Tickets Still Available for Saturday's Blizzard Semi-Final Game
August 8, 2008 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Green Bay Blizzard News Release
The No. 7 Manchester Wolves make their second trip to Green Bay this season, this time to face the No. 3 seed Blizzard in an American Conference Semifinal affair. These two clubs have met seven times overall and Manchester owns a 4-3 all-time edge. Green Bay, however, defeated the Wolves in their most recent meeting in Week 3, 72-31. The Blizzard defense was stellar in the win as was the play of WR SCOTT BURNOSKI, who had over 100 yards receiving and four touchdowns. Each starting quarterback (JUSTIN RUMMELL - MAN, SHANE ADLER - GBB) that played in the game, however, has long since departed. The Wolves had a rough start to the season with six straight losses after winning their 2008 opener. Standing at 1-6, Manchester ran off four straight victories and have won nine of their last 10 games overall. The team's turnaround has been an all-around effort, but offensively it can be traced to the emergence of QB JAMES PINKNEY. The second-year signal caller from East Carolina accounted for 74 total TDs (59 - passing, 15 - rushing) in 12 games played. This week, however, the team learned that Pinkney suffered a season-ending leg injury in Saturday's first-round win against South Georgia. As a result, the Wolves activated veteran BRIAN JONES off injured reserve and he will get the start on Saturday. Jones, in two games played with Manchester in 2008, has thrown 12 TDs with two interceptions and also rushed for three scores. This will be his third start of the season. Jones finished his second start in Week 5 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, but suffered a shoulder injury that forced the team to place him on injured reserve. Jones helped guide the now defunct Memphis Xplorers to three straight postseason appearances (2004-06) and an ArenaCup title in 2005. Memphis was coached at the time by current Wolves head man DANTON BARTO. Barto is one win away from becoming just the fourth coach in af2 history to reach 60 career coaching victories. Manchester's offense has a talented trio of receivers which includes veteran BRADLY CHAVEZ and rookies EMERY SAMMONS and STEVEN SAVOY. Chavez led the group with 28 TD grabs in the regular season. Manchester's defensive leaders are veteran DL JOE CREAR and veteran DB DAHNEL SINGFIELD. Crear recorded a team-best 10 sacks while Singfield led the squad in tackles (60) and pass breakups (13). Green Bay is coming off an impressive defensive showing in the team's 65-37 first round win over Lexington. Rookie DL JOE SYKES had a record-setting performance for the Blizzard to help the squad advance to the American Conference Semifinals. Sykes recorded 5.5 total tackles (5 solo, 1 asst) and an af2 postseason-record five sacks. His sack total shattered the old mark of 3.5 set by former Bossier-Shreveport lineman Elex Reed in 2007. As a team, Green Bay set a new playoff record with 10 sacks against the Horsemen, doubling the old mark of five set in 2001 by the Carolina Rhinos. Sykes, who also forced two fumbles in the victory, led the af2 in tackles for loss (22) and sacks (19.5) during the regular season. Another lineman the Wolves will need to watch out for is rookie ODELL WILLIS. Willis, who finished with 13.5 regular season sacks, added three more in the first round win. Offensively, QB GINO GUIDUGLI will get his third start of the year for the Blizzard. Last week Guidugli, who also started eight games for the squad in 2007, had five TD passes and one rushing TD to pace the team. Burnoski had six catches for 83 yards with a touchdown. Green Bay's offense is solid, but it's the team's defense that Blizzard opponents worry most about. If the Wolves can contain Green Bay's pass rush, Jones should be able to keep Manchester competitive. The Wolves, however, will need a near mistake-free football game to have a chance down the stretch.
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arenafootball2 Stories from August 8, 2008
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