AFL I Arena Football League (1987-2008)

The Deuce Scoop

Published on April 2, 2003 under Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I) News Release


ATTENDANCE UP vs. 2002: af2 attendance is up 33% over last year's final regular season average. Highlighted by a 10,229 draw in Louisville, the average attendance for Week 1 totaled 6,189, compared to a 4,653 average over the 2002 season. Plus, attendance is up almost 40% over the Week 1 average from 2002, which consisted of two games with an average attendance of 4,438.

AND THE AWARDS GO TO: Week 1 af2 award winners are: Tulsa's CRAIG STRICKLAND (Offensive Player of the Week), San Diego's MARTY GRAHAM (Ironman of the Week) and Louisville's ARKEE THOMPSON (ADT Defensive Player).

CLASS OF 2003: The Green Bay Blizzard and Cincinnati Swarm both played game No. 1 in team history this past weekend. While both teams suffered losses, there were some bright spots. For Green Bay, who lost to Hawaii 48-37, QB RYAN AULENBACHER led the league with 267 yards passing. He completed 21-of-33 with no interceptions and threw four touchdowns. Two of those scores went to WR/DB NICK JOHNSON, who led the league with eight receptions and was third best with 103 receiving yards. For the Swarm who dropped their opener 36-25 to Louisville, WR/DB JAMES SCOTT was fourth best in the league with 101 receiving yards. He had seven total receptions and one score. Despite the loss, the Swarm offense actually out-gained the Fire 207 to 188 yards.

HOME SWEET HOME: Home teams dominated in Week 1, going 4-1 for a .800 winning percentage. In 2002 home teams went 157-113 throughout the regular season for a .585 win percentage. The table below shows the best all-time home winning percentages among current af2 teams.

Regular Season At Home Record Pct. Streak
Quad City 22-2 .917 Won 3
Tulsa 21-3 .875 Won 18*
Norfolk 20-4 .833 Won 7
Tennessee Valley 19-5 .792 Lost 1
Richmond 18-6 .750 Won 3
Birmingham 17-7 .708 Lost 1
Macon 12-4 .750 Lost 1
Cape Fear 6-2 .750 Lost 1
Albany 6-2 .750 Won 2
Bakersfield 5-3 .625 Lost 1
*Tulsa's 18-game home winning streak is the second longest in af2 history. If they win their next home game (vs. Wichita 4/12/03) they will tie Quad City for the longest regular season home winning streak ever.

MASON BUILDING A SOLID FOUNDATION: WR/DB NORMAN MASON wasted no time adjusting to his new digs in Louisville. The former Cape Fear Wildcat tied a team record with four touchdowns in the Fire's 36-25 win over the expansion Cincinnati Swarm. Mason caught three strikes and returned an interception for the other score. He also kept the Fire in good field position all night, returning four kicks for 110 yards. Mason led the league in scoring (24 pts) and all-purpose yards (213 yds) for Week 1 and he garnered MVP and Ironman honors in the game against the Swarm. This weekend Mason faces his old foes, as the Fire heads to Cape Fear for the first-ever meeting between the teams.

THE BIG '5-0': In the high-scoring sport of Arena Football, reaching the 50-point mark typically serves as a good indicator of team success. In 2002, teams went 156-39 (80 percent) when they scored 50 or more points in a game. Whereas, they went 116-233 (33 percent) when they didn't get 50 points. In Week 1 of this season only one team broke the 50-point mark. Below is a breakdown:

2003 W-L Pct. All-time W-L Pct.
0-19 0-0 .000 0-19 2-67 .029
20-29 0-2 .000 20-29 13-139 .086
30-39 1-3 .250 30-39 75-177 .298
40-49 3-0 1.000 40-49 171-160 .517
50-59 1-0 1.000 50-59 165-68 .708
60-69 0-0 .000 60-69 133-20 .869
70-79 0-0 .000 70-79 52-2 .963
80+ 0-0 .000 80+ 23-0 1.000

THE CHASE FOR 500 POINTS: WAYNE THOMAS (606 career points) is the only player in af2 history to reach 500 points scored in his career. This season a few more players may join that list. Tulsa's MITCH ALLNER should be the first to do it, as he is just 10 points away after scoring 12 points in the season opener at Peoria last week. Below is a breakdown of the active players looking to join the 500 club.

