.

The Steamwheelers are gearing up for their Fifth Anniversary season as one of the charter members of the league. Season tickets are currently on sale starting as low as $54. Fans interested in purchasing season tickets may contact Steamwheelers Director of Ticket Sales Brian Forth at 563-324-4888 or toll free at 1-866-STEAMTIX. For all the up to the minute Steamwheelers news, visit www.steamwheelers.com.



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