Pirates prepare for `battle`
Steve Robinson
Friday July 9, 2004
That’s because, unfortunately for head coach Bruce Cowdrey’s Pirates, the three previous games Peoria has had against the Bossier City-Shreveport Battle Wings, have been losing battles.
Peoria is 0-3 against Bossier City-Shreveport, with the last confrontation ending in a 60-40 Battle Wings win at Carver Arena on July 6, 2003.
Peoria enters CenturyTel Center on a continuing high, having grounded Quad City in Moline last Friday, 29-13, while the Battle Wings will be looking to recover from a 67-61 stumble in overtime last week at the hands of the Arkansas Twisters.
Peoria defenders will have to reacquaint themselves with Battle Wings quarterback Sherard Poteete, who is still at the controls, and will be looking to continue evading Peoria defenders much as he has in previous games. Against Arkansas last week, Poteete was 19-for-33 for 278 yards and six touchdowns, five of them in the first half.
Camp’s Done: Kicker Louie Aguilar will rejoin the Pirates for the game against the Battle Wings. He exited the team last month to conduct kids’ football camps he had a prior commitment to prior to signing with the Pirates.
Rookie Coach: Shreveport-Bossier City has a new head coach in Keith Barefield, who has spent most of his coaching career at the college level, most recently at a small college in San Antonio, Texas. Barfield’s professional credentials also include acting as a regional scout for the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos.
League Takes Over Wichita: Financial difficulties have caused Wichita Stealth operator David Key to turn over control of the franchise to the af2 league office for the rest of the season. Published reports out of Wichita say Key is facing numerous lawsuits involving his Wichita-based maintenance company. In turn, Key feared his creditors would likely add the Stealth to Key’s list of liabilities.
In a statement issued Friday by the league, Jay Marcus, af2 executive director, said, “The Stealth is and always has been a successful organization. The city of Wichita and the Stealth fans have always been very supportive of their team, and we look forward to their continued team support while af2 pursues investors within the Wichita community.”
Wichita joined Peoria as an af2 member in 2001, with both teams calling the Midwest Division home for two seasons.
In 2003, economics caused a league division shuffle, with Wichita moving to the Western Division. At that time, economics were a consideration because of the distance between the league’s west coast-based teams and what was then the closest inland team to them. The league narrowed the choices for a division move between Wichita and Peoria, and opted to move the Stealth into the Western Division.
Ron Deuter, public relations director for the league, said earlier in the season that the Southwest U. S. is being considered for future teams, but said any announcements on expansion, if there are any, would not be made until after the 2004 season.
The Peoria-Wichita series is knotted 3-all, which includes two Wichita wins this season and a Peoria 37-36 victory in the 2002 playoffs, which the Pirates used as a springboard toward winning af2’s ArenaCup III championship.
Steve Robinson, a freelance writer since 1984, has written about the Peoria Pirates since the Pirates were members of Indoor Football League, beginning in 1999. He covers the Pirates currently for the Bloomington IL Pantagraph.
