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Thunder Finish up Season at Home Versus Rival Galaxy

June 4, 2003 - National Football League Europa (NFLE)
Berlin Thunder News Release


The two-time defending World Bowl champion Berlin Thunder (2-6) host their fierce rival, the Frankfurt Galaxy (3-5) this Saturday, June 7th at Berlin's historic Olympic Stadium. The Thunder are trying to get back on the winning track against the Galaxy after suffering a 41-21 setback in Frankfurt back in April. The Galaxy lead the all-time series 6-3. Last week, the Thunder couldn't stop the Amsterdam Admirals in a record-setting affair, losing 51-43, while the Galaxy qualified for the World Bowl with a 38-7 victory against Rhein.

TV:

Saturday's contest will be broadcast in the United States on Direct TV at 1:00pm EST and live on DSF in Berlin. The U.S. play-by-play will be handled by veteran Seattle-area announcer Rich Waltz, with color commentary coming from one of the greatest NFL pass rushers of all-time in Sean Jones. Kick-off at Olympic Stadium is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. local Berlin time.

THIS WEEKEND'S FOX TEAM

RICH WALTZ- A familiar sports personality to the Northwest, Waltz began his career with Fox Sports Net in 1994 calling play-by-play for the Pac-10, West Coast Conference and Big Sky football and basketball games. Since 1995 he has done play-by-play on select Seattle Mariners radio and TV broadcasts, hosted "Mariners Warm Up," as well as a weekly TV show covering the Seattle Seahawks. Waltz joined ESPN in 1997, calling play-by-play for college football and basketball. A graduate of the University of California-Davis with a bachelor's degree in Rhetoric, Waltz was a starting shortstop from 1982-1986. He currently resides in the Seattle area.

SEAN JONES- A 13-year NFL veteran, Jones played defensive end for three different teams in his career: the Los Angeles Raiders (1984-87), the Houston Oilers (1988-93) and the Green Bay Packers (1994-96). He earned Pro Bowl honors in 1993, and his 113 career sacks place him eighth among the NFL's all-time leaders. He played in 210 regular-season games and missed only three games during his entire career. He retired in March 1997 after the Packers defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI. A 1983 graduate of Northeastern University, Jones was a four-year letterman in football (1980-83) and lettered for the school's lacrosse team as a freshman and senior.

THE SERIES

Berlin is looking to make it four out of the last six in the victory column against the Galaxy, dating back to the 2001 season. Frankfurt, however, leads the all-time series 6-3, thanks to four straight triumphs in 1999 and 2000 and a 41-21 triumph over the Thunder earlier this season.

Berlin's Largest Margin of Victory: 20; 27-7 (June 15, 2002) in Berlin
Frankfurt's Largest Margin of Victory: 25; 32-7 (April 15, 2000) in Berlin
Most Recent Tie: There has never been a tie
Current Winning Streak: Galaxy 1, (April 19, 2003- Present)

LAST TIME VS. FRANKFURT

In Frankfurt, the Galaxy jumped out to a 35-0 first quarter lead in coasting to their third victory of the season as they defeated the Berlin Thunder 41-21. The Galaxy set a record for the most points scored in a quarter as they used a bit of trickery and turnovers to hand the Thunder their third loss of the season.

Frankfurt opened the game with an onside kick and began their scoring onslaught. Following the onside kick quarterback James Brown led the Galaxy down the field and capped the opening drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. Running back Jonas Lewis paced the Galaxy offense as he capped the next three series with touchdown runs of 1 yard, 7 yards and 5 yards.

Turnovers played a key role as the Thunder turned the ball over six times, including 5 in the first quarter that led to the impressive 35-point Frankfurt display. Two Henry Burris (Chicago) interceptions along with two Thunder fumbles, including one that Galaxy linebacker Idris Price (Tampa Bay) returned 26 yards for a touchdown, sent the crowd of 22,758 at the Waldstadion into a frenzy.

Lewis rushed for 81 yards along with the 3 touchdowns in the first quarter. The free agent running back finished with 137 yards rushing for the evening.

The Thunder tried their best to recover, but the record setting performance was just too much to overcome. Touchdowns by David Allen (Jacksonville), Elijah Thurman (Chicago) and Chad Hayes (Chicago) helped pull Berlin to within 14 points with just over six minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter, however they would not get any closer as the Galaxy kept their perfect season alive for at least another week.

A THUNDER VICTORY WOULD...

