Unbeaten Wolves Look to Conquer Divisional Foes from Albany this Friday

Published on April 16, 2003 under arenafootball2 (af2)
Mohegan Wolves News Release


NEW LONDON, Conn. (April 16, 2003) – The Mohegan Wolves (arenafootball2) will square off against their Northeast Division rivals from Albany on Friday, April 18, at Mohegan Sun Arena. This battle of unbeatens kicks off at 7:30 p.m.

The Wolves (2-0) are coming off a dramatic, 41-38, win at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on April 11. Mohegan's game-winning moment came when QB Mike Bath tossed a 30-yard touchdown pass to OS Mel Long as time expired. Albany (2-0), on the other hand, had an easier time in its most recent game against Richmond. The Conquest throttled the Speed for the second straight week, 45-13, behind QB Ryan Vena's four touchdown passes.

Wolves Game Two Recap – 4/11/03 – In last week's game at WB/Scranton, Wolves OS Mel Long caught a Hail Mary pass from QB Mike Bath as time expired, enabling Mohegan to slip past the Pioneers, 41-38, at First Union Arena. The Pioneers dominated the first half of play, led by Chris Boden's 8-of-11 completions for 114 yards and three TDs. All three touchdown passes were caught by receiver Cosmo DeMatteo. As the second quarter drew to a close, the Pioneers headed for the locker room with a comfortable 24-12 advantage. After the intermission, Mohegan's defense set the tone in the third quarter, preventing Wilkes-Barre/Scranton from adding any points to its lead. The Wolves scored a total of nine points, cutting the score to 27-21. The fourth quarter was a seesaw battle, with the lead changing five times in the last seven and a half minutes of play. Bath did most of his damage in the final 15 minutes, completing two deep touchdown passes to Long and scoring on his own from 1-yard out. Long, who totaled six catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns, was named Ironman of the Game.

This Friday's matchup at a glance - Mohegan Wolves vs. Albany Conquest Albany leads the head-to-head series with the Wolves, 3-0 overall. All three games were played in 2002. In 2003, these two teams will tussle three times as well. After Friday's home game, the Wolves will travel to Albany the next two times they play, on June 28 and July 26. Last season the Conquest finished 13-3 during the regular season and won the Northeast Division Championship in just their first season of operation. This year the Conquest welcome back two key parts of their talented squad from a year ago, OS Corey Hill and QB Ryan Vena. Hill led the league in receptions in 2002 with a professional-football record 161 grabs. Vena was named Game MVP a team-high seven times last season, completing 274-of-434 pass attempts for 3,041 yards and 56 touchdowns. This week the Wolves will look for more heroics from Bath and Long along with another strong effort by their defense, which ranks tied for fourth best overall in the league.

Catch Head Coach Mark Stoute on the all-new "Wolves Locker Room Show" Sundays at 10 AM on your local PAX TV station. Don't miss the next show, which airs on April 27. This exciting program will take you into world of New England's hottest Arena Football team! The Wolves Locker Room Show will be shown on WHPX-TV 26 in Hartford & New Haven and on WPXQ-TV 69 in Providence & New Bedford.

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