The Deuce Scoop

Published on June 11, 2003 under Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I) News Release

AND THE AWARDS GO TO: Week 11 award winners are: Charleston's JOHNNY TURMAN (Offensive Player of the Week), Cape Fear's WILMONT PERRY (Ironman of the Week) and Tennessee Valley's KENNY BAILEY (ADT Defensive Player).

HOME SWEET HOME: Home teams went 10-3 in Week 11, continuing their season-long dominance. So far this season, home teams are 81-46 for a .638 win percentage. In 2002 home teams went 157-113 throughout the regular season for a .585 win percentage. The table below shows the best regular season home winning percentages of all-time among active teams.

Regular Season at Home Record Pct. Streak
Tulsa 27-3 .900 Won24*
Quad City 26-3 .897 Won 4
Cape Fear 10-2 .833 Won 4
Tennessee Valley 24-5 .828 Won 5
Albany 9-2 .818 Won 5
Macon 17-4 .810 Won 5
Norfolk 22-6 .786 Lost 1
Birmingham 21-8 .724 Won 2
Richmond 20-8 .714 Lost 1
Wichita 15-6 .714 Won 1

*Tulsa's 63-57 win over Peoria in Week 11 extended their af2-record regular season home win streak to 24 games. 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 six games.

MORE NEWS FROM THE HOMEFRONT: Of the six teams undefeated at home in 2003, five of them are in first place in their respective divisions. Tulsa (6-0), Tennessee Valley (5-0), Hawaii (5-0), Cape Fear (4-0) and Albany (3-0) represent the first place teams with perfect home records, while Macon (5-0) is the only undefeated home team not leading a division. Midwest Division leading Quad City (4-1) is the only first-place team not undefeated at home this season.

NOT ALL TEAMS LOSE ON THE ROAD: The Tennessee Valley Vipers have gone 19-1 since 2001 on the road, which is the best road record in af2 during that span. If they win their remaining four road games, they'll become the first team to record undefeated road records in more than one season. The Vipers went 8-0 on the road in 2001. The Albany Conquest has the next best road record with a 12-2 all-time mark on the road. Below is a look at af2's best road records this season.

Team 2003 Road Record Pct. Streak (regular season)
Tennessee Valley 4-0 1.000 Won 8
Albany 5-1 .833 Won 4
Quad City 4-1 .800 Won 4
Tulsa 3-1 .750 Won 2

THE PERFECT HISS: The Tennessee Valley Vipers cruised to a 66-31 win over Wichita on Saturday, improving to 9-0 for the season. The Vipers, the only undefeated team in af2 this season, are 9-0 for the first time in team history and now hold the record for the second best start to a season. The Quad City Steamwheelers are the only other team to get off to a better start in af2 history, as they went 16-0 during the 2000 season. If the Vipers stay undefeated for five more weeks, Quad City will have a chance to spoil the Vipers' bid for a perfect season. The 'Wheelers and Vipers hook-up on July 19 at Moline, IL.

"ZIMMER" IS THE "MAN": Last week against Cincinnati, Quad City QB TONY ZIMMERMAN went 12-of-28 passing for 226 yards with five touchdowns and he ran for another as the Steamwheelers won its eighth straight game. To date, Zimmerman has thrown for 2,702 yards and 56 touchdowns. He is first in the af2 in total offense (2,753 yards), total touchdowns (68), passing yards per game (270.2 yards), passing yards (2,702) and passing touchdowns (56). He is on a pace to challenge the af2 record for most passing yards (4,417 - Jon Nielsen, 2000) and touchdowns (86 - Matt Sauk, 2001) in a single season. Zimmerman is on pace for 4,323 yards and 90 touchdowns.

ON THE MARK: Albany QB RYAN VENA has had two consecutive weeks in which he has completed eight of every ten balls he tosses. In Week 10 versus Rochester, Vena completed 17-of-21 (81.0%) passes to earn af2 Offensive Player of the Week honors and in last weekend's 48-47 win over Albany, Vena completed 35-of-44 (80.0%) for an af2 season high 390 yards, including the game-winning touchdown toss with 14 seconds left. His 35 completions is the second highest single game total in af2 history and his 390 yards was the fourth best total of all-time. Currently, Vena is the only af2 QB with a completion percentage higher than 70%. The af2 record for highest completion rate in a single season is 71.5 by JAY MCDONAGH in 2001.

