AFL I Arena Football League (1987-2008)

The Deuce Scoop

Published on May 14, 2003 under Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I) News Release


AND THE AWARDS GO TO: Week 7 award winners are: Quad City's IRA GOOCH (Offensive Player of the Week), Tennessee Valley's RONNEY DANIELS (Ironman of the Week) and Albany's JOHN STUART (ADT Defensive Player).

WHO'S IN FIRST OUT WEST? When the Wichita Stealth battles the Hawaiian Islanders this weekend, we'll find out for sure as both teams enter the game 4-2. For those who can't wait, the Stealth currently holds the tie-breaker edge over Hawaii because they beat the Islanders in Week 6.

HOME SWEET HOME: Home teams went 7-6 in Week 7 for a .538 winning percentage. So far this season, home teams are 50-27 for a .649 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 Home Record Pct. Streak
Quad City 24-3 .888 Won 2
Tulsa 24-3 .888 Won21*
Cape Fear 9-2 .818 Won 3
Norfolk 22-5 .815 Won 1
Tennessee Valley 21-5 .808 Won 2
Macon 16-4 .800 Won 4
Albany 7-2 .777 Won 3
Richmond 20-7 .741 Won 2
Birmingham 19-8 .704 Lost 1
Wichita 14-6 .700 Lost 1

*Tulsa's 65-38 win over San Diego last weekend broke the af2 record for longest regular season home win streak. The longest overall home win streak (regular season and playoffs) is 25 held by the Quad City Steamwheelers, which spanned from 2000-2002. Tulsa lost at home in the playoffs last season, meaning its current overall streak is at three games.

MAJOR IMPROVEMENT: Last week kicker BRETT MAJORS made his af2 debut with the Pirates. In the game he was a perfect 5-for-5 on PATS and respectable 2-for-4 on field goals.

POTEETE GOING FOR 1000: Bossier City QB SHERARD POTEETE rushed for 20 yards and two touchdowns in the 66-55 loss to Tennessee Valley last week. For his career, Poteete is the af2's all-time leader in rushing attempts (254), yards gained (853) and touchdowns (60). Poteete can become the af2's first 1,000-yard rusher if he gets 147 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
WK5 at Arkansas 21 810 190
WK6 at Tennessee Valley 23 833 167
WK7 vs. Tennessee Valley 20 853 147

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 162-40 (80 percent) when they scored 50 or more points in a game. Whereas, they went 125-247 (34 percent) when they didn't get 50 points. In Week 7, nine teams broke the 50-point barrier, going 7-2 in those games. Teams under 50 points went 6-11 in Week 7. For the season, teams that score better than 50 are 40-12, while teams under 50 have gone 37-65. Below is a breakdown:

2003 W-L Pct. All-time W-L Pct.
0-19 0-5 .000 0-19 2-73 .027
20-29 1-16 .059 20-29 15-157 .087
30-39 15-25 .375 30-39 92-205 .310
40-49 21-19 .525 40-49 194-182 .516
50-59 26-11 .703 50-59 193-80 .707
60-69 13-1 .929 60-69 148-21 .876
70-79 1-0 1.000 70-79 54-2 .964
80+ 0-0 .000 80+ 23-0 1.000

THE CHASE FOR 500 POINTS: Two weeks ago, Arkansas' LENNIE JOHNSON and Tulsa's MITCH ALLNER joined former Birmingham Steeldog WAYNE THOMAS (606 career points) as the only players in af2 history to reach 500 points scored for their career. Johnson did it with a 15-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter against Macon, and Allner eclipsed 500 with 30-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter at Memphis. Below is a breakdown of the other active players looking to join the 500 club.

Name/Team Points Pts. Needed
Wayne Thomas (BIR, 2000-02) 606 -
Mitch Allner, Tulsa 528 -
Lennie Johnson, Arkansas 502 -

James Dickerson, Columbus 482 18
Xavier Patterson, Ten. Valley 456 44
Kelly Fields, Ten. Valley 438 62
Brandon Burnside, Florida 424 76
Mesiah Porter, Columbus 416 84

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 year. In last week's 62-56 win over Wichita, Zimmerman completed 24-of-35 passes for 325 yards and seven touchdowns. For the season Zimmerman is leading the league in passing yards (1,716) and passing touchdowns (34), averaging 5.7 a game, and he is on a pace to challenge 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. Zimmerman is on pace for 4,576 passing yards and 91 touchdowns. Zimmerman has only thrown two interceptions, giving him a 17:1 touchdown/interception ratio.

PARITY RULES: In Week 7, 6-of-13 games were decided by seven points or less. For the season, 34 of the 77 (44.2%) games played have been decided by seven or fewer points, which equates to nearly a 13 percent increase from last season's average and an 16 percent increase from the all-time average. In addition, only one team remains undefeated, compared to three at this point last season. There is also only one team still winless in 2003, compared to three through Week 7 of the 2002 season.

