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Tampa Bay Game Notes

June 6, 2007 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Tampa Bay Storm News Release


TAMPA BAY - PHILADELPHIA PREVIEW

In a battle to earn a home playoff game the Tampa Bay Storm take on the Philadelphia Soul Saturday, June 9 on Bill Currie Ford Field at the St. Pete Time Forum on Kid's Night Out (7:30 p.m. EST). This is a big game as both teams need a victory to not only stay in the playoff hunt but to earn a home playoff game in the first round.

Both teams suffered a tough losing streak this season yet each team found a way to bounce back and climb back into the standings. Tampa Bay has ridden the arm of rookie quarterback Brett Dietz while Philadelphia regained its swagger after quarterback Tony Graziani returned from an injury.

Tampa Bay's offensive line will have to play well as it faces the third rated pass rush in the AFL. The Storm offensive line has played better of late after starting the season riddled with injuries.

It is important that Storm receiver Hank Edwards build off of his stellar debut in New Orleans. The Tampa Bay receiving corps faces one of the top defensive players in the League this week in All-Arena performer Eddie Moten. He is the heart and soul of the Philadelphia defense as he leads the team in tackles (74) and interceptions (8).

Moten's counterpart on the Storm is Jeroid Johnson. He is the leader of the Tampa Bay defensive backfield and leads the Storm in tackles (80.5) and interceptions (8). Johnson must play well as he faces a wily veteran quarterback in Graziani and an explosive receiver in Charles Pauley.

Pauley is a speedy receiver that made his way onto the Philadelphia roster after arriving as a two-day tryout guy. A dual threat, returning and receiving, Pauley currently is sixth in the AFL with 1965 all-purpose yards.

The Storm defensive line will have to generate a good push in order to get to Graziani. Philadelphia's offensive line has only given up eight sacks all season. Tim McGill must duplicate his effort last week against the New Orleans VooDoo in order for the line to have success.

Lawrence Samuels looks to extend his league leading consecutive games with a catch streak to 117 games and to move into sixth place on the AFL's all-time career receiving yardage chart.

2007 Storm Season Schedule/Results

Tampa Bay Storm (6-7)

Date, Opponent, Result/Time

3/1, ORLANDO, L, 27-52

3/10, at Dallas, L, 40-59

3/17, GEORGIA, L, 47-61

3/23, NEW YORK, L, 52-59

3/31, at San Jose, L, 49-69

4/7, NEW ORLEANS, W, 66-43

4/14, at Orlando, L, 37-61

4/29, COLUMBUS, W, 34-32

5/6, at Austin, W, 66-45.

5/12, at Los Angeles, W, 40-37

5/18, ARIZONA, W, 59-50

5/26, at Georgia, L, 38-52

6/2, at New Orleans, W, 61-55

6/9, PHILADELPHIA, 7:30 p.m.

6/16, at Grand Rapids, 7:00 p.m.

6/23, AUSTIN, 7:30 p.m.

* All times Eastern subject to change

SERIES HISTORY

All-Time: Soul 2-1

Regular Season: Soul 2-1

Playoffs: Never Met

Last Meeting: 1/29/06 L, 34-52

HEAD COACHES

Tampa Bay: Tim Marcum

(19th season, 187-84, .690)

Philadelphia: Brett Munsey

(2nd season, 16-15, .516)

TAMPA BAY -NEW ORLEANS RECAP

Tampa Bay defeated New Orleans 61-55 to sweep the season series as the Storm garnered its first ever victory in New Orleans. Tampa Bay was up by 20 entering the fourth quarter and fought hard to hold off a valiant effort by the VooDoo. A key field goal by Seth Marler with 0:05 left on the clock sealed the victory for Tampa Bay as a desperation heave by VooDoo quarterback Steve Bellisari fell incomplete. Ironman of the Game Lawrence Samuels had a solid game with five tackles, seven receptions for 66 yards and a touchdown. He moved into seventh place all-time on the AFL all-time receiving yards list surpassing Greg Hopkins and continued his consecutive games with a catch streak to 116 games. ADT Defensive Player of the Game Jeroid Johnson came up with a big interception in the endzone that helped the Storm surge ahead and take a 20 point lead at the half. Quarterback Brett Dietz was named Offensive Player of the Game for his effort and AFL Offensive Player of the Week. He had a passer rating of 149.3 after a 23 of 30 effort with 315 yards and eight touchdowns. Rookie receiver Hank Edwards made his AFL debut in place of T.T. Toliver. Edwards helped Tampa Bay stretch the field with his 134 yard, three touchdown performance on eight receptions. Terrill Shaw collected a season and team-high four touchdown receptions as both he and Edwards eclipsed the 100-yard receiving mark. Lineman Tim McGill continued as a disruptive force on the defensive side of the ball. He accumulated three tackles, two for a loss, one forced fumble and one sack to go along with six pressures.