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 Week 11, 10 teams broke the 50-point barrier, going 9-1 in those games. Teams under 50 points went 4-12 in Week 11. For the season, teams that score better than 50 are 72-19, while teams under 50 have gone 54-109. Below is a breakdown:
2003 W-L Pct. All-time W-L Pct.
0-19 0-6 .000 0-19 2-74 .026
20-29 1-23 .042 20-29 15-164 .084
30-39 18-45 .286 30-39 95-225 .297
40-49 35-35 .500 40-49 208-198 .512
50-59 43-18 .705 50-59 210-87 .707
60-69 28-1 .966 60-69 163-21 .886
70-79 1-0 1.000 70-79 54-2 .964
80+ 0-0 .000 80+ 23-0 1.000

SCORING UP: Through Week 11 the af2 is averaging 88.5 combined points per game, up nearly five points from last year's regular season average of 83.6 per game. Oddly enough, there has only been one team to break the 70-point barrier this season, compared to three teams by this point last season.

PENALTIES DOWN: Through Week 11 af2 officials have called 7.8% fewer penalties per game than they did in 2002. Of the 25 teams that played in 2002 and returned this season, 17 of them average less penalties per game than they did a year ago. Below is a look at the top five teams who have seen the most significant decline in yellow.

Team % Decline from 2002
Norfolk 31.7%
Wichita 26.8%
Peoria 26.3%
Cape Fear 25.9%
Richmond 22.8%

WALKER SPRINTS TO SCORING LEAD: With four touchdown grabs last week at Tulsa, Peoria's JACK WALKER has jumped into the lead for scoring with 166 points. Quad City's IRA GOOCH scored three touchdowns against Cincinnati bringing him closer to the lead as he now has 150 points for the season. 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 and their projected pace.

Name - Team GP Points Projected Total
Jack Walker - PEO 9 166 295
Michael Dritlein - WIC 9 152 Out for season
Ira Gooch - QUA 10 150 240
Damon Thompson - RIC 8 134 251
Tacoma Fontaine - TUL 9 132 220

SURVEY SAYS: According to the current Web poll on www.af2.com, 43% of respondents believe Hawaii will win the West Division this season. Bakersfield was second with 25%, Wichita third with 21% and San Diego last with 11% feeling that they would win the division.

GREEN BAY GETS A WIN: The Green Bay Blizzard outscored San Diego 17-7 down the stretch to record the team's first win in history. After the game, coach JOSE JEFFERSON performed a back flip on the field and was then ceremoniously doused with the team water-bucket. The Blizzard looks to make it two in a row this week at Cincinnati.

BAKERSFIELD GETTING DEFENSIVE: The Bakersfield defense has tightened the clamp over the past four weeks, holding each of its last four opponents under 200 yards of total offense. The Louisville Fire offense was only able to muster 161 yards of total offense last week. Bakersfield tallied four sacks in the game to increase its league-leading total to 22. OL/DL RICKY LEUNG'WAI had two of those sacks, bringing his af2 best total to eight for the season. Behind the improved defense, the Blitz has won three straight games and moved one spot out of the National Conference's final playoff spot.

FINISHING STRONG: The Cape Fear Wildcats are outscoring opponents 163-115 in the fourth quarter this season. Cape Fear is averaging 18 points in the fourth, while holding opponents to just 12 points. Even in the team's two losses, Cape Fear outscored Bossier City 23-21 and Tennessee Valley 20-6 in the fourth.

ALFRED SHINES FOR KNIGHTS: In his Macon debut, JERMAINE ALFRED threw for five touchdowns and rushed for two more, completing 26-of-39 for 296 yards and no interceptions. Alfred's efforts helped the Knights snap a two-game losing streak, remain perfect at home (5-0) and earned him a game MVP accolade.

