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Week 13 Friday night matchups

June 24, 2004 - arenafootball2 (af2) News Release


GREEN BAY BLIZZARD (4-7) AT ALBANY CONQUEST (4-7)
FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2004 - PEPSI ARENA (13,901) 7:30 P.M. ET

The Albany Conquest welcome the Green Bay Blizzard to town for the first ever meeting between the two teams. Green Bay is coming off of a tough loss last week at home to the Steamwheelers. The Blizzard jumped out to a 21-0 lead over the defending Midwest Division champion Steamwheelers only to lose the lead and be defeated by nine points. Albany lost last week at home to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, a squad they defeated earlier this season. TONY LOCKE was controlled by the Pioneers last week, catching only two passes for one touchdown. Locke, who is third in the af2 in touchdowns with 26, will look to improve on last week's performance and add to his impressive season numbers. The Conquest scored five rushing touchdowns last week. RASHON BURNS and TIMOTHY PERREN both had two touchdowns runs while CY BUTLER added the fifth. TRAVIS COLEMAN is a major contributor on defense for the Conquest. He is second on the team in tackles with 46.5 (38UA 17A), second in interceptions with three and first in passes broken up recording fifteen. Despite the loss of stand out OS RANDALL LANE earlier in the season the Blizzard still remains strong. The duo of ROBERT GARTH and DERONN FINLEY has made up for Lane's missing numbers. Garth has 57 catches for 744 yards and 22 touchdowns while Finley has 43 receptions for 525 yards and sixteen touchdowns on the season for the Blizzard. CHRIS GREISEN's 61 touchdown passes is second in the af2.

NO. 8 LOUISVILLE FIRE (7-4) AT MANCHESTER WOLVES (4-7)
FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2004 - VERIZON WIRELESS ARENA (9,500) 7:30 P.M. ET

The Louisville Fire go on the road to take on the Manchester Wolves in a Week 13 matchup. Louisville's season has hit a speed bump, a speed bump called the Peoria Pirates as the Fire have lost their last two games, both to the Peoria Pirates. The Fire lost two weeks ago 35-31 in Peoria, then came up short last week at home to the Pirates 51-50 in overtime. Last week Manchester lost a late lead to Memphis, losing to the Xplorers 55-54. Manchester responded by letting head coach Rik Richards go. Ron Hill has taken over the head coach position. Manchester is still in the playoff race, but needs a victory this week. CHRIS SANDERS leads the Wolves in passing and rushing. Sanders has thrown for 48 touchdowns and ran for eleven more. KELVIN FULLER makes contributions on both sides of the ball. He leads the Wolves in tackles for a loss with 2.5, has recorded five hits on the quarterback and has forced two fumbles along with scoring two rushing touchdowns and catching another. After only one touchdown pass last week, look for Louisville quarterback MATTHEW SAUK to get back on track. He leads the league in passing yards with 3,118. Sauk has spread his 56 touchdown throws to ten different receivers. Unlike Sanders, Sauk has yet to record a rushing touchdowns on the season and depends on his arm to beat opposing defenses. JAMES SCOTT returned to the Fire last week after being out with an injury and recorded fourteen receptions, but none of them were for touchdowns. Scott will look to find the endzone for the first time since his injury this week. This is the first ever meeting between Louisville and Manchester and the only meeting this season. NO. 7 QUAD CITY STEAMWHEELERS (7-4) AT ARKANSAS TWISTERS (1-9)
FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2004 - ALLTEL ARENA (16,508) 8:30 P.M. ET

It is a rematch of a 2003 ArenaCup playoff game when the Quad City Steamwheelers take on the Arkansas Twisters. The Steamwheelers ended a team record three game losing streak last week with a victory on the road over the Green Bay Blizzard. Despite starting the game being out scored 21 to 0, the Wheelers battled back for the victory and now find themselves tied with the Fire for first place in the Midwest Division. Last season Arkansas went on the road to defeat the Steamwheelers 63-61 and earn their first victory over the Steamwheelers in franchise history. This season the Twisters have struggled but look to rekindle some of the 2003 magic this week. The Twisters defensive line this season has played well, recording fifteen sacks, tenth best in the league. The leader of this line is DARNELL SMALL, who leads the team with 5.0 sacks is tied for first in the league in tackles for a loss with 8.0. Arkansas has only given up 145 first downs, fifth best in the league. TED ALFORD leads the Twisters' offense with fifteen touchdown catches. The Steamwheelers offense goes through two men, TIM DODGE and JEFF HEWITT. Combined, these two players have 153 catches, Dodge with 83 and Hewitt with 70. Quad City as a team has 193 receptions this season, meaning Dodge and Hewitt have 79% of the Streamwheeler passing offense literally in their hands. Doing the job of getting the ball to them is RONNIE GORDON. In his first season as a starter Gordon has thrown for 50 touchdowns and ran for eighteen more. This is the only meeting between Arkansas and Quad City this season.



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