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Wichita Stealth Game Notes

May 20, 2003 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Wichita Stealth News Release


QUICK FACTS:
Wichita Stealth (4-3) at Peoria Pirates (3-4)
Date: Saturday, May 24, 2003
Kickoff: 7:00
Site: Peoria Civic Center (9,772)
National Anthem:
Coin Toss:
Officials: John Sullivan (Referee), Rick Podraza (Umpire), Kelly Saalfeld (Head Linesman), Justin Leerew (Line Judge), Gus Golembiewski (Back Judge)
Radio: Z-FM 90.7 (Jay Sanderson)
TV: None
Series Record: Peoria leads the series 3-0
Last Meeting: August 3, 2002 – PEORIA 37, Wichita 36
Streaks: 2003: Wichita L-2, Peoria W-2
Coaches: WIC - Bob Cortese (4-3, First season) PEO – Bruce Cowdrey (3-4, Second season)

THE STAKES: The Stealth need a win to get back on the winning track, while Peoria needs a win to stay in contention in the Midwest division.

THE SERIES: Peoria leads the series 3-0

THE Ifs:

If Wichita defeats Peoria, it would ...
- Give Wichita their first win ever versus the Pirates
- Give Wichita a 5-3 record in 2003
- Give Wichita a 2-2 road record in 2003
- Give Bob Cortese a 5-3 record as an af2 coach
- Give Wichita a one game win streak

HEAD COACHES: Bob Cortese begins his first season as an af2 head coach for Wichita. Cortese has spent 4 years in the Arena Football League with the Portland Forest Dragons and the Oklahoma Wranglers before coming to Wichita in 2002 as Director of Football Operations. Cortese engineered the offensive turnaround that helped the Stealth garner a berth in the af2 playoffs in 2002. Pirates' coach Bruce Cowdrey returns for his 2nd season as head coach of the Pirates and his 3rd in af2. Last season, Cowdrey led the Pirates to an 11-5 record and a 4-0 post-season record to claim the 2002 af2 championship. Prior to the af2, Cowdrey spent time as head coach of the Pirates when they were in the Indoor Football League and led them to a 17-0 record and the IFL Gold Cup championship.

LAST SERIES MEETING: Wichita 36, PEORIA 37 (8-3-02) – The Stealth just missed the second round of the playoffs being edged by Peoria 37-36. The Stealth led by as many as 20 points in the first half and dominated the Pirates until the final minutes of the game. Phil Aguilar missed the game winning 19-yard field goal as time expired.

FAMILIAR FACES: Bob Cortese and Bruce Cowdrey coached together at Fort Hays State University.

DROPBACK: Wichita 55, HAWAIIAN 61 (5-16-03) – The Stealth came out of the gates well, but just couldn't seem to keep up with the Hawaiian Islanders. After a 30-28 halftime lead, the Stealth would only lead one more time and could never quite stop the Islanders. The Stealth fell to 4-3 on the season and one game out of first place in the West Division.

FORWARD MOTION: Wichita will return to the Kansas Coliseum on May 31st versus the Green Bay Blizzard. Then they will travel to Huntsville, Alabama to take on the Tennessee Valley Vipers.

TEAM NOTES/TRENDS:

RUN LIKE THE WIND: The Stealth come into the game with the 4th ranked rushing offense averaging 33.7 yards per game. The Pirates have the 22nd ranked rush defense averaging 23.1 yards per game. The Stealth will also bring into the game the 7th ranked rusher in the league in wide receiver/defensive back Dan Dawson (97 yards).

SACK HAPPY: These two teams enter this week's game ranked in the top six in the league in sacks. The Stealth are led by fullback/linebacker Brian Goolsby. Goolsby has four sacks on the season. Bryan Archibald who has 4.5 sacks on the season leads Peoria.

IN THE RED ZONE: The Stealth defense will be faced with a red zone offense of the Pirates that ranks first in the league. The Pirates score 86.8% of the time when they get in the red zone. The Stealth red zone defense ranks 9th in the league in red zone defense, shutting down teams 67.6% of the time.

PLAYERS/MATCHUPS TO WATCH:

Stealth offensive specialist Michael Dritlein: Dritlein continues to pile up league leading numbers in a variety of categories. He is on pace to break several af2 records. Last week versus Hawaii, he returned another missed field goal for a touchdown and ranks first in the league in all-purpose yards with 1,408.

