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Tampa Bay Storm game notes

February 14, 2006 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Tampa Bay Storm News Release


STORM/PREDATORS PREVIEW
The Tampa Bay Storm (2-1) and the Orlando Predators (2-1) renew one of the AFL's greatest rivalries, the "War on I-4", at the St. Pete Times Forum on Sunday afternoon. The Storm have won 12 consecutive games at home, including a, 54-42, win over the Predators last season during Week 11. Storm QB Shane Stafford completed 26 passes for 262 yards and four touchdowns in the win. OS Freddie Solomon led all Storm receivers with six catches for 75 yards and two touchdowns. The win avenged an earlier Week 3 loss to the Predators. In that loss the Storm were down by three points at halftime, held scoreless in the third quarter and lost 61-46. Stafford threw for seven touchdowns on 20 completions and 278 yards while rushing for another score. The Predators were led by QB Joe Hamilton who completed 13 passes for 173 yards and three touchdowns. He added one touchdown on the ground. Key returnees for the Predators include OS Jimmy Fryzel and FB/LB Idris Price. Key losses in personnel include WR/DB Cory Fleming who is now with the Nashville Kats.

STORM/FORCE RECAP
The Storm defeated the Georgia Force, 61-60, at the St. Pete Times Forum in front of 16,571 fans. Force QB Matt Nagy ran for a touchdown from one yard out as time expired. A failed two point conversion gave the Storm their 12th consecutive victory at home. Stafford completed 26 of 35 passes for 328 yards and five touchdowns. He added one touchdown on the ground. WR/LB Lawrence Samuels led all Storm receivers with 10 catches for 107 yards and two touchdowns. WR/DB Bobby Sippio had his best game thus far as a member of the Storm as he caught eight passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for a score from three yards out and made two stops on defense. The defensive specialist duo of Tramain Jones and Jonathan Ordway led the Storm defense with seven tackles each. Down a point late in the fourth quarter Stafford found WR/DB Lynarise Elpheage for a 30-yard touchdown and Elpheage added a 2-point conversion to give the Storm the eventual win.

We Must Protect This House!
The Storm have not lost a game at the friendly confines of the St. Pete Times Forum in 12 consecutive regular season games dating back to April 18, 2004. The streak is currently the longest in the AFL. The Storm are also 23-5 at home since the 2003 season, including the playoffs.

Last week's, 61-60, victory over the defending National Conference Champion Georgia Force was the closest margin of victory during the streak.

Last season the Storm became one of two teams in AFL history to finish the regular season 8-0 at home. They outscored their opponents, 644-516, averaging a margin of victory of more than 11 points per game.

The league record for consecutive games won at home is 19 by the Orlando Predators (1992-1995).

Greatest Rivalry in the AFL
The Storm and Predators have combined for seven of the AFL's 19 championships. The Storm and Predators have met 37 times overall and the Storm have bested their foes 19 of 18 times. The Predators hold a one-game advantage in seven playoff meetings.

The rivalry also brings with it two of the fiercest competitors in the game, the league's winningest coach in Tim Marcum (176 wins, 5 Championships most all-time) and the winningest quarterback in ArenaBowl history Jay Gruden (Four titles as the Quarterback for the Storm in 1991, 1993, 1995 and 1996). Gruden has also won two championships as Head Coach of the Predators (1998 and 2000). Both Marcum and Gruden are in the AFL Hall-of-Fame.

Stat-ford Keeps The Numbers Rollin'
Shane Stafford is coming off one of the most remarkable seasons in Storm history. He broke season passing records for attempts (631), completions (405), touchdowns (83), yards (4,522) and completion percentage (64.2).

His career totals also benefited from his huge season in 2005. Including this season, he has passed for 11,758 yards and 217 touchdowns, becoming the 2nd QB in Storm history to pass for more than 11,000 yards and throw 200 TD's (Jay Gruden 15,623 yards, 280 TD's).

They Fought The Law and The Law Won
Future AFL Hall-of-Famer and perennial AFL Ironman Lawrence Samuels continues to shatter Storm all-time numbers. Hauling in 10 catches for 107 yards and two touchdowns last week vs. Georgia, the Livingston graduate is now 195 yards from tying the all-time reception yards record by Storm great Stevie Thomas. On defense he tallied two tackles and is now two tackles from breaking the all-time Storm mark for tackles set by Tracey Perkins with 348.

Currently Samuels is tied for fifth in the league with 26 receptions and 14th in the league with 299 yards receiving. He also leads the team with 341 all purpose yards.

Samuels set a Storm record for receptions last season with 123 grabs in 16 games. The previous record was held by Freddie Solomon, who made 106 catches in 2003. Samuels' 166 receiving yards in Week 16 of 2005 versus Columbus were a career high. He also tied his career best of three touchdowns in the game.

Samuels cracked the 100-catch plateau for the first time in his career during last season's Week 14 match up with New Orleans. He finished the 2005 season with 123 receptions, his previous best was 81 in 2004 when he also racked up 951 yards and nine touchdowns. He finished the 2005 campaign with 19 touchdowns to tie his career best for scoring grabs in a season (last accomplished in 2000). He averaged 88.2 receiving yards per game last season. His previous best was 64.8 in 2003.