Name/Team Points Pts. needed
Wayne Thomas (BIR, 2000-02) 606 -
Mitch Allner, Tulsa 490 10
Lennie Johnson, Arkansas 466 34
Xavier Patterson, Ten. Valley 450 50
James Dickerson, Columbus 446 54
Kelly Fields, Ten. Valley 438 62
Jeff Townsley, Richmond 414 86
Brandon Burnside, Florida 412 88
Mesiah Porter, Columbus 398 102
Kevin Harvey, Richmond 394 106

TURN-AROUND IN COLUMBUS? A quick look at the list above shows that two of the nine guys listed are assigned to Columbus this season. Adding proven scorers like JAMES DICKERSON and MESIAH PORTER should help the Wardogs improve from the squad that averaged only 38.8 points per game (29th in the league) and had four wins last season. Combined in 2002, Porter and Dickerson averaged 22 points per game for the Tallahassee Thunder.

TOP DOG: Richmond Speed head coach RICHARD DAVIS is the all-time af2 leader in regular season wins with 32. TULSA'S SKIP FOSTER, Birmingham's BOBBY HUMPHREY and Macon's KEVIN PORTER are three other active af2 coaches also closing in on Davis. Foster's regular season record of 27-5 (.844) makes him the coach with best all-time winning percentage among active af2 head coaches. Below is a breakdown of the all-time regular season wins leaders among af2 head coaches.

Head Coach Season Record PCT.
Richard Davis, Richmond Fourth 32-11 .744
Kevin Porter, Macon Fourth 31-17 .646
Bobby Humphrey, Birmingham Fourth 30-18 .625
Skip Foster, Tulsa Third 27-5 .844

A 'MAJOR' DEBUT: QB MAJOR HARRIS makes his af2 debut Saturday when the Swamp Foxes take on the Nighthawks in Norfolk. Harris, out of football since the mid 1990's, is the fifth leading rusher in AFL history with 832 yards gained. The two-time Heisman Trophy finalist threw for a WVU record 7,334 yards in only three seasons and became one of only four players in NCAA history to surpass the 2,000/4,000 yards-combined plateau and is one of two quarterbacks to surpass the 2,000/5,000 yard marks in a career.

BIRMINGHAM WELCOMES FRESHMEN: The Birmingham Steeldogs open the season against the first-year Cincinnati Swarm Friday night. In the Steeldogs' three-year history they are 12-1 all-time against expansion teams. The lone blemish was a road loss to Baton Rouge in the 2001 season.

ARE YOU EXPERIENCED? The Tennessee Valley Vipers' roster features 11 guys with some sort of AFL experience, including QB MATT SAUK who spent last season with the AFL's Los Angeles Avengers. Sauk, who was with the Vipers in 2001, holds the af2 record for most touchdown passes in a single season with 86.

HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL: It's doubtful that QB BRYAN SNYDER carries business cards with that slogan, but he could. Snyder has seen his fair share of af2 teams, having spent time with Tennessee Valley, Peoria, Jacksonville and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. This season he's landed in Cape Fear. The three-year veteran is among af2's best, having thrown for 7,118 yards (5th all-time) and 131 touchdowns (4th all-time). Last year in Wilkes Barre/Scranton, Snyder threw for 2,271 yards and 48 touchdowns. His best season was 2000 with Tennessee Valley, as he led the team to the ArenaCup game, tossing for 3,838 yards and 61 touchdowns in that season.

WE HARDLY KNEW YOU: The Memphis Xplorers were set to start QB CLEO LEMON this Saturday against Columbus, but on Tuesday the team announced that Lemon had been tendered a contract by the NFL's San Diego Chargers. The 6-2, 226-pound Lemon is Arkansas State's all-time leader in passing yardage (7,706 yards) and career touchdown passes (48). He also owns ASU single-game (403) and single-season (2,721) records for passing yardage. Lemon signed an NFL free agent contract with the Green Bay Packers in April of 2001. He later spent time in NFL Europe and most recently attended training camp with the Baltimore Ravens. To make up for the loss, Xplorers' coach DANTON BARTO acquired QB WES COUNTS from Tennessee Valley in a trade. Counts, who would have started for the Vipers had MATT SAUK not returned, played ten games for the Vipers in 2002, throwing for 1,793 yards and 30 touchdowns, with only five interceptions.

WHO NEEDS PASSING? Evidentially not the Hawaiian Islanders. In the Islanders' short history, they are 5-2 when the team rushes for 50 or more yards. In last weekend's season opening win against Green Bay, the team totaled 55 rushing yards.

THESE GUYS NEED PASSING: Last year Albany's COREY HILL set a professional football record with 161 receptions. Rochester OS MARTINO THEUS tied the old mark with 160 catches. The two Northeast division foes are set to go at it again in 2003, as both have returned to their respective teams for the season.

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Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from April 2, 2003


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