Sports stats



AFL I Arena Football League (1987-2008)

The Deuce Scoop

April 23, 2003 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I) News Release


AND THE AWARDS GO TO: Week 4 af2 award winners are: Arkansas' RICKY HEBERT (Offensive Player of the Week), Peoria's DAVAREN HIGHTOWER (Ironman of the Week) and Wichita's LEE VAUGHN (ADT Defensive Player).

HOME SWEET HOME: Visiting teams made some headway in Week 4, but the home clubs came out on top, going 8-5 for a .615 winning percentage. So far this season home teams are 28-11 for a .718 win 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
Tulsa 23-3 .885 Won20*
Quad City 23-3 .885 Won 1
Norfolk 21-4 .840 Won 8
Tennessee Valley 20-5 .800 Won 1
Cape Fear 7-2 .777 Won 1
Macon 15-4 .790 Won 3
Albany 7-2 .777 Won 3
Birmingham 19-7 .730 Won 2
Richmond 18-7 .720 Lost 1
Wichita 12-5 .705 Won 1

*Tulsa's 39-37 win over Memphis broke the af2 record for longest regular season home win streak (20 games). The longest overall home win streak (regular season and playoffs) is 25 held by the Quad City Steamwheelers, which completed the span from 2000-2002. Tulsa lost at home in the playoffs last season, meaning its current overall streak is at two games.

POTEETE GOING FOR 1000: Bossier City QB SHERARD POTEETE rushed for 19 yards and four touchdowns in the 62-61 win over Cape Fear last week. For his career, Poteete is the af2's all-time leader in rushing attempts (234), yards gained (789) and touchdowns (55). Poteete can become the af2's first 1,000-yard rusher if he gets 211 more yards.

Game Rushing Yards Career Total Yards to 1,000
WK2 vs. Peoria 74 755 245
WK3 at Birmingham 15 770 230
WK4 vs. Cape Fear 19 789 211

HOMECOMING: The expansion Green Bay Blizzard and Cincinnati Swarm both played its first home games in team history last weekend. The Swarm defense stifled the Charleston Swamp Foxes, holding them to 13 points and earning its first win in team history. The Blizzard, however, were unable to stop a potent Wichita offense and fell to 0-3 on the season. After the Charleston Swamp Foxes host the Birmingham Steeldogs this weekend, all af2 teams will have played at least one game in 2002.

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 4, eight teams broke the 50-point barrier, going 7-1 in those games. Teams under 50 points went 6-12 in Week 4. For the season, teams that score better than 50 are 17-4, while teams under 50 have gone 22-34. Below is a breakdown:

2003 W-L Pct. All-time W-L Pct.
0-19 0-4 .000 0-19 2-71 .027
20-29 1-14 .067 20-29 14-151 .085
30-39 7-11 .389 30-39 81-185 .305
40-49 14-6 .700 40-49 182-166 .523
50-59 10-3 .769 50-59 176-71 .713
60-69 4-1 .800 60-69 137-21 .867
70-79 1-0 1.000 70-79 53-2 .964
80+ 0-0 .000 80+ 23-0 1.000

THE CHASE FOR 500 POINTS: Former Birmingham Steeldog WAYNE THOMAS (606 career points) is the only player in af2 history to ever reach 500 points scored for 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 four points away after scoring 6 points last week against Memphis. 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 496 4
Lennie Johnson, Arkansas 490 10
James Dickerson, Columbus 470 30
Xavier Patterson, Ten. Valley 456 44
Kelly Fields, Ten. Valley 438 62
Jeff Townsley, Richmond 426 74
Brandon Burnside, Florida 424 76
Mesiah Porter, Columbus 410 90
Kevin Harvey, Richmond 394 106

TOP DOG: Last week's win over Birmingham gave Macon head coach KEVIN PORTER his 34th regular season win as an af2 head coach. He is now two ahead of Richmond Speed head coach RICHARD DAVIS and Birmingham head coach BOBBY HUMPHREY who each has 32. TULSA'S SKIP FOSTER another active coach quickly climbing the chart. His regular season record of 29-5 (.853) 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.
Kevin Porter, Macon Fourth 34-17 .666
Richard Davis, Richmond Fourth 32-13 .711
Bobby Humphrey, Birmingham Fourth 32-19 .627
Skip Foster, Tulsa Third 29-5 .853

