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Steamwheelers Weekly Report

April 6, 2004 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Quad City Steamwheelers News Release


Recap: The Steamwheelers are coming of their first game of the 2004 season in which they beat the Manchester (N.H.) Wolves 71-32 on Saturday, April 3, at The MARK of The Quad Cities in Moline, Ill. The win puts the Steamwheelers in first place of the National Conference Midwest Division and they rank as the leagues number scoring team in the league.

Next Up: The Steamwheelers face off against Manchester for the second straight week, this time in Manchester. The Steamwheelers (1-0) will take on the Wolves (0-1) Saturday, April 10, at 6:30 CDT. The game will be played at Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H.

Last Time: These two teams squared off in Week 1 of the 2004 af2 season with the Steamwheelers winning by a score of 71-32. Offensive specialist Jeff Hewitt led the way for the Steamwheelers being named Baby Ruth Real Deal Player of the Week in the af2 as well as Baby Ruth Real Deal Player of the Game by the media. He accounted for six kick returns for 192 yards and two touchdowns on special teams and had four catches for 104 yards and three touchdowns on offense. Wide receiver/defensive back George Williams carried the Wolves' offense having 13 receptions for 154 yards and two touchdowns.

Gordon Status Still Unknown: Steamwheelers quarterback Ronnie Gordon, who left last Saturday's game with a high ankle sprain, will have more tests conducted on Wednesday to determine the severity of the sprain. Preliminary tests on Sunday showed that nothing was broken. Gordon's status is still questionable for this weekend's game.

Three QB's to Manchester: With Ingold keeping all three quarterback's from training camp, he usually moves one of them to the two-man taxi squad. This Saturday night may be slightly different. With the status of starting quarterback Ronnie Gordon uncertain, Ingold has kicked around the idea of including all three quarterbacks on his 19-man traveling roster for this weekend's game. Ingold's final decision must be made by the time the team departs Friday morning for Manchester.

Hewitt Back At It: Offensive specialist Jeff Hewitt proved to the Dallas Desperados of the Arena Football League that they made a big mistake in letting him go. Hewitt opened his third season with the Steamwheelers with four receptions for 104 yards, three going for scores and returned six kickoffs for 192 yards, including two 58-yard returns for touchdowns, and added a missed field goal return of 41 yards. All of the above impressed the media enough to vote him Baby Ruth Real Deal Player of the Game. Apparently the af2 league office took notice as well, as they named him the Offensive Player of the Week.

Upcoming Steamwheelers Appearances: Thursday, April 8, the Steamwheelers staff will be conducting a job shadow day with Prophetstown High School. Students will shadow various Steamwheelers staff members throughout the day and learn how the front office is run. Also on Thursday, April 8, members of the Steamwheelers football team and DeckMate Cheerleading squad will be reading to 4th Grade students at Jordan Catholic School. This Saturday, April 10, the DeckMate Cheerleaders will be present at an event for Phonez Unwired in Bettendorf. Phonz Unwired will be holding a cookout and will have a live remote broadcast by 97 ROCK.

Practice Times: Now that the regular season is in full swing, the Steamwheelers will conduct practice as usual and prepare for the Manchester Wolves for the second straight week. The Steamwheelers will practice Tuesday – Thursday from 5-7 p.m. at MAXSports Complex (formerly Marycrest Events Complex). Friday the team will travel to Manchester, N.H. for their game on Saturday. The team will hold a walkthrough practice on Friday evening at the Verizon Wireless Arena. The best time to reach players is prior to the start of practice and immediately following. Players begin to arrive at MAXSports around 4 p.m.

Travel Plans: The team will depart Friday morning from the Quad City International Airport at 6:20 a.m. They are scheduled to arrive at Chicago's O'Hare Airport at 7:09 a.m. From there they will depart to Boston at 8 a.m. and arrive in Boston at 11:07 (EST). They will then bus to Manchester, N.H. from there. Their return flight departs from Boston on Sunday at 12:24 p.m. and arrives in Chicago at 2 p.m. They then depart from O'Hare at 2:55 p.m. and arrive back in Moline, Ill. at 3:42 p.m.

On the Air: This Saturday's game, as well as every other Steamwheelers game, can be heard on WFXN 1230 AM and KWPC AM 860 with Jim Albracht making the call and John Furlong providing the color commentary. You can also listen to Q106.5's Dwyer and Michaels every morning as they discuss the ‘Wheelers periodically on the "Mornings with Dwyer and Michaels" show that runs from 5:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Also, the "Voice of the Steam" Jim Albracht also hosts "Albracht in the AM" from 5:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. on WOC 1420 AM. Throughout the show he discusses a variety of topics as well as the Steamwheelers. Also, every Sunday night on the NBC affiliate KWQC-TV6 following the 10 p.m. news, sports director Thom Cornelis hosts "Wheeler Watch" which features highlights of the previous weekends game and a discussion with head coach Rich Ingold.

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