Breaking it Down – Week 20 2011 & Playoff Preview

Andy Lopusnak
Thursday July 28, 2011

• The Power got its first lead with 1:32 left in the first half and never trailed the rest of the way.
• Pittsburgh had former Spokane QB Bill Stull start under center and he completed 60% of his passes for 260 yards with six touchdowns. His favorite tarter was Michael Washington, who grabbed 11 balls for 155 yards with four scores. 
• The Soul welcomed back WR Donovan Morgan who missed the team's previous game because he signed with the UFL and returned because that fledgling league delayed the start of training camps by 30 days due to financial woes. Morgan posted his AFL-lead tying 13th 100-yard receiving game after catching six passes for 112 yards with one TD.
• Philadelphia QB Ryan Vena tossed for 267 yards with three TDs and an interception. The pick was his 22nd on the year. In the last two seasons, Vena has thrown for more interceptions (45) than any QB in any two-year period in league history.
• This game featured just four total penalties.
• The announced attendance of 16,429 is the largest in the league this season beating the previous high of 16,233 for Spokane's outdoor game in Week 18. Philly's all-time high for a game is 18,741 set in 2008 against Columbus.

• The playoff-bound Gladiators tied the game with 21 seconds to go, but left too much time on the clock and Utah scored with four ticks left when Todd Hammel hit Justin Ore on a 29-yard strike to win the game. Cleveland scored its TD on first down. Poor clock management strikes again.
• Blaze QB Todd Hammel completed 70.1% of his passes for 355 yards with seven scores and an interception.
• The 76 points scored by Utah was the highest allowed by Cleveland all season. Entering the game, the Glads had the stingiest defense but after the Utah points spree Cleveland's defense finished the season third in least points allowed.
• Blaze KR Chris Bocage returned seven kicks for 163 yards including one he returned 56 yards for a touchdown.
• Utah hit its first field goal of the season in the game - a 34-yarder as time expired in the first half.
• Cleveland used two QBs with similar results. Kurt Rocco was 10-of-15 for 118 yards with four touchdowns and Troy Weatherhead was 10-of-14 for 178 yards with four scores.
• The Glads were without star receiver Troy Bergeron because of the NFL lockout situation, but Dominic Goodman stepped in and posted his best game of the season with 12 catches for 144 yards with four scores.
• Gladiators WR/KR Robert Redd tallied 253 all-purpose yards and three scores in the loss.
• Cleveland MLB Tom Cheatwood posted a sack and finished the season tied with Tampa Bay's Cliff Dukes for the league lead with 12.5.
• Cleveland enters the playoffs losing two of its last three games and hasn't played a team with a winning record since beating Georgia 62-48 six games ago. Luckily, for the Glads, they host Georgia this week.

• Sharks WR/KR Jeff Hughley took the opening kickoff 57 yards for a touchdown and finished with 225 all-purpose yards and three scores.
• Spokane successfully made a 2-point drop kick extra point after its first touchdown - the first in the AFL since 2005.
• The game was tied at 26 with 38 seconds left in the first half, but Spokane left too much time on the clock and Jacksonville scored again and never trailed the rest of the way.
• Sharks QB Aaron Garcia played on the first half since Jacksonville was playing for nothing and he completed 60% of his passes for 117 yards with four touchdowns. His replacement, Omar Jacobs tossed four scores in the second half, including a 31-yard score on his first pass attempt.
• Garcia went over the 50,000-career passing yardage mark in the game.
• Seven different Shock players caught passes in the game.
• The Sharks have beaten the Shock in the regular season finale in back-to-back season with both contests taking place in Jacksonville.  

• Tampa Bay scored the game's first points and its last on defensive returns for scores. Michael Hawthorne scooped up a loose fumble after a botched snap and returned it 36 yards for a TD two minutes into the game. On the game's final play with the SaberCats down seven, San Jose QB Mark Grieb heaved a prayer towards the end zone (it worked against SJ last week) and Erick McIntosh leapt for the errant ball and ran weaved through SaberCats defenders for a 46-yard interception return as time expired.
• Grieb set league records for passing yards on a season and interceptions thrown in the loss.
• Tampa Bay started its fifth QB of the season (a franchise high). Local USF QB Matt Grothe got his first start and completed just 50% of his passes but most were for big gains against the bad San Jose pass coverage, including three scores of over 20 yards.
• Storm rookie WR Amarri Jackson's first four catches went for touchdowns and he finished with six grabs for 116 yards with four TDs.
• Over his last 11 games, Jackson has posted 110 catches for 1,346 yards with 31 touchdowns.
• San Jose FB Chad Cook had 33 rushing yards on seven carries with a touchdown. He also had three receptions for 43 yards. Cook's 30 rushing scores on the season rank third all-time in league single-season history.
• SaberCats WR James Roe became the 11th player in league history to amass 10,000 career receiving yards and finished with eight catches for 98 yards with three scores. 
• Storm DL Jermaine Smith posted two sacks in the game and the team set a league record for sacks in a season (40).
• San Jose was 1-8 on the road this season and lost five games while leading in the final 30 seconds.

