Sports stats

Winners in five of their last seven games, Destroyers travel to take on Crush

May 15, 2007 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Columbus Destroyers News Release


COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Columbus Destroyers (6-4), presented by Germain, will travel to face the Colorado Crush (7-4) on Frontier Field at Pepsi Center on Friday, May 18. Kickoff is set for 9 p.m. (ET).

THIS WEEK: The teams will face-off for the third time in history with the series tied at one game apiece. On Mar. 25 last season the Destroyers used a 27-point second quarter and outscored the Crush 31-14 in the final half on their way to a 65-21 victory on Frontier Field at Pepsi Center. The 44-point victory is the franchise's largest margin of victory over an opponent. The Destroyers defense forced seven turnovers in the game (3 interceptions, 4 forced fumbles), while the offense scored on all eight possessions in the red-zone. The two-time Arena Football League Offensive Player of the Year Damian Harrell leads the 2007 edition of the Crush. On the season, the Florida State University graduate, has hauled in 82 passes for 1,001 yards and 31 touchdowns. Crush quarterback John Dutton has completed 262-of-432 passes for 2,916 yards and 58 touchdowns this season. The 262 completions are ranked third amongst all quarterback's in the AFL.

PRACTICE SCHEDULE: The practice schedule for this week is below. Practices times and locations are subject to change. All practices at the Columbus FieldHouse are open to the public. Practices/Walk-Thru's at Nationwide Arena are closed to the public.

Day Event Time Place

Tuesday, May 15 Practice 9:30-11:35 a.m. Columbus FieldHouse

Wednesday, May 16 Practice 9-11a.m. Columbus FieldHouse

Thursday, May 17 Walk-Thru Practice 9-10 a.m. Columbus FieldHouse

LAST WEEK: The Destroyers defeated the Grand Rapids Rampage 59-56 in front of 12,014 fans on Huntington Field at Nationwide Arena last Friday night. The Destroyers move to 5-1 on the season at home and have won five consecutive games at home. Ironman of the Game B.J. Barre had another strong outing as he caught one touchdown, rushed for a score and added eight tackles (7UT-2AT). The team's leading tackler Brandon Hefflin took home Defensive Player of the Game honors as he led all defenders with 10 tackles (9UT-2AT) with two pass breakups. Quarterback Matt Nagy completed 16-of-23 passes for 173 yards, four touchdowns passing and rushed for one touchdown. He now has 203 completions on the season giving him four consecutive seasons of over 200 completions.

NEXT WEEK: The Destroyers will return to Huntington Field at Nationwide Arena for a battle with the Dallas Desperados (10-1) owners of the AFL's best record. The Desperados clinched a playoff spot last Monday night by defeating the Chicago Rush (8-2) 52-48 on Russell Athletic ESPN Arena Football Monday Night. The meeting will be the second of the year between the two Eastern Division rivals. On Apr. 5, the Destroyers traveled to the Lone Star State and put together a brilliant first half against the Desperados holding their potent offense to 14 points. The second half proved to be a different story as the Desperados scored on all possessions in the second half culminating with a Todd Sievers 16-yard field goal as time expired to give the Desperados a 53-51 victory.

"WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE": The 2007 Columbus Destroyers have set a season franchise mark with five wins on Huntington Field at Nationwide Arena. The team bested the 2006 squad and the 2002 Buffalo Destroyers whom all won four games at home in their respective seasons. The 2002-03 Buffalo Destroyers put together a string of seven consecutive wins at home over the course of two seasons.

WHAT'S SO SPECIAL? The Destroyers special teams are providing a much-needed boost to the team's overall game, ranking among league leaders in kick returns. Kick returners Damien Groce (27 KOR for 649 yards and 2 TD's) and Josh Bush (22 KOR for 450 yards and 2 TD's) have supplied great starting field position for the offense at the midway point of the season. The two have combined for 1,099 yards on 49 kick returns and four touchdowns. The team's kick return average of 21.3 yards per return leads the AFL.

TAKE IT AWAY NOW: A season ago the Destroyers finished with the 2nd best give-away, take-away ratio in the AFL with a +14. This season the defense has 17 take-away's (nine interceptions and eight fumbles recovered) giving the team an overall +7 give-away, take-away ratio that ties them for 5th in the league. Jerald Brown leads the team with three interceptions and David Saunders leads the team with two fumble recoveries.

The Chicago Rush lead the league with a +18 give-away, take-away ratio. The Rush have the league lead with 16 interceptions and 15 fumble recoveries.

DESTROYERS ON TELEVISION: The next edition of Columbus Sports Network's weekly magazine show, Destroyers Digest, will air on Wednesday, May 16 at 6 p.m. The show provides in-depth coverage and analysis of the team and the AFL. CSN's lead anchor Ray Crawford is the host of the half-hour show. Scheduled to appear on this week's show is Head Coach Doug Kay, QB Matt Nagy, WR/DB B.J. Barre, WR Marcus Knight, DB Brandon Hefflin and DL Bernard Riley . FSN Ohio will tape-delay the broadcast of this week's game with the Colorado Crush. The game will air on Saturday, May 19 at Noon.

ON THE AIRWAVES: This week's contest between the Destroyers and the Crush can be heard on your home for Destroyers football, the new WINK 107.1 FM with the broadcast tandem of Steve Sefner (play-by-play) and Rob Blackman (color commentator) on the call. Tune in at 8:30 p.m. (ET) as the Destroyers pre-game show gets underway with a one-on-one interview with Destroyers Head Coach Doug Kay, player interviews and insider information.

GAME PROMOTIONS: On Saturday, May 26, the Destroyers will host Youth and Amateur Football Night presented by Wendy's. The first 5,000 fans in attendance will receive an instructional CD, compliments of USA Football. Germain Racing's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers, Todd Bodine and Ted Musgrave will be in attendance. They will sign autographs and on display will be the #30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota Tundra race truck. ADT Rally Towels will be given out to fans in attendance. Dispatch/Mix 97.1 Family Night presented by Wendy's packages are available. Receive four tickets, four hot dogs, four Pepsi's, four popcorns, one foam football, four Dispatch Ice Haus skate passes and four Wendy's Frosty coupons for as low as $66. The Huntington $10 Ticket Blitz offers a minimum of 225 lower bowl seats to each home game for just $10. They will be available at the Nationwide Arena Box Office two hours prior to every home game. The Destroyers and Giant Eagle are teaming up with the Mid-Ohio FoodBank to TACKLE HUNGER in Central Ohio. Last year, with the help of fans, the Destroyers raised enough resources to provide over 27,000 meals to those in need. Fans are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items to all Destroyers home games to receive a raffle ticket. In addition, if fans bring a Giant Eagle branded non-perishable food item they will receive a voucher for $3 off a regularly priced ticket.

TICKET INFORMATION: Single game tickets are now on sale at the Nationwide Arena Box Office, ticketmaster outlets and The Blueline locations at Chiller Dublin, Chiller Easton, Chiller North and the Mall at Tuttle Crossing. Single game tickets for the 2007 season are available for as low as $12 by visiting www.ColumbusDestroyers.com. For information on season tickets call (877) COLS-AFL. Groups of 10 or more are eligible for group rates by calling (614) 246-HITS.



Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from May 15, 2007


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Columbus Destroyers Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central