Steamwheelers weekly notes
April 18, 2005 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Quad City Steamwheelers News Release
STEAMWHEELERS NOTES:
Hello, Nice to Meet You: For the first time in team history, the Quad City Steamwheelers will travel to Oklahoma City this weekend to take on the Yard Dawgz. This is the Yard Dawgz second year of existence, but their first in the Midwest Division. A year ago, they reached the playoffs out of the Southwest Division following a 10-6 inaugural regular season before falling to Peoria in the first round of the playoffs.
Oklahoma City's Ford Center is one of the toughest places in the league to play - the Yard Dawgz have an 8-1 all-time record there - and it is expected to be even more difficult on Saturday as they attempt to break the all-time af2 single game attendance record of 16,058, a mark that was reached twice by the Arkansas Twisters in 2000.
The Ford Center holds 17,884 and was host to the third highest attended game in league history last year. On July 22, 15,102 fans showed up to see the Yard Dawgz suffer the only home loss in team history, a 47-30 defeat at the hands of Tulsa.
Blank-to-Blank: After being shutout in the second half of their season opening loss to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the Steamwheelers were looking to exact some revenge on the Battle Wings on Saturday night, and that is exactly what they did. Quad City held its Midwest Division rivals scoreless in the second half to pull out a 36-29 win at OS Field at The MARK of the Quad Cities.
This was just the sixth time in team history that the 'Wheelers had shut a team out over an entire half, and the first since July 21, 2001. On that day, Quad City held the rival Peoria Pirates to just seven points in a 45-7 victory.
Forbes Doubles His Pleasure: Defensive Specialist Matt Forbes was named the ADT Defensive Player of the Game on Saturday after claiming the first two-interception game of his Steamwheeler career. Forbes, who also had 4.5 tackles and four passes deflected on the night, picked off a Caleb Slover pass with 9:06 left in the fourth quarter to set up Nick Gatto's 39-yard field goal, and then clinched the win with another interception with 1:00 left.
With the two picks, Forbes, who is second in team history with 14 career interceptions, became just the eighth player in Steamwheeler history to record multiple interceptions in the same game, and the first since Chazz Moore did on June 5, 2004 against Louisville. Brent Browner holds the franchise record for interceptions in a game with four, set on July 6, 2002 against Bakersfield.
Brown Out: Offensive lineman/Defensive lineman Corey Brown, the only original Steamwheeler to still play with the club, was ejected late in the second quarter of Saturday's 36-29 win over the Battle Wings for an altercation in which he was involved in with Bossier's Darrick Sanders. The pair got tied up on the boards near the Quad City goal line with Sanders trying to push Brown over the boards and eventually throwing a punch, leading referee Gus Golembiewski to eject both players from the game. It was the first ejection of Brown's career, but he is expected to be back in the lineup this weekend in Oklahoma City.
The Burns is Back: After an impressive first game in a Quad City uniform against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (10 catches, 97 yards and two touchdowns, as well as a kick return for a score), Offensive Specialist Travis Burns caught just one pass for eight yards in the win over Bossier/Shreveport. However, Burns had a good excuse for his drop in numbers as he missed practice all week in order to return to Virginia to witness the birth of his baby boy. Burns returned to the Quad Cities on Friday night and still featured in some sets for the 'Wheelers on both offense and special teams.
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