Shock stay on top in week 17 Coaches Poll

Wednesday July 16, 2008

CHICAGO – The Spokane Shock have maintained the No. 1 ranking in the Week 17 Coaches Poll, the arenafootball2 (af2) league office announced today. The Shock (13-1) collected 444 of a possible 448 points and 25-of-29 first place votes in securing the top position for the third consecutive week. Spokane went undefeated on the road, only the fourth team to do so in af2 history, with their defeat of the Stockton Lightning by a score of 65-41 on Saturday. The Shock boast the league’s best record and clincehd home field advantage throughout the playoffs with their Week 16 win. Next week the Shock will host the Quad City Steamwheelers in Spokane.

The rest of the Top-5 this week fall into place as follows: No. 2 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, No. 3 Arkansas, No. 4 South Georgia and No. 5 Tulsa all played in Week 16. The Pioneers (13-2, 420 points, 3 first place votes), who have won 19 straight games at Wachovia Arena dating back to 2006, hosted Peoria this past Saturday and will play host to Mahoning Valley this upcoming weekend. Arkansas (10-4, 371 points, 1 first place vote) hosts Bossier-Shreveport on Saturday in an opportunity to tie the Talons for second in the division. The Twisters, who are one game behind Tulsa (11-3, 346 points) in the Central Division standings, have won seven games in a row. The streak includes big wins over the Talons and Lubbock. The South Georgia Wildcats (10-4, 364 points) travel to Peoria on Saturday. Tulsa heads to Oklahoma City this weekend. The complete Top 16 is listed below. The number in parentheses indicates the number of first place votes the team received.

WEEK 16 TOP 16
RANK	TEAM	PTS
1	Spokane	444 (25)
2	W-B/Scranton	420 (3)
3	Arkansas	371 (1)
4	South Georgia	364
5	Tulsa	346
6	Green Bay	276
7	Tennessee Valley	267
8	Lexington	265
9	Florida	235
10	Austin	207
11	Lubbock	169
11	Central Valley	169
13	Boise	120
14	Louisville	79
15	Bossier-Shreveport	74
16	Manchester	61

Each week during the season af2 coaches will vote for the Top 16 teams in the league by ranking them one through 16 on a ballot. Teams ranked first receive 16 points with the point value decreasing by one for each place below first, meaning a team ranked 16th would receive one point. Total points will determine the Top 16 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 Wednesday during the regular season. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own team and the poll results have no bearing on postseason qualification.

About af2
In Week 16 of its ninth season with a 29-team membership, af2 serves as a vehicle to bring Arena Football to small-to-midsize 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 the midst of its 22nd season. Log on to www.af2.com for more information.