• New Orleans led early, but a 28-point second quarter put the game away for Orlando.
• VooDoo WR/KR P.J. Berry set the league single-season record for all-purpose yardage and total kickoff returns during the game. He finished the game with 292 all-purpose yards and three scores.
• Orlando WR Bobby Sippio had 14 catches for 166 yards with four scores in the game. He didn't have a catch for the game's final 22 minutes.
• Predators DB Rayshaun Kizer set league records for interceptions (16) and interception return yards (237) in the win. In his first two AFL season, Kizer has recorded more interceptions (28) than any player in any two-year period in league history. His 28 picks already rank him 28th all-time in league history.
• Kizer's teammate Kenny McEntyre seized his AFL record 96th career interception in his final AFL regular season game. FYI, in McEntyre's first two AFL season, he had seven interceptions.
• Orlando QB Nick Hill tossed seven touchdowns and just eight incompletions in the game. He also ran for 38 yards and finished the season with 391 yards on the ground - the fifth most in league history (third most by a QB). Hill's 97 passing scores were fourth most in the league this season.
• Orlando (16-95) had four times as many penalties in the win as New Orleans (4-18).
• The Predators failed to convert any of its three third down conversion attempts.
• Orlando had a season high attendance of 14,982 and was the only team to have at least 10,000 at every home game in 2011. The Predators led the league in attendance by nearly 2,000 more than the next closest team (Tampa Bay).

• The Mustangs never trailed and led 30-6 midway through the second quarter thanks to two fumble recoveries for scores by Broderick Stewart.
• Chicago was led once again by WR/KR Reggie Gray, who caught nine passes for 123 yards with five scores.
• Gray set an AFL rookie record with 49 total receiving touchdowns in a season. The previous record was set by Arizona's Rod Windsor (47) last year in a 16-game schedule.
• J.J. Raterink started under center for the Rush but after four sacks and an interception was benched for Dominic Randolph who tossed three score, but was picked off twice.
• The Mustangs beat the Rush last season in the playoffs (when Milwaukee was called the Iron) before losing to eventual ArenaBowl champion Spokane in the National Conference championship game. This year, the Mustangs were 7-11. 

• The Talons never trailed and posted a season-high 31 first downs in the game.
• Tulsa QB Justin Allgood completed 73.8% of his passes for 310 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. It was his first 300-yard passing game since Week One when he was the starter for the Philadelphia Soul.
• Talons rookie WR Troy McBroom caught the game's first touchdown and finished the game with 12 catches for 142 yards. 
• In a losing effort, Kansas City averaged 16.2 yards per completion (Tulsa averaged 9.6).
• Command QB Steve Wasil tossed three interceptions that lead to two Tulsa touchdowns.
• Tulsa FB/LB Jamar Ransom ran for three touchdowns and had two solo tackles.
• If you include the ten years that the Tulsa was a member of the af2, this season is the worst in its twelve years playing Arena Football rules football and first not making the playoffs. The eight wins are the lowest since the 9-7 inaugural af2 season of 2000.

• Georgia scored with 25 seconds left to take a four-point lead (on second down) which gave the Barnstormers time to call four plays. Luckily for the Force, rookie WR Maurice Purify picked off a pass to preserve the win and secure the #3 spot in the American Conference playoffs.
• Force FB/LB Benji McDowell scored the game-winning touchdown (his only rush of the game). Then defensively, he posted four sacks, a forced fumble and 6.5 stops.
• Georgia QB Darnell Kennedy made his first AFL start and tossed for 373 yards with seven TDs and an interception. He also had a rushing touchdown.
• Two Iowa receivers each caught 12 passes on the night. AFL TD king Jesse Schmidt had 170 yards and five scores on his dozen catches, while Marques Hamilton had 139 yards and a touchdown.
• It was the tenth double-digit catch game for Schmidt. He's had at least two TD catches in each of his last 17 games (was shutout in first game of the season),
• Georgia WR Maurice Purify, back after missing the past two games, caught six passes for 125 yards with three touchdowns and made the game-preserving interception as time expired. 
• The Barnstormers posted its highest attendance of the season and best since Week Four of last year in the loss. Iowa started the season 2-1, but finished it 3-12.
• Georgia enters the playoffs winning four of its last six contests, including winning its last three road contests. This week, the Force travel to Cleveland - the last team to beat Georgia away from home.

• Arizona never trailed, though Dallas tied the game four times, en route to its ninth straight win and AFL regular season record 16th victory.
• Rattlers QB Nick Davila tied the AFL record for most passing touchdowns in a single-season (117) after tossing eight of them to just nine incompletions.
• Five of those scores went to WR Chris Jackson on just seven catches.
• In a losing effort, Dallas WR Tiger Jones added 10 catches and 133 yards to end the season with the most catches and yards in the league. His 2,232 receiving yards and 171 receptions rank second all-time in league single-season history to Rod Windsor's unbelievable 2010 campaign.
• Dallas FB Derrick Ross scored his team's first three touchdowns and finished the season with the second-most rushing scores in league history (39) and shattered the rushing yardage record by over 150 yards.
• In fact, despite being a rookie, Ross ranks 30th all-time in career rushing yards in league history (tied for 26th all-time in rushing TDs). If Ross duplicated his exact 2011 season next year, he'd rank sixth all-time in rushing yards and seventh in rushing touchdowns.
• Dallas enters the postseason with two straight losses and has lost to all three National Conference playoff opponents.
• The Vigilantes posted drew a team-record 12,866 for the game and has had two straight games with over 10,000. None of Dallas' first 15 home games dating back to its inaugural season last year drew more than 9,876.