TAMPA BAY - PHILADELPHIA

All-Time Team Records

Tampa Bay

Overall: 170-91, (.650)

Home: 91-39, (.700)

Away: 76-51, (.595)

Neutral: 3-1, (.750)

Philadelphia

Overall: 26-35, (.426)

Home: 15-15, (.500)

Away: 11-20, (.355)

Neutral: 0-0, (.000)

Last Meeting: 2006 - @ Philadelphia 1/29/06, L, 34-52

Tampa Bay began the season 2006 season with a 52-34 loss in what was Brett Munsey's first game as a head coach ... Assistant Coach Dave Ewart filled in for Head Coach Tim Marcum as interim head coach as Marcum served the first game of a two-game suspension ... Tampa Bay was held scoreless in both the second and fourth quarter ... The Storm had gone 17 consecutive quarters with out getting shutout ... The loss dropped the Franchise to 13-7 in season openers and 10-6 in Tampa Bay ... Tony Graziani earned Offensive Player of the Game honors with 19 of 34 performance for 283 yards with three touchdown and one interception, he also rushed for one score ... Shane Stafford was 23 of 42 for 285 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions ... Lawrence Samuels and Bobby Sippio each scored a touchdown ... Philadelphia recorded the only sack of the game ... Tampa Bay went 0-3 on FG attempts and Philadelphia went 1-3 ... The Storm converted 3 of 8 third downs, the Soul converted 6 of 11 ... Tampa Bay was 1 of 3 on fourth down conversions and Philadelphia was 1 for 1 ... The Soul out gained the Storm with 333 yards of total offense to 286.

SERIES HISTORY

This is the 4th meeting and second game in Tampa ... The Storm trail the regular season series 2-1 ... The two teams have not met in the playoffs ... Tampa Bay is 1-0 against the Soul in Tampa ... The Storm won the first meeting 40-37 in Tampa 2/29/04 ... The Storm have a two game losing streak against the Soul, as the Soul have one victory in each of the past two seasons against Tampa Bay ... Tampa Bay have never won in Philadelphia ... The home team has won each game in this series ...The Soul have outscored the Storm 158-137 in the series ... This is Coach Marcum's third game against Philadelphia, he is 1-1 versus the Soul ... This is Coach Munsey's second game against Tampa Bay with Philadelphia, he is 1-0 versus the Storm ... Marcum faced Munsey while Munsey was an assistant at Orlando from 2003-05 and while Munsey was with Carolina in 2002, Marcum was 5-4 in those games ... Tampa Bay averaged 45.7 points a game, 40 in its win and 48.5 per loss ... Philadlephia averaged 52.7 a game, 60.5 per win and 37 in its loss ... Two games were decided by 7 or fewer points, Tampa Bay is 1-1 in those games ... One game was decided by 15 or more points, Tampa Bay lost that game ... Tampa Bay won its only game by three while losing the other two by margins of 3 and 18 ...16,844 fans is the largest crowd to watch a Tampa Bay-Philadelphia game 2/29/04 in Tampa ... 16,542 fans is the largest crowd to watch this match-up in Philadelphia 3/20/05 ... Tampa Bay's 30th highest scoring game, 63 points, came against the Soul in Philadelphia 3/20/05 ... Philadelphia is tied for the 3rd highest points scored by an opponent against Tampa Bay with 69 in Philadelphia 3/20/05 ... Philadelphia's third highest single-game rushing total (50) came against the Storm 1/29/06 ... Tampa Bay has the fifth highest single-game passing yards (343) allowed by the Soul 3/20/05 ... Only one team has completed more passes against the Soul in a single game than the Storm completed (31) 3/20/05, that was accomplished this season by Kansas City with 36 completions.

STORM FAMILY TIES

Receiver Terrill Shaw played five games with the Soul from 2004-05 ... The Soul team ambassador Keita Crespina played in Tampa Bay from 2002-03 ...Tony Graziani and Jeroid Johnson were teammates in 2004 with the Avengers ... Felipe Claybrooks and Mark Word were each members of the Cleveland Browns from 2001-2003 ... Jason Davis and B.J. Symons were teammates in 2004 with the Houston Texans ... Idris Price and Jeroid Johnson were teammates with Orlando in 2006 ...Charles Pauley and Jeroid Johnson were teammates in 2005 with the Chicago Rush ... Raheem Orr and B.J. Symons were in the same Houston Texan's draft class in 2004 ... J.J. McKelvey, Todd France, Larry Brackins and Phil Bogle all spent time in Tampa with the Buccaneers.

