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Week 11 af2 quick hitters

June 8, 2005 - arenafootball2 (af2) News Release


FORMER af2 PLAYER, DEMARY, EARNS ANOTHER AWARD: Already this season Los Angeles Avengers OL/DL SILAS DEMARY has broken the AFL record for sacks in a season (13.5), earned All-AFL First Team honors and won the Lineman of the Year Award. This week Demary earned another AFL honor, being was named the AFL's Defensive Player of the Year on Tuesday. Demary is the first lineman to win the Defensive Player of the Year Award since James Baron won the award in 1999 as a member of the Nashville Kats. Demary played with the Norfolk Nighthawks in 2000 and just finished his fifth AFL season. In addition to his monster 13.5 he also totaled 26.0 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, two pass breakups, five forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries for the Avengers.

TROY BERGERON WINS AFL's ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: What a year it has been for TROY BERGERON. Last June he was putting up big numbers for the af2's Columbus Wardogs as the league's youngest player at 20 years old. Now as member of the AFL's Georgia Force and the AFL's youngest player at 21 he is the AFL's Rookie of the Year. Bergeron set an AFL rookie-record with 1,370 receiving yards and finished the season with 105 receptions (T-2nd in AFL rookie records) and 31 touchdowns (4th in AFL rookie records). Bergeron added 64 kick returns for 1,180 yards and finished with 2,550 all-purpose yards and 188 points. Last week Bergeron was named to the All-Rookie Team. Bergeron is one of the main reasons Georgia is playing in ArenaBowl XIX on Sunday.

EATON UPDATE: Manchester Wolves' quarterback JAKE EATON is challenging two af2 passing records, but not the flashy ones like passing touchdowns or passing yards though. He is battling for records in completion percentage and passer rating. He entered last week with a 72.3 completion percentage, best in the league and on pace for an af2 record. Eaton's 22-of-28 performance last week raised his completion percentage to 73.0. His seven touchdowns and zero interceptions last week raised his quarterback rating from 129.64 to 132.01. This was just enough to put him in front of the 131.9 rating JAY MCDONAGH finished with in 2001 with Quad City. This week Eaton and the first place Manchester Wolves go on the road to play the second place Green Bay Blizzard. Eaton will have to handle Blizzard DS RYAN BOWERS, who is tied for the lead league in interceptions with 8.

FORMER af2 PLAYERS IN ARENABOWL XIX: When ArenaBowl XIX kicks off in Las Vegas on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. ET on NBC between the Colorado Crush and Georgia Force there will be af2 ties on both sidelines. Former Louisville Fire player JABIR WALKER is currently on the Colorado Crush's practice squad but recorded four tackles during the regular season. Another former af2 player who wears Colorado blue is offensive coordinator BRIAN PARTLOW. In 2003 Partlow played four games with the Cincinnati Swarm, completing 28-of-57 passes for 366 yards and seven touchdowns with two interceptions.

Georgia's main af2 contributor is AFL's Rookie of the Year TROY BERGERON. In two playoff games Bergeron has caught 17 passes for 167 yards and five touchdowns. Georgia has a former af2 quarterback on their bench: former Augusta Stallion GLENN GAUNT backs up MATT NAGY. JUSTIN TAPLIN, a WR/DB and former member of the Green Bay Blizzard, is on the Force's injured list. ROB CAREY who started for the Manchester Wolves last season, returned an interception 47 yards for a touchdown in the Force's first playoff game

af2 ARENA HOSTED ARENABOWL: Albany's Pepsi Arena, now home to the Albany Conquest, was host to ArenaBowl XIII in 1999 when the Albany Firebirds defeated the Orlando Predators 59-48. Current Macon Knights' head coach DEREK STINGLEY was a member of that Firebirds team and played in the game.

MORE ARENABOWL CONNECTIONS: The only current af2 head coach to have coached in an ArenaBowl game is Arkansas Twisters' head man JOHN GREGORY. Gregory was at the helm of the 1996 and 1997 Iowa Barnstormers who played in ArenaBowl X and ArenaBowl XI.

COACHES' POLL BREAKDOWN: Each week af2 coaches rank the top 12 teams. So far there have been 35 games between teams in the top 12 and they have proven to be close ones with the lower ranked teams having a slight advantage, holding an 18-17 record. Below is a break down of how teams holding each ranking have performed overall and in games against other top 12 teams.

OVERALL AGAINST TOP 12 TEAMS
RANK W L IDLE W L
1 7 1 2 2 0
2 7 3 0 1 2
3 8 1 1 5 1
4 5 5 0 4 5
5 3 7 0 3 6
6 5 4 1 3 3
7 5 4 1 1 2
8 5 4 1 5 3
9 3 5 2 1 5
10 7 2 1 3 2
11 5 3 2 4 3
12 5 4 1 3 3

IF THE SEASON ENDED TODAY: In 2005 six teams from each the American and National Conference qualify for the playoffs. The six qualifying teams in each conference consist of the two division champions and four Wild Cards, determined by best overall record. Seeding in each conference is based on overall record, with the top two seeds in each conference reserved for the division champions, regardless of record. In the First Round (August 5-7), the two division winners in each conference receive a bye. The top-seeded Wild Card team hosts the lowest-seeded Wild Card team, while the No. 2 seeded Wild Card team hosts the No. 3 seeded Wild Card team. In the Second Round (August 12-14), the division winners who had byes in the First Round host the winners from the First Round. The top seeded division champion plays the lowest seeded team advancing from the First Round, while the second-seeded division winner plays the other winner from the First Round. The winners of the Second Round will meet for the Conference Championships on the weekend of August 19-21. For this round seeding no longer matters, meaning the team with the better overall record hosts the Conference Championship game. The winners of the Conference Championships face off in the 2005 ArenaCup on August 27 at the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City, Louisiana.

AMERICAN CONFERENCE
1. Florida (8-1) - Currently holds HTH advantage over MAN
2. Manchester (8-1)
3. Green Bay (6-3)
4. Louisville (5-4) - Currently holds HTH advantage over WBS
5. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (5-4)
6. Albany (3-6) - Currently holds HTH advantage over MAC
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7. Macon (3-6)
8. South Georgia (2-7)
9. Arkansas (1-8) - Currently holds HTH advantage over BIR
10. Birmingham (1-8)
First Round games would be: ALB @ GBB; WBS @ LOU; FLO, MAN receive bye

NATIONAL CONFERENCE
1. Memphis (8-1)
2. Tulsa (7-2)
3. Amarillo (6-3)
4. Oklahoma City (5-4) - Currently holds HTH advantage over RGV, CEN
5. Rio Grande Valley (5-4) - Currently holds HTH advantage over CEN
6. Central Valley (5-4)
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7. Quad City (4-5)
8. Bakersfield (3-6) - Currently holds HTH advantage over SAN
9. San Diego (3-6)
10. Bossier-Shreveport (2-7)
First Round games would be: CEN @ AMA; RGV @ OKC; MEM, TUL receive bye

SOS = Strength of schedule; HTH = Head-to-head



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