- Improve Peter Vaas's career coaching record to 21-21 overall and to 4-4 against the Galaxy.

- Improve the franchise overall record to 24-28.

- Give the Thunder their second win at Olympic Stadium.

HEAD COACHES

PETER VAAS completed his third season as head coach of the Berlin Thunder by leading his squad to the team's season best-tying record at 6-4 and their second consecutive World Bowl title in 2002. Vaas finished his fifth year of coaching in NFL Europe, having joined the league in 1998 as quarterbacks and wide receivers coach for the Barcelona Dragons. In 1999 as offensive assistant he helped the Dragons to a league best 7-3 record and a World Bowl berth. Under his guidance running back Lawrence Phillips rushed for 1,021 yards and 14 touchdowns and was named the league's Offensive MVP. Vaas began his coaching career in 1974 as an assistant at Allegheny College and from 1979-85 worked as offensive coordinator at the University of New Hampshire. In 1986, Vaas returned to Allegheny as their head coach, guiding a team that had not posted a winning record in seven years to two North Coast Athletic Conference championships. In his second season he led the Gators to an undefeated 9-0-1 regular season record. Vaas went on to become running backs and then quarterbacks coach at Notre Dame. There he coached players such as Rick Mirer, Jerome Bettis, and Ricky Watters, all of who became top-flight NFL players. He was head coach at Holy Cross from 1992 to 1995 before becoming the offensive coordinator for the Montreal Allouettes of the Canadian Football League. Peter Vaas is married to Rosann and they have two daughters, Katelyn and Kelly and reside in Hampton, New Hampshire.

DOUG GRABER Former college head coach at Rutgers and Montana State enters second year as head coach of the Frankfurt Galaxy. Succeeded Dick Curl as head coach in 2001 and compiled a 3-7 record. Graber, who also spent three seasons as defensive coordinator of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has been working as a college football television analyst for Liberty Sports before becoming the fourth head coach in Galaxy history. A native of Michigan, Graber began his coaching career at St. Francis Cahrini High School, where he was head coach from 1967-68. He then became defensive coordinator at Michigan Technological University (1969-71) and held the same position at Eastern Michigan University (1972-75). From 1976-77 he was defensive secondary coach at Ball State University, and from 1978-81 held that post at the University of Wisconsin. As defensive secondary coach of the Kansas City Chiefs from 1983-86, Graber saw his unit lead the league with 120 interceptions over a four-year period, before moving on to the Buccaneers. He was head coach of Rutgers University from 1990-95 and in 1991 and 1992 Graber led the school to its first back-to-back winning records in 14 years. Both Graber's grandparents were born in Germany and immigrated to Ohio in the late 1890s.

FROM COACH VAAS

(on what he is looking for this week)

"We will be looking to finish the season strong and take care of business. It is obvious that we haven't had the season that we expected, but I plan on seeing our guys play hard, just like they have the past few weeks. We have been coming up short as of late, but we have prepared well and will put out our best effort against our rivals from Frankfurt."

(on the keys to the game)

"The keys for us are usually the same week to week. We need to create turnovers on defense and take care of the ball on offense. Our offense has been explosive as of late so hopefully we can get an early lead and play tough defense. This is an important game for our organization and we want to give our fans a great game on Saturday."

D.A. CONTINUES TO PILE UP YARDAGE RECORD

All-purpose back David Allen (Jacksonville Jaguars) is the runaway league leader in combined net yards gained with a total of 1,848 yards and smashed one of the oldest records in the book in Week 7, formerly held by Tony Baker of Frankfurt, who gained 1,367 yards in 1991. The speedster garnered NFL Europe Special Teams Player of the Week honors for his performance against Scotland in week 4. He totaled 129 yards on four returns, including a 74-yard scamper down the sideline for a touchdown. He also went down in the record books with 206 yards on 5 kickoff returns last weekend in Amsterdam and only needs to tally 152 total yards to go over 2,000 for the season. The back from Kansas State is fourth in rushing with 569 yards on 92 carries after his top performance in Week 6 in Spain when he rushed 16 times for 125 yards and a touchdown and his second consecutive 100-yard day the following week when he totaled 105 yards on 17 carries. Allen has scored five touchdowns and is the only player in the league to do so three different ways (three rushing, one receiving, and one on a kickoff return).