A NEW HIGH AT THE 'SWAMP': The 68 points Charleston hung on the scoreboard last weekend set a new record for points by one team in a single-game at the North Charleston Coliseum. The previous mark was 67 scored by both Cape Fear in a season-ending win over the Foxes in 2002 and 67 by the Swamp Foxes in a win over Jacksonville last season.

OFFENSIVE RESURGANCE: The Columbus Wardogs offense has averaged 42 points per game over the last three games. This is a major improvement from the 18.3 they averaged over the three games prior to that. With the addition of QB SHERARD POTEETE, Columbus' offense should continue to improve. The mobile Poteete is 104 yards away from becoming af2's first 1,000-yard rusher.

DAILY DOUBLE: Rochester is the only team in af2 to have both the longest rush and longest pass completion in league this season. FB/LB LAMONTE COLEMAN had a 45 yard run for a touchdown May 10 at Richmond and QB KEVIN CARTY and WR/BD DEREK BAKER hooked up for a 49 yard scoring strike May 3 vs. Mohegan. A player from Wichita is tied with Coleman for longest run and two others are tied for longest pass (Tenn. Valley and Louisville).

PETTIS HEADED FOR DALLAS: Former Pensacola Barracuda WILL PETTIS, who had an outstanding rookie season with the AFL's Dallas Desperados, has been signed by the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, pending waiver clearance. A newly-instated NFL rule requires teams owning AFL franchises (Cowboys, Lions and Broncos) wishing to sign players from their AFL franchise to place the player on procedural recall waivers, exposing the player to the other 31 teams in the league for 10 days. If any of the other 31 teams puts a claim in on the player during that 10-day period, the team highest on the waiver list is awarded the player. If no team claims the player, then the player's rights revert to the signing team. Pettis finished second in the AFL Rookie of the Year voting this season. If he makes the Cowboys squad, he'll join former Arkansas Twister REGGIE SWINTON, who had been with the Cowboys the past two seasons.

IF THE SEASON ENDED TODAY: Below is the breakdown of which teams would make it if the season ended today. Division winners grab the first three spots in each conference, based on overall records. Wildcard teams seed based on overall records for the final three spots in each conference. Bold teams are teams that would be in the playoffs if the season ended today.

American Conference
1. Tennessee Valley (9-0)*
2. Albany (8-1)*
3. Cape Fear (7-2)*
4. Macon (6-3)** - Macon holds better win percentage over common opponents with Mohegan
5. Mohegan (6-3)**
6. Norfolk (5-4)** - Norfolk holds better win percentage over common opponents with Birmingham
7. Birmingham (5-4)
8. Richmond (4-5) - Richmond holds better win percentage over common opponents with Florida, Charleston
9. Florida (4-5) - Florida has head-to-head advantage over Charleston
10. Charleston (4-5)
11. Greensboro (4-6)
12. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (3-6)
13. Columbus (2-7)
14. Rochester (1-9)

National Conference
1. Tulsa (9-1)*
2. Quad City (8-2)* 3. Hawaii (7-3)*
4. Wichita (6-4)** - Holds strength of schedule over Arkansas and San Diego
5. Arkansas (5-4)** - Holds point differential in head-to-head matchups with San Diego
6. San Diego (4-6)** - Holds head-to-head over Bakersfield
7. Bakersfield (4-6) 8. Memphis (3-6) - Better win percentage over common opponents with Peoria
9. Peoria (3-6)
10. Louisville (3-7) - Holds strength of schedule over CIN, BOS.
11. Bossier City (3-7) - Holds strength of schedule over Cincinnati
12. Cincinnati (3-7)
13. Green Bay (1-8)

*Denotes current division leader
** Denotes wildcard

In the American Conference, Tennessee Valley and Albany would have a bye in the first round. Cape Fear would host Norfolk and Macon would host Mohegan. In the National Conference, Tulsa and Quad City would have first round byes while Hawaii would host San Diego and Wichita would host Arkansas.

Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from June 11, 2003

• AFL Matchups: ArenaBowl XVI - AFL I
• The Deuce Scoop - AFL I
• Desperados Season-In-Review - Dallas Desperados

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