LAST TIME VS. THE SOUL

QUARTERBACK

Brett Dietz - Will start his sixth consecutive game, first against Philadelphia ... Has a 119.0 QB rating ... QB rating leads all AFL rookie quarterbacks and is eighth in the AFL ... Completion Percentage is 68.7, tied for 6th highest in league and tops amongst rookie quarterbacks ... Storm is 5-1 since Dietz joined the lineup ... Tied a career high and Franchise high 8 touchdowns at New Orleans 6/2.

B.J. Symons - Rookie will dress for his sixth game ... Has not seen any action this season.

RECEIVERS

Lawrence Samuels - Fourth career game vs. Soul ... Awarded Offensive Player of Game, Ironman of Game and Game MVP vs. Soul 2/29/04 ... In that game he had 9 receptions for 149 yards and 1 TD, 1 interception for 8 yards, 2 tackles and 1 fumble recovery ... In 3 career games against the Soul, has 21 receptions for 254 yards and 3 TDs, 8 tackles, one interception and one fumble recovered ... Last week surpassed Greg Hopkins to move into 7th AFL all-time with 10,314 career receiving yards.

Terrill Shaw - Former member of Philadelphia Soul ... Played two games for the Soul in 2004 and three games in 2005 ... Career totals as member of Soul are 18 receptions for 142 yards and 1 TD and 5 tackles ... Waived by Soul in 2005 and picked up by Dallas ... As member of Las Vegas Gladiators Shaw had 3 receptions for 46 yards and one TD at Philadelphia 5/8/04 ... While with Dallas he had 2 receptions for 12 yards and 1 pass breakup vs. Soul 5/22/05 ... In four career games against Soul has totaled 14 receptions for 141 yards and 4 TDs, 2 tackles and 1 pass breakup .

Hank Edwards - Rookie's second career game, first career start ... Had 8 receptions for 134 yards and three touchdowns in AFL debut.

Karl Williams - Rookie's first game against the Soul ... Has season totals of 6 receptions for 63 yards and 1 TD, 32 kickoff returns for 526 yards and 2 tackles ... Made first career start past week against New Orleans.

FULLBACKS

Torrance Marshall - Second career game against Soul ... As an Austin Wrangler he had 2 rushes for 4 yards and 2.5 tackles at Soul 3/31/06.

Marvin Brown - Third career game ... First game came as a member of the Soul vs Nashville 2/13/05 ... He had 2 rushes for 5 yards and 1 TD and 1.5 tackles.

DEFENSIVE BACKS

Jeroid Johnson - Second career game against Philadelphia ... On 2/6/05 had 3.5 tackles, 1 tackle for 1 yard loss, 1 pass breakup and 1 kickoff return for 4 yards as a member of the Chicago Rush.

Khalid Naziruddin - Rookie will play 11th consecutive game and first against Philadelphia ... Led team last week at New Orleans with 8 tackles ... Season totals of 60.5 tackles and 2 interceptions for 46 yards.

Traco Rachal - First career game vs. Philadelphia ... Had 6 tackles last week at New Orleans... Has 45.5 tackles and 1 interception on the season.

Ronald 'Bo' Rogers - First career game vs. Soul ... Rookie has made an impact with special teams play and has earned more playing time in the defensive backfield ... Made first career start against VooDoo last week ... 17.5 tackles on the season.

LINEMAN

Marcus Owen - Seventh career game against Philadelphia ... Previous 6 games came as a member of the New York Dragons ... Career totals vs. the Soul include 6.5 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss of 3 yards, 1 QB hurry, 1 pass breakup and 1 blocked kick.

Tom Briggs - In two career games vs. Philadelphia he accumulated 3.5 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, 2 QB hurries and also chipped in with 1 reception for 5 yards ... Both games came as a member of the Austin Wranglers.

Ernest Certain - Has played Philadelphia three times and accumulated 5.5 tackles, 1 tackle for 1 yard loss and 1 fumble recovery ... Added two passes for five yards on offense.

Tim McGill - This is his first game against Philadelphia ... Collected 3 tackles, 2 for a loss, one forced fumble and a sack at New Orleans last week.

Lincoln Kennedy - Rookie is making his 7th career start ... First game against Soul.

Tom Kaleita - Rookie's first game against the Soul ... Was inactive vs. VooDoo.

Mark Word - Rookie's first game against the Soul ... Third among rookie lineman in fumble recoveries.

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