QUICK STATS

Offensive Game Averages: 24.5 pts, 344.7 total yds, 115.2 rushing yds, 229.4 passing yds.
Passing Leader: Stambaugh (1,622 yards)
Rushing Leader: Allen (569 yards)
Receiving Leader: Thurmon (33 catches for 382 yards, 5 TDs)
Defensive Game Averages: 33.8 pts, 376 yds, 161.3 rushing yds, 214.7 passing yds.
Sack Leader: Williams (8.5) Interception Leader(s): T.Coleman, Harris (2)

THUNDER OFFENSIVE NOTES

-Quarterback Phil Stambaugh is the league's second-rated passer with a rating of 92.6. The journeyman from Lehigh is with his seventh team in three years and has full reigns of the Thunder offense for the fourth straight week, since the injured Henry Burris departed. The Berlin gunslinger had his most explosive day against Amsterdam last weekend connecting on 25 of 31 passes for 287 yards and 4 touchdowns.

-Mike Watkins (re-assigned from the Rhein Fire) will back up Stambaugh for the fourth straight game and was also impressive in his first action of the year last Saturday night. He played in two series and finished 4 of 4 for 31 yards and 2 touchdowns.

-Wide receiver Elijah Thurmon (Chicago Bears) has been a standout in the Thunder passing game as of late. He finished with 62 yards on 5 catches and a touchdown last weekend in Amsterdam and 79 yards on 4 receptions in Week 8, including an impressive catch, juke, spin, and run late in the second quarter against Rhein. The 6'4" big-body receiver from Howard is ninth in the league with 33 catches for 382 yards and 5 touchdowns, including an 80-yarder from Stambaugh against Barcelona in Week 7.

-Offensive guard Kyle Kipps (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) has been put on the active roster for the first time this season. The big fellow from Louisiana State University has been on the practice squad for all nine games this year, but will most likely see action at guard this weekend in the season finale.

-Wide receiver Sean Scott (Philadelphia Eagles), one of Stambaugh's go-to guys with 23 catches for 208 yards and 2 touchdowns, returned to action last weekend after being on Injured Reserve due to a knee injury. Scott was put back on the active roster and had 2 catches for 31 yards, including a 17-yard score against Amsterdam.

-German national wide receiver Joerg Heckenbach is in his sixth year in the league, fourth with the Thunder. He was named NFL Europe National Player of the Week for his performance against Amsterdam in Week 5 in which he finished with 3 receptions for 57 yards and one tackle on special teams. Heckenbach had 12 catches for 205 yards in 2002, including a 66-yard reception and started off the 2003 campaign with two touchdowns in the first two games He has 17 catches for 185 yards and 3 touchdowns on the season after adding 4 receptions for 22 yards and a spectacular diving touchdown grab in the corner of the end zone last week. -Running backs Sedrick Irvin (Miami Dolphins) and David Allen (Jacksonville Jaguars) provide the ground game with an effective variety of styles. Irvin (82 rushes for 360 yards, 28 catches for 248 yards) is a power runner that can get the team those much-needed extra yards and is elusive in the open field. Allen (92 rushes for 569 yards, 21 catches for 232 yards) uses his quickness to make opposing defenders miss and has great breakaway speed. -Center Josh Warner (Chicago Bears) and tackle Freddie Moore are in their second seasons with the Thunder and help anchor the biggest offensive line that the organization has had in its five years of existence.

-Offensive tackle Chris Smith (New York Jets), a converted collegiate tight end at California-Davis, has been a steady blocker for Bob Bicknell's O-line. Smith has put on 50 pounds in just two years in the professional ranks and is one of the keys in both the rushing game and in pass protection for the upstart Berlin offense.

-Wide receiver Eugene Baker (14 catches for 163 yards and one touchdown) has been re-assigned to the Amsterdam Admirals for the final game of the season.

BIG "L" REMAINS TOP DOG IN SACKS

Defensive end Lamanzer Williams (Miami Dolphins) has been on a mission since returning from Birmingham where he was rehabbing a hamstring injury. The 28-year old from the University of Minnesota has racked up 7.5 sacks in the past four games and 8.5 overall in just six games of action and is the league-leader in that category. Williams earned NFL Europe Defensive Player of the Week honors for two consecutive weeks after his dominating performances against the Dragons in Weeks 6 and 7. "L" will have one last chance this weekend to break the Thunder team record for sacks in a season of 10, held by Jonathon Brown in 2000.