Stealth offensive line versus Pirates' fullback/linebacker Bryan Archibald: The Stealth offensive line ranks 2nd in the league only giving up 3 sacks all season long. Bryan Archibald ranks 2nd in the league with 4.5 sacks. The Stealth line will need to be up to the task and keep him away from quarterback Anthony Buich.

KEY DATES IN TEAM/LEAGUE HISTORY:

March 12, 2003 – Key Sports, LLC takes over as Operator of the Wichita Stealth.

March 29, 2003 – The Wichita Stealth begin the Cortese era by defeating the Arkansas Twisters 46-28.

April 19, 2003 - The Stealth beat the Green Bay Blizzard, 41-26 for their first road win since June 29, 2002

April 26, 2003 - The Stealth defeated the Tulsa Talons 56-49 in overtime. This was the first time ever that Wichita has defeated the Talons.

May 3, 2003 - The Stealth defeated the Hawaiian Islanders 36-29 to take over sole possession of the West Division lead.

ALL-TIME STEALTH VERSUS THE PIRATES – PEORIA LEADS THE SERIES 3-0

August 3, 2002 --- PEORIA 37, Wichita 36

Stealth End Season With Playoff Loss

Peoria defeats Stealth with last second miss

Peoria, Ill. - The entire Stealth season was somewhat of a roller coaster ride. It began at the lowest point possible and eventually climbed to a berth in the Arena Cup playoffs. It seemed as though the ride would continue when the Stealth jumped out to a 20-point lead over the Peoria Pirates in the first quarter. Peoria battled back to take the lead by one, 37-36 late in the fourth quarter. Wichita would drive all the way down to the Pirates 3-yard line with 22 seconds left in the game. The Stealth ran the clock all the way down to one second, and gave Stealth place-kicker Phil Aguilar to win it with a 19-yard field goal. Unfortunately for Wichita the kick went wide left and the Peoria Pirates escaped a first round scare in front of 4,481 fans.

Both teams began with strong defensive stops before the Stealth finally got things going on an 8-yard pass from Ron Lopez to Will Sullivan for the first score of the game. The Stealth would string together 13 more points and shut out the Pirates in the first quarter. Peoria would do much of the same to the Stealth in the second quarter as they reeled off 13 unanswered points. Wichita would go into halftime ahead by seven points, 23-16.

Wichita's pressure on Peoria starting quarterback Walter Church was outstanding. The Stealth would sack Peoria's quarterbacks twice, and recorded five tackles for losses. Leading the way was ADT Defensive Player of the Game Bryan Henderson, who sacked Church once, recorded three other tackles, and made one other tackle for a 4-yard loss. Peoria would waste little time going to backup quarterback Matt Pike, who the Stealth harassed and eventually knocked out of the game with an injury.

Church would start to turn things around in the second half and pull Peoria within six points on a 1-yard touchdown pass to Atonis Brown with 3:50 left in the third quarter. The third quarter would end with the Stealth leading by six points, 36-30. Wichita was 15 minutes away from the second round of the playoffs, and their first win over the Peoria Pirates.

The fourth quarter saw both teams play protective. Wichita and Peoria were both unable to score on their first possessions of the fourth quarter. The Stealth would get the ball back when Peoria missed a 23-yard field goal. Wichita would start at their own 5-yard line and eventually face a fourth and five situation on the Stealth's own 15-yard line. Quarterback Ron Lopez and Offensive Specialist Corey McCoy were unable to connect and the Pirates took over with great field position. Four plays later the Pirates took their first lead of the game, 37-36 with 2:40 left in the game.

The ensuing kickoff would go out the back of the end zone, forcing Wichita to march 45 yards in 2:23 to win one of the best football games of the year. Lopez would lead the Stealth 42 yards on six plays to set up a possible game winning field goal with one second left. Peoria would spend all three time-outs in an effort to ice Stealth Kicker Phil Aguilar. When all of the mind games were over Aguilar had an opportunity to win by making a 19-yard field goal with virtually no time remaining, but the kick sailed wide left, and the Pirates celebration of relief began.

May 3, 2002 --- PEORIA 45, Wichita 18

PIRATES RAID THE STEALTH

Wichita falls in debut of offensive coordinator Bob Cortese

Peoria, Ill. - In the debut of new offensive coordinator Bob Cortese, the Stealth offense showed signs of improvement early in the game, but was once again plagued by interceptions as they fell to the Peoria Pirates 45-18 at the hands of the Pirates. Wichita fell to 1-4 on the season after the loss.