A STRONG LEG TO STAND ON: Since returning to the Steamwheelers this season, quarterback TONY ZIMMERMAN has showed no ill-effects of the broken leg he suffered last season. In last week's 66-34 win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Zimmerman completed 14-of-23 for 236 yards and six touchdowns. He also rushed for another touchdown in the game. For the season Zimmerman is leading the league in passing yards (871) and passing touchdowns (19), averaging better than six a game, and he is on a pace to break the all-time records for passing yards and touchdowns. JON NIELSON threw for 4,417 yards during the 2000 season and MATT SAUK tossed 86 touchdowns during the 2001 season.

A NOTE-WORTHY ACHEIVEMENT: Tennessee Valley WR/DB REGGIE WORTHY caught two passes for 15 yards in the win over Louisville, eclipsing the 1,000-yard career receiving mark. He now has 196 yards rushing, 1,007 yards receiving. He needs just four yards rushing to become the third player in af2 history to have 200 yards rushing and 1,000 receiving for his career. Below is a chart of the exclusive 200/1,000 club:

Player Rushing Yards Receiving Yards
Kevin Harvey 432 2727
Mesiah Porter 371 1660

Reggie Worthy 196 1,007

HOW QUICKLY THINGS CHANGE: The Mohegan Wolves, Columbus Wardogs and Greensboro Prowlers all finished with four or less wins in 2002. Through two weeks of this early season, the teams are a combined 7-2 (Mohegan 3-0, Columbus 2-1, Greensboro 2-1).

PARITY RULES: Through Week 4 of the 2003 season, 13 of the 39 (33.3%) games played have been decided by seven or fewer points, which equates to nearly a two percent increase from last season's average. In addition, only five teams remain undefeated, compared to ten at this point last season. There are also only five teams still winless in 2003, compared to 10 through Week 4 of the 2002 season.

RUSHING INTO THE RECORD BOOK: The Bossier City Battle Wings used seven rushing touchdowns in the 62-61 win over Cape Fear, matching a league record for most rushing touchdowns in a single game set by the Battle Wings on July 6 of last season. The team used runs of one, one, four, six, four, three and six-yards to tally the touchdowns.

PRENTISS CAN'T MISS: Memphis offensive specialist KEVIN PRENTISS was spectacular for the Xplorers at Tulsa last week, catching 13 passes for 199 yards and three touchdowns. Prentiss currently is tied for second in af2 with 48 points, tied for third with 8.0 receptions per game, and fourth with 110 yards receiving per contest. His 13 receptions against Tulsa tied the 2003 af2 single game high, and the 199 yards receiving is the second best total in a single game this season.

ALL THEY DO IS CATCH TOUCHDOWNS: Bakersfield wide receiver COREY MCCOY and Mohegan offensive specialist MEL LONG both tallied three touchdowns on four catches last week. Arkansas' LENNIE JOHNSON recorded three scores on five catches.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE 2-0? Last year it meant you had an 80% chance of making the playoffs, as 8 of 10 teams that started 2-0 went on to appear in the postseason. Of the seven teams that went 3-0 to start the 2002 season, six made the postseason cut. In 2001, 5 of the 9 teams that started 2-0 made the postseason and in 2000 all 4 of the teams that began 2-0 ended up in the playoffs.*

2002 Teams that started 2-0 (record season record)
Albany (13-3) Playoffs
Augusta (13-3) Playoffs
Bakersfield (9-7) Playoffs
Cape Fear (13-3) Playoffs
Florida (9-7) Playoffs
Macon (13-3) Playoffs
Richmond (12-4) Playoffs
Tennessee Valley (13-3) Playoffs
Charleston (7-9)
Memphis (5-11)

2003 Teams that started 2-0 (current record)
Macon (3-0)
Mohegan (3-0)
Tennessee Valley (3-0)
Tulsa (3-0)
Albany (2-1)
Birmingham (2-1)
Columbus (2-1)
Hawaii (2-1)
San Diego (2-1)
*The above figures do not include the Quad City Steamwheelers, who did start 3-0 in 2002 but were ineligible for the postseason.



Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from April 23, 2003


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.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central