THUNDER DEFENSIVE NOTES

-The addition of linebacker Josh Symonette, the team's emotional leader who missed half of the season with a shoulder injury, has helped the Thunder stoppers. Symonette, who played collegiately at Tennessee Tech, led the team with 10 tackles (6 solo, 4 assists) in Week 8 and has totaled 21 since returning to the starting lineup the past three games -Cornerback Travis Coleman was moved to free safety during Week 6 to take the place of the injured Tim Carter in the secondary, but has now been put back at cornerback.

-Linebacker Jamal White (Oakland Raiders) was the team's top performer last weekend. The Kentucky alum finished with 10 tackles (8 solo, 2 assists). -Free agent defensive end Ryan Wingrove has been a solid performer this season. The D-lineman from Bowling Green is fourth on the team with 36 tackles and has totaled 3 sacks.

-Four-year NFL Europe veteran and Thunder defensive back Lelan Brickus returns to the Thunder defense for the 2003 season. Brickus, a German national safety in his fourth season with Berlin, was named NFL Europe National Player of the Week in week 8 for his performance against Scotland last season. He had a career-high 7 tackles in the win over Amsterdam in Week 5 and has 26 tackles on the season, most among National players.

-Jamal White (51), Clint Finley (45), Byron Thweatt (39), and Ryan Wingrove (36) lead the team in tackles through nine games.

THUNDER SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES

-Kicker Axel Kruse's streak of 84 straight PATs was broken in Week 5 versus Amsterdam when his first attempt hit the right upright and fell short. The former German soccer star has connected on six of seven field goal attempts this year. He is in his fifth season and is the Thunder's all-time leading scorer with 166 points, after adding 1 PAT and three field goals of 31, 30, and 19 yards in Week 7, 2 PATs at Rhein, and 5 PATs last Saturday in Amsterdam.

-Kicker J.R. Jenkins (Baltimore Ravens) has been used more of late in the kicking game and was rewarded with NFL Europe Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance at Rhein two weeks ago. He gave Berlin a boost with a 4-point, 52-yard boot (his second 4-pointer in as many weeks) and a 45-yard boomer as well. His duties include kickoffs and field goals beyond 30 yards. He is 4 of 9 on the season. Jenkins' kickoffs have been impressive as he oftentimes lands them inside the 10-yard line.

-Steve Cheek (New York Giants) is third in the league in punting. He has done a solid job throughout the first nine games of the season. He's punted 35 times, totaling 1,420 yards with an average of 40.6 yards per boot.

ADDITIONAL THUNDER STRIKES

-Running back Sedrick Irvin (Miami Dolphins) rushed for 21 yards last week and has gained 608 total yards this season (360 rushing, 248 receiving). Rushed for 26 yards and caught 5 passes in previous meeting with the Galaxy.

-Wide receiver Pierre Brown (Detroit Lions) caught 2 passes for 25 yards last week.

-Wide receiver Elijah Thurmon (Chicago Bears), born in Heidelberg, Germany, caught 5 passes for 62 yards and a touchdown last week and leads team with 33 receptions for 382 yards and 5 touchdowns. Scored on a 5-yard pass from Stambaugh in first meeting between the teams

-Receiver Kirk Rogers (Kansas City Chiefs) caught a team-high 5 passes for 63 yards last week and has 28 receptions for 304 yards on the season but has yet to find the end zone.

-Wide receiver Sean Scott (Philadelphia Eagles) caught 2 passes for 31 yards and a touchdown last week and has 23 receptions for 208 yards and 2 scores on the season. Reeled in 7 catches for 53 yards in Week 3 loss to Galaxy.

-Tight end Bryan Fletcher (Chicago Bears) has caught 11 passes this season and three have been for touchdowns after he grabbed 2 passes for 18 yards and a score last week in Amsterdam.

-Tight end Chad Hayes (Tennessee Titans) scored on a 2-yard reception last week and has 11 catches for 112 yards and 2 touchdowns this season.

-Defensive end Lamanzer Williams (Miami Dolphins) recorded 3 tackles and half a sack last week, taking his total to a league-leading 8.5.

-Defensive end Reggie Grimes has 28 tackles and 3.5 sacks on the season. Had a sack in first game between German rivals.

-Defensive end Teto Simpson recorded 2 tackles last week and has 31 stops and 2 sacks this season.

-Linebacker Chris Ball made 2 tackles last week.

-Cornerback Calvin Coleman recorded 3 tackles last week. Made 5 tackles and forced a fumble in first game against Galaxy.

-Safety Clint Finley recorded 6 tackles last weekend.

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