After jumping out to a 7-0 lead, on a 1-yard run by fullback/linebacker Rod Pickett, the Stealth offense seemed to bog down at crucial times in the game and were never able to regain the lead. The bright spot for Wichita was offensive specialist Pascal Volz, who caught nine passes for 104 yards. Stealth quarterback Matt Hicks finished the game 20-of-42 for 237 yards and one touchdown and two interceptions.

April 4, 2002 --- Peoria 30, WICHITA 21

STEALTH DROP FIRST GAME OF THE SEASON

Wichita loses defensive battle

Wichita, Kans. - What looked to be a promising start turned into a dismal end for the Wichita Stealth. On their opening drive Mike Burton found Xavier Patterson for a 12-yard completion which eventually led to a field goal by Gus Hauser from 43 yards away to give Wichita the lead 3-0. The Stealth defense then kicked in, stopping Peoria's first drive as Walter Church failed to complete a fourth-and-7 pass to Jermaine Shefield while on the Stealth's 16-yard line.

With the ball back and a 3-0 lead Wichita looked to start another successful drive from its own 16-yard line. It resulted in a frustrating drive as Burton connected twice with Pascal Volz and moved Wichita to the Peoria 8-yard line. The drive ended with no points, however, as Hauser missed a 24-yard field goal and Wichita started an unwanted trend of missed opportunities. Peoria struggled from the beginning, as it was unable to score in the entire first quarter.

Wichita began the second quarter with a bang as Burton connected with Patterson and Willie Grissom to move out of Stealth territory. After a holding call against the Stealth, Burton finally found Patterson deep in Pirate territory with a 37-yard touchdown as Patterson ran in untouched. It was Patterson's first touchdown as a member of the Stealth and gave Wichita a 9-0 lead. This would be the last scoring Wichita would see for a while.

Peoria came storming back with 10 unanswered points from a 32-yard field goal by Todd Kurz and 35-yard run bye Robert Meyer on a sweep play. Peoria led at the half 10-9 and the Stealth starting wondering how they could put points on the board.

The second half was filled with missed opportunities and penalties for the Stealth as Wichita committed 10 penalties for 67 yards -- something Peoria capitalized on. The combination of Walter Church and Ronnie Gordon helped Peoria control the clock and move the ball down the field successfully. Peoria's longest time of possession came near the end of the third quarter as they possessed the ball 6 minutes, 17 seconds, including a drive-ending touchdown pass from Church to Meyer to move the Pirates even further ahead 17-9. Wichita would show some signs of life near the end of the third quarter when Burton connected with Patterson for his second touchdown of the game and Wichita seemed to be right back in it.

But the penalties would prove to be the difference as every time the Stealth got into Pirate territory a penalty would force them backwards. Wichita would eventually fall behind by 12 after a 3-yard touchdown run by Brand Campbell and a 28-yard field goal by Kurz. Wichita would have one final push as Carl Richardson made a beautiful one-handed interception and returned it for a touchdown to draw Wichita to within six, 27-21. Peoria would shut the door, though. Wichita went for the two-point conversion but new quarterback Matt Hicks was unable to connect with Patterson at the goal line. From there Wichita was forced to try an on-side kick with only one timeout remaining in the game. Peoria recovered the kick at the 11-yard line and ran out the clock to claim their first victory of the season and win the first ever meeting between the two teams 30-21. A highlight for the Stealth was the impressive play of Brian Henderson. The lineman was a menace to the Peoria offensive line and Church, who Henderson sacked twice. Henderson made five total tackles and never allowed Church to get to comfortable in the pocket.

Wichita missed two field goals and two extra points and didn't get very much production at all on offense. Burton ended the game with only 124 yards, two touchdown passes, one interception. He and completed only 12 of 24 passes. Church had a great second half, which won him the game MVP award. He ended with 103 yards passing, 1 touchdown, 1 interception, and 16 of 34 pass completions.

The ADT defensive player of the game was Lincoln Dupree, who made eight tackles and one interception. Robert Meyer, who made two and a half tackles and scored one touchdown on a 35-yard run, won the Iron Man Award.

2003 Milestones

- March 29, 2003 – Stealth kicker Jason Corse sets a new team record for longest field goal with his 45-yarder versus Arkansas.
- April 26, 2003 – Stealth offensive specialist Michael Dritlein sets a new Stealth single game record with 202 yards receiving.
- April 26, 2003 – Dritlein ties a Stealth record for touchdown receptions in a game with 5.
- April 26, 2003 – The Stealth set a new team record for attendance with 7,138.

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