Week 3 Quick Hitters
April 22, 2010 - Arena Football League (AFL) News Release
CATCH IT LIVE - This season, the AFL is proud to have a partnership with two broadcasting giants: the NFL Network and Network Foundation Technologies (NFT). Catch our Friday night Game of the Week on the NFL Network at 8:00 p.m., scheduled for primetime throughout the length of the 18-week season. The NFL Network will also broadcast playoff games and the 2010 Arena Bowl, taking place in late August. All games will be broadcasted in HD and feature specialized in-game audio techniques to capture the sights and sounds of the action packed, high intensity indoor game. Check with your satellite provider for details. NiFTy continues their relationship with the Arena Football family by broadcasting all games not shown on the NFL Network, free of charge. To watch the games, please visit arenafootball.com and click on either the NiFTy icon in the scrolling banner midway down the page, or the "Live Feed" tab near the bottom left. There you will find a page with directions on how to download the player to your desktop. Live games will be shown through the end of the regular season, and past games can be viewed "On Demand" through the player.
HAMPTON, SHIPP, GRAY, TOLIVER, HARVEY AND ALFONZO EARN WEEK 3 HONORS: Utah wide receiver BRANDON HAMPTON, Alabama wide receiver LARRY SHIPP and Milwaukee defensive back VIRGIL GRAY have been named the JLS Ironman, Russell Athletic Offensive Player and Riddell Defensive Player of the Week, respectively, for Week 3 of 2010, the AFL's first season back after taking a year hiatus. In addition to these three awards, the AFL is also highlighting the player who makes the best catch of the week, the playmaker of the week, and the highlight of the week. The Cutters Catch of the Week Award for Week 3 goes to Orlando wide receiver T.T. TOLIVER, while Arizona's wide receiver TRANDON HARVEY has been named the Playmaker of the Week. The highlight of the week award has gone to Chicago's defensive back DEJUAN ALFONZO.
Hampton (5-9, 190, California) continues to be a major playmaker for the struggling Utah Blaze. Last week versus the Alabama Vipers, Hampton tallied three kick returns for 82 yards and a touchdown. He also nabbed a 46-yard interception for a score. So far this season, Hampton has returned seven kick offs for 251 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 35.9 yards per return. Also versus the Vipers, Hampton made 5.5 tackles and forced one fumble, proving he is a threat both on defense and special teams. Shipp (5-9, 188, Tennessee Tech) was a major contributer in the Vipers' 63-54 victory over the Utah Blaze last weekend. Shipp made eight catches for an outstanding 199 yardsnearly half of Alabama's total offense for the night (409 yards). Shipp also caught four touchdown passes from QB Kevin Eakin. Eakin threw five on the night. Shipp's 199 receiving yards were nearly four times the amount he tallied in Alabama's first game of the season versus Jacksonville, where he had 54 receiving yards. Toliver (6-0, 185, Bethune-Cookman) earns an award for the second week in a row, last week taking home the award for Playmaker of the Week. This week, Toliver is being awarded for his athletic catch in the back of the endzone. Facing the Jacksonville Sharks on the NFL Network, QB Nick Hill tossed the ball deep into the back corner of the endzone. Toliver jumped and managed to wrangle it in, but was hit by a defender and sent crashing over the boards. He managed to hold on to the ball for the score, a play that was later featured on ESPN's SportsCenter top plays. Harvey (5-10, 197, Washington State) earned this week's Playmaker of the Week award after his contributions Friday night, when the Arizona Rattlers fell to the Chicago Rush in Phoenix. Harvey made 10 receptions for 121 yards and two touchdowns, the third most receptions for Arizona that night. Harvey also returned six kick offs for an unstoppable 101 yards, an average of over 20 yards per carry. Alfonzo (6-0, 205, Indiana State) brought the heat to the desert this weekend, when the Rush took on the Arizona Rattlers in Phoenix. Alfonzo, who has tallied two interceptions for 57 yards so far this season, put the final nail in the coffin for Chicago with a late interception. He returned a wild Rattlers' QB Nick Davila pass 48-yards for a touchdown, putting the Rush up 14 with a little more than two minutes remaining in the game.
WEEK 3 POLLS IN FAVOR OF RUSH: The Chicago Rush nabbed two of the three top spots in this week's polls. The AFL Writers Association (AFLWA) and Coaches Poll both ranked Chicago No. 1 on the heels of their 70-56 win over Arizona last weekend. The Fan Poll put Tulsa in their top spot for the second week in a row. Tulsa observed a bye in Week 3 play, but are currently 2-0 and are set to face Arizona on Friday. Milwaukee is a unanimous third across all three polls as well as Spokane being a unanimous fourth.
Rounding out the top five of each of the three polls are:
AFLWA: Tulsa (71 points), Milwaukee (70 points, 2 first place votes), Spokane (45 points) and Alabama (39 points).
COACHES: Tulsa (101 points, 6 first place votes), Milwaukee (90 points, 2 first place votes), Spokane (71 points, 1 first place vote) and Jacksonville and Bossier-Shreveport tied for fifth (58 points).
FANS: Chicago (135 points, 5 first place votes), Milwaukee (132 points, 4 first place votes), Spokane (98 points) and Jacksonville (73 points).
REWRITING THE HISTORY BOOKS: Alabama's Dan Alexander continues his scoring frenzy, leading the league in rushing touchdowns with 13. He is averaging approximately 4.3 rushing scores a game, and is on pace to score 68 rushing touchdowns. If Alexander maintains a rushing touchdown average of at least 2.6 per game throughout the season, he will shatter his own single-season record of 41 set in 2007. Chicago's Josh Ferguson is also on track to break records. So far, Ferguson has tallied 28.5 total tackles in three games. With his 9.5 tackles per game average, Ferguson could end the season with 152 tackles - second most in AFL history. The record is currently 156, set by Rashad Floyd in 2007. Cleveland's John Dutton is pacing to break a record, too. Dutton has completed 91 passes so far this season, a rate that could have him finishing the season with 485 completions. The current AFL record is 466, set by Andy Kelly in 2005. Cleveland's Chris Johnson broke a six year old Gladiator's record recently, grabbing 17 catches in their game versus the Chicago Rush in Week 2. The previous Cleveland single-game reception record was 16, and the league record is 20.
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