Week 1 Friday Night Previews

April 1, 2005

FLORIDA FIRECATS (0-0) AT MACON KNIGHTS (0-0)

FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2005 – MACON COLISEUM (7,128) 7:30 P.M. ET

The ArenaCup 2004 Champions look to pick up where they left off in their season opening game versus the Macon Knights. These two rivals have squared off nine times, with the Firecats holding a series edge 5-4. However, the Knights boast a victory in the last meeting between these two teams, a tough fought 43-34 decision.   Florida travels to Macon with some new weapons to show off in the season opener. af2 veterans QB MIKE GLUSKI, WR/LB XAVIER PATTERSON, and DS KELLY SNELL will be wearing Firecats’ uniforms for the first time. The trio each has had impressive af2 stints and look to step in for the departed QB KEN MASTROLE, OS CAINON LAMB, and DS QUINCY SORRELL. Mastrole’s influence will not be forgotten, as the veteran signal caller returns as Florida’s Offensive Coordinator.  The Knights return seven from last year’s team that finished a disappointing 3-13 season. Head coach MIKE HOLD will need to rely on new signal caller KENTON EVANS to help bring Macon’s offense back to life. The Knights to have some weapons in their receiving corps, with HOSEA LANEY and JAMAAL GARMAN returning. Defensively, ANDRE SLAPPEY is veteran af2 pass rusher with the potential to disrupt at the line. Laney led the team in tackles with 65 and in interceptions with 4.0 in 2004 and will be called upon to do double duty once again in 2005.

	FIRECATS	KNIGHTS
SERIES LEADER	Florida Leads Series 5-4
LAST MEETING	Macon won 43-34 at Florida on 6/26/2004
LAST FIVE GAMES	4-1	1-4
LAST GAME	Won vs. PEO 39-26 on 8/27/2004 in ArenaCup 2004	Lost vs. BIR 51-30 on 7/31/2004
2004 LEADERS	FIRECATS	KNIGHTS
PASSING	Mastrole: 466-276-11; 3390; 76 TDs	Burch: 208-122-6; 1207; 22 TDs
RECEIVING	Lamb: 98-1054; 28 TDs	Garman: 96-1059; 24 TDs
RUSHING	Gorrie: 110-500; 17 TDs	Jackson: 24-100; 2 TDs
TACKLES	Sorrell: 100.5	Laney: 65.5
SACKS	Morant: 4.0	Slappey: 2.0
INTERCEPTIONS	Sorrell/Stabler/Washington/Burnside: 2	Laney: 4.0
KICKING	Kornblue: 51-69 PAT; 2-7 FG 57 PTs	Ohliger: 44-64 PAT; 9-28 FG 71 PTs
TEAM OFFENSE	49.1 PPG; 257.4 YPG	37.4 PPG; 238.4 YPG
TEAM DEFENSE	38.2 PPG; 207.9 YPG	48.7 PPG; 247.4 YPG

ArenaCup Champion Firecats top preseason poll

March 30, 2005

CHICAGO – By securing 174 of a possible 228 points, the 2004 ArenaCup Champion Florida Firecats have earned the No. 1 ranking in the preseason Coaches Poll, the arenafootball2 (af2) league office announced today.

Florida’s total included eight first-place votes.  The Memphis Xplorers took the No. 2 spot with 135 points, including two first-place votes.  In third was the Quad City Steamwheelers with 133 points and one first-place vote.  Other teams receiving first place votes included the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz (2), the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers (3), the Tulsa Talons (2), the San Diego Riptide (1) and the Green Bay Blizzard (1).

Each week during the season af2 coaches will vote for the Top 12 teams in the league by ranking them one through 12 on a ballot.  Teams ranked first receive 12 points with the point value decreasing by one for each place below first, meaning a team ranked 12^th would receive one point.  Total points will determine the Top 12 list.  In the event of a tie in total points, the team with the greater number of first-place votes will be ranked higher.  The af2 Coaches Poll will be announced every Tuesday during the regular season. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own team and the poll results have no bearing on postseason qualification.

The complete Top 12 is listed below.  The number in parentheses indicates the number of first place votes the team received. 

PRESEASON TOP 12

Other teams receiving significant votes this week include the Albany Conquest (48 points), the Macon Knights (45) and the Manchester Wolves (45 points).

About af2

Kicking off its sixth season in 4 days, af2 serves as a vehicle to bring Arena Football to second-tier cities and as a developmental league with an unmatched history of sending players, coaches and officials to major professional football leagues each year.  af2 operates under the same Mission Statement and Fans’ Bill of Rights as the Arena Football League, which is currently in its 19^th season and third on NBC.  Log on to www.af2.com for more information.

Courtesey of Af2.com

8-17-04

CHICAGO – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers, who have secured home field advantage throughout the 2004 ArenaCup playoffs, and the South Division Champion Florida Firecats each had a league-high five players named to the 2004 All–af2 First and Second Teams, as 20 of the league’s 25 teams received representation on either the American or National Conference All-af2 First and Second Teams as voted on by the league’s head coaches.

QB TIM HICKS and OL/DL UFUOMA PELA earned first-team mentions for the Pioneers, while OS J.R. THOMAS, WR/LB LEROY MCFADDEN and OL/DL NATE BANDY took second-team honors.  The Firecats led the American Conference with three first-team selections.  They were: WR/LB CAINON LAMB, FB/LB STEVE GORRIE and DS QUINCY SORRELL.  The Columbus Wardogs and Memphis Xplorers were the only other American Conference teams to receive multiple first-team selections.  Memphis had ST KEVIN PRENTISS and OL/DL JOE CREAR.  Columbus had DS TERRELL SUTTON and WR/DB ADRIAN COCKFIELD.

In the National Conference, all four of the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz named to the All-af2 team were first-team selections: They were: QB CRAIG STRICKLAND, WR/LB AL HUNT, OL/DL JAMES LANDERS and K PETER MARTINEZ.  The Rio Grande  Valley Dorados was the only other National Conference team to receive multiple first-team selections with OL/DL SPENCER CONLEY and DS EDDIE MOTEN.