SCORING MACHINES: Wichita's MICHAEL DRITLEIN and Memphis' KEVIN PRENTISS have begun to pull away from the field in the chase for the all-time af2 scoring record. Through Week 7, Dritlein has 116 points to Prentiss' 114. The all-time record for scoring in a single season is 284 points by SHON KING during the 2000 season. Below is an update of the current af2 scoring leaders.

Name - Team GP Points Projected Total
Michael Dritlein - WIC 6 116 309
Kevin Prentiss - MEM 6 114 304
Cainon Lamb - FLO 6 92 245
Jacques Rumph - MAC 6 90 240
Jeff Hewitt - QUA 6 90 240

IN THE CLUTCH: Two weeks ago, Birmingham kicker RHETT GALLEGO connected on a 47-yarder at the buzzer to send the Steeldogs and Firecats to overtime where he split the uprights again, from 35-yards away, to win the game. Last week Birmingham got a taste of their own medicine as Louisville kicker MARC SAMUEL hit a 26-yard field goal as time expired to push the Fire past the Steeldogs 40-37.

UNDEFEATED VIPERS: The Tennessee Valley Vipers are af2's only undefeated team (5-0) and if they win this week to go to 6-0 and equal a mark set each of the previous two seasons. The Vipers started the 2001 and 2002 seasons 6-0, but have never gone 7-0 in team history.

RECORD-SETTING NIGHT, AGAIN: Two Saturdays ago, at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton the Albany Conquest set a team scoring record with 68 points. Last Saturday at Cincinnati they bettered that mark by one, beating the Swarm 69-35. If the Conquest break 60 points again this week, it'll be only the 13th time in league history that a team has scored 60 or more points in three consecutive games. The longest streak of scoring at least 60 points in consecutive games is six games, set by the Quad City Steamwheelers in 2000. Of the nine teams involved in a streak of scoring 60 or more points in three or more consecutive games, only one (Bossier City - 2002) did not make the postseason the season they accomplished the streak. Below is a look of the all-time longest streaks of teams scoring 60 or more points in consecutive games.

Team Streak Point Totals Dates
Quad City 6 games 62, 76, 65, 103, 70, 61 May 6 - June 9, 2000
Peoria 5 games 81, 60, 72, 67, 64 May 10 - June 8, 2002
Quad City 5 games 78, 82, 74, 65, 85 June 16 - July 14, 2001
Quad City 5 games 70, 62, 73, 82, 67 June 30 - July 29, 2000
Tulsa 4 games 70, 85, 73, 63 May 4 - June 1, 2002
Richmond 4 games 68, 72, 62, 75 April 8 - April 27, 2002
Six other teams 3 games

----------------------- ----------------------------

SMITH'S PICKS: Charleston defensive specialist DEMONT SMITH tallied one interception in the Swamp Foxes' win over Florida last Saturday, earning ADT Defensive Player of the Game honors in the process. This season, Smith has intercepted eight passes, including two games in which he nabbed three picks. His eight picks for the season puts him on a pace to eclipse the single season mark of 15, set last year by KELLY SNELL. Through Week 7, Smith is on a pace for a 21-interception season.

GRAHAM GOES FOR A GRAND: With 71 receiving yards this weekend against the Swarm, MARTY GRAHAM will become the first San Diego Riptide player to reach 1,000 career-receiving yards.

GIVE 'EM A BREAK ALREADY: The expansion Green Bay Blizzard has gone 0-5 this season, but to their credit they've faced some tough teams, including the defending champion Pirates, who needed the full 60 minutes to beat the Blizzard last weekend. The five teams the Blizzard has played are a combined 18-12 and three of those teams sit in first or in a tie for first in their division. This week the Blizzard plays the Quad City Steamwheelers, another first-place team.

WHAT A RUSH: Hawaiian Islanders' Fullback/Linebacker JOSH WHITE rushed for five touchdowns last week against Bakersfield tying an af2 record for most rushing touchdowns in a game. Two other players have rushed for five scores in a single game, including White's teammate QB DARNELL ARCENEAUX, who did it against the same Bakersfield squad last season.

BREAKING OUT: Ever since quarterback BOB BEES left the Speed for the AFL, Richmond has been searching for a capable replacement. They may have found it in ROY JOHNSON, who last week completed 18-of-25 for 219 yards and eight touchdowns in the Speed's 62-43 win over Rochester. In his 46 game career with Richmond, Bees passed for seven touchdowns in a single game four times, and connected on eight scoring strikes one time in the 2001 playoffs.

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from May 14, 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