Take A Sip, You'll Feel Fine...
Bobby Sippio is displaying why he was a highly sought after free-agent in the off season. In three games played he has caught 16 passes for 195 yards and four touchdowns, second on the team in every category.

The Kissimmee, Florida native has made it difficult for opposing quarterbacks to throw near his 6-foot-3 frame. On the season Sippio has made three and a half tackles.

Give Em A Second Look
Ronney Daniels, now in his second season with the Storm, is fitting in quite well into coach Marcum's system. Daniels in three games he has hauled in 14 passes for 119 yards and three touchdowns.

Last season in nine games played Daniels made 22 receptions for 306 yards and eight touchdowns.

In The Market
General Manager/Head Coach Tim Marcum and Director of Player Personnel Dave Ewart were busy during the off-season signing highly sought after free agents WR/LB Bobby Sippio (Dallas), as well as linemen Thaddeus Bullard (Las Vegas) and Buck Gurley (Orlando).

The Storm returned 15 of 20 players from last season. Of the players lost during the off season, two were kicker Matt George and backup QB Stoney Case.

Super Size Me!!!
The average weight of the Storm lineman this season in comparison to last is up nearly 10 pounds (2006 = 287.3 lbs.; 2005 = 277.8). New lineman include Thaddeus Bullard (275 lbs.), Mondre Dickerson (300 lbs.), Buck Gurley (300 lbs.), Aaron Hunt (275 lbs.), A.J. Ricker (295 lbs.) and Greg Taplin (280 lbs.). Bullard and Hunt are currently on IR.

Hey Rook!
Eight players on the 2006 Storm roster are in their first AFL season. The Storm rookies include kicker Bill Gramatica, linemen A.J. Ricker, Mondre Dickerson, Aaron Hunt, Greg Taplin and Kevin Dogins, as well as wide receiver/defensive backs Alphonso Roundtree and Leroy Smith.

Gramatica saw time in the NFL for four seasons with the Arizona Cardinals and Miami Dolphins. Ricker spent time in the Chicago Bears camp in 2005 and Alphonso Roundtree spent three seasons with the Miami Dolphins (2003-05).

In their first three weeks of the season Gramatica has converted on 16-of-19 point after attempts and Taplin, while showing great speed at the defensive end position, has three tackles.

Youth Movement
Tim Marcum football teams are usually veteran laden. This year's team features 11 players on the current 24 man roster with less than three years of experience.

Lynarise Elpheage, Jarrod Penright, Ronney Daniels, and DeMarcus Johnson are key returnees from the 2005 Storm roster with less than three years in the league.

The average age on the team is 28 years, 10 months.

Buck's Back In Town!
Former Tampa Bay Buccaneer lineman Buck Gurley is back in Tampa with the Storm. The University of Florida standout won a Super Bowl ring with the Buccaneers in 2003. In that season he played in eight games for the Bucs and recorded two tackles.

Gurley has spent his last two AFL seasons with the Orlando Predators. This season he has assisted on one tackle and recorded one quarterback hurry.

Ordway Climbs to the Top
Defensive specialist Jonathan Ordway finished the 2005 season second in the AFL in passes defended. He made 29 pass breakups and intercepted six passes. His 29 breakups were second in the league. His six interceptions were tied for fifth in the AFL.

In week one, Ordway intercepted Soul quarterback Tony Graziani at the goal line to keep the Storm in the game. Ordway has seven passes defended this season.

Leading at the Half
The Storm were unstoppable during the 2005 regular season when leading at the half, going 8-0. They are 133-16 all-time when leading after two quarters. Tampa Bay outscored opponents 423-388 in the first half last season, including 254-204 in the second quarter.

This season the Storm have gone into the locker room at halftime trailing in two games and have a record of 1-1. This past week versus Georgia the Storm went into the half leading 30-27 and won.

The Magic Number
The Storm are 47-2 in franchise history when they score 60 points or more. They scored 60 points or more on six separate occasions during the 2005 season and won all contests excluding one loss to the Philadelphia Soul.

This season the Storm has scored 60 points or more on one occasion and won.

Tons of Experience on the Sideline
If there's one thing the Storm coaching staff has, it is Arena Football coaching experience. Headed by Tim Marcum, the AFL's all-time winningest coach, the three-man coaching staff has a total of 37 years of AFL coaching experience entering the season.

Marcum has 18 seasons under his belt, all as a head coach. He enters his 12th season in Tampa Bay, and prior to that served as the head coach of the Detroit Drive and Denver Dynamite. Under his guidance his teams have won seven ArenaBowl titles and have played in 10 of the 18 championship games.

Storm assistant coach Dave Ewart is in his fourth season with the Storm and his 11th season in the AFL. Prior to joining the Storm he served as head coach of the Florida Bobcats. He has also been the head coach of the Texas Terror and St. Louis Stampede and served as an assistant with the Bobcats, Stampede, New England Sea Wolves, and Cleveland
Thunderbolts.

Special teams coach Jimmy Dunn has coached arena football for 10 years. He was the head coach with the Miami Hooters in 1994 and Charleston Swamp Foxes of the arenafootball2 from 2000-2002. Also, he has served as offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Rockers, Miami Hooters, Charlotte Rage and special teams coach for the Orlando Predators.

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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.

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