AFL Week 10 Recap

Pro Football Fans Staff Writer Chad Fukoka brings us his latest recap of the past week in the Arena Football League.

• The Cleveland Gladiators came back from a small defecit to stun the Philadelphia Soul, 67-55. The Soul were expected to cruise to an easy victory after defeating Dallas a week before, and in the beginning of the game it appeared likely, as the Soul jumped out to a 13-0 lead. Raymond Philyaw completed 25 passes for 290 yards and 5 touchdowns as the Gladiators showcased their explosive and opportunistic offense. Otis Amey and Robert Redd both had over 100 receiving yards and Amey also caught 4 touchdown passes. Cleveland trailed by 7 at halftime, but scored the first two touchdowns to open the second half, and socred the final two touchdowns to close out the game. TheSoul offense, widely regarded as the best in the league, were forced into three turnovers and the combined 6 touchdowns and 287 yards by both Soul quarterbacks were not enough. Larry Brackins led Philadelphia with 14 receptions for 146 yards and 2 scores.

• Colorado continued its week-by-week improvement and effort to prepare themselves for the playoffs by crushing Grand Rapids, 63-28. The Rampage were limited to only 7 points in the second half and were stopped 6 times in the game. Colorado scored a touchdown on all of their first half possessions and doubled up on the Rampage by halftime, leading 42-21. John Dutton threw 5 touchdowns and completed 34 passes for 319 yards. Little used receiver Aaron Hosack was the surprise performer for the Crush, catching 10 passes for 88 yards and 4 scores. Willie Quinnie also had 10 receptions, but did not score despite recording 118 yards. James McPherson threw for 230 yards and 3 touchdowns in the loss. Kenny Higgins was the leading receiver with 7 receptions for 122 yards and 2 touchdowns. Grand Rapids put up just 223 yards of total offense and the 28 points was a season low.

• Although Georgia has traditionally been a tough environment to play in, the 66-39 victory by the Force came as a complete surprise. Georgia is much better on offense at home and it showed in this matchup as the Force scored 9 touchdowns and outscored the VooDoo in every quarter. Chris Greisen passed for 6 touchdowns and 290 yards and Troy Bergeron caught 9 passes for 137 yards and 4 touchdowns. Georgia had 11 rushing attempts and 3 rushing touchdowns which is a little unusual since the Force were near the bottom of the AFL in rushing attempts. Danny Wimprine was pressured throughout the game and only completed half of his passes. His 5 touchdowns were well below his average and he also threw 2 interceptions. The VooDoo played their second-string and inexperienced receivers and the sudden dropoff in talent was unable to be compensated for. Georgia never trailed and maintained a double-digit lead from early in the second quarter.

• Dallas displayed their poise and veteran leadership as they rallied from a 33-20 halftime defecit to beat the Columbus Destroyers, 48-45. The Desperados committed three turnovers but that couldn't stop them from picking up a road victory. Clint Dolezel threw for 7 touchdowns and 291 yards and Marcus Nash and Will Pettis were the top receivers witha total of 228 yards and all 7 touchdown receptions. Pettis also put on a solid performance on special teams, returning 7 kickoffs for a 21.7 yard average. In a losing effort, Matt Nagy completed 21 passes for 267 yards and 4 touchdowns. Their were the same struggles on offense for Columbus, as Harold Lee stepped up with 12 receptions for 160 yards and 2 scores, but nobody else had more than 5 receptions or 1 touchdown for the Destroyers. Columbus had 2 possessions of 10 plays or more than ended up as turnovers on downs as the Dallas defense refused to allow any quick scores.

• Orlando recorded their 7th victory in 8 games as they defeated San Jose, 61-35. The Sabercats were shut down in the first half, scoring only 1 touchdown. San Jose put up a season low 35 points and were forced into 3 fumbles and 2 interceptions. Orlando lead 27-7 at the half and the outcome of the game was never really in doubt. Shane Stafford completed 18 passes for 216 yards and 2 touchdowns and the Predators added 2 rushing scores. Orlando had 4 non-offensive touchdowns, on a fumble recovery, two interception returns and a kickoff return. The Sabercats could not overcome a huge halftime decefit and Mark Grieb passed for 5 touchdowns and 231 yards. James Rose had 3 touchdown receptions and 97 receiving yards. Rodney Wright had a terrific game with 8 receptions for 111 yards and 1 touchdown, but also had 10 kickoff returns with 1 21.8 yard average. San Jose is still struggling to find the championship-level performances it had last year, but luckily their 5-5 record puts them in a decent spot for the playoffs in the weak American Conference. Orlando is 7-3 and tied with New Orleans for first place in the Southern Division.

• Utah finally won their first game, making sure that they will not be the first team to be winless for a season, although making the playoffs is very unlikely. Joe Germaine built upon his excellent passing statistics with 8 touchdowns and 337 yards, and this time it resulted in a win. Huey Whittaker caught 11 passes for 117 yards and 4 scores and JJ McKelvey had 6 receptions for 88 yards and 2 scores. Utah lead by 12 at halftime and extended the margin to 16 entering the fourth quarter. Kansas City had 258 passing yards and 5 touchdowns. Mike Horacek, Cesare Manning and Jerel Myers all had 8 receptions or more and they combined for 253 yards and all 5 touchdown receptions. This was only the second time that Utah held a team to under 60 points.

• Los Angeles picked up a much needed divisional win as they beat Arizona, 66-59. The Avengers were tied 38-38 at halftime after a high scoring second quarter that produced 52 points and 7 touchdowns. Los Angeles trailed by 7 after the third quarter, giving up the only score to Arizona. They rallied for 28 fourth quarter points, scoring consecutive touchdowns after a rushing score and a kickoff recovery in the end zone. Tim Hicks, now the starter on for Los Angeles, threw for 6 touchdowns and 328 yards. Timon Marshall, LaShaun Ward and Kevin Ingram each had 2 touchdown receptions and combined for 16 receptions and 281 yards. Lang Campbell passed for 7 touchdowns and 277 yards in the defeat. Siaha Burley had 3 touchdown receptions and 95 yards. Trandon Harvey caught 7 passes for 99 yards and 2 scores and returned 8 kickoffs for a 19.8 yard average. Todd Devoe was a nice surprise as he contributed 8 receptions for 74 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Rattlers offense, which was impressive in the first half, could not generate the game-tying score, on the final play a hook and ladder attempt came up short as the receiver was tackled at the Los Angeles 5-yard line as time expired.

• Chicago defeated Tampa Bay, 51-46, to improve to 8-2 with the best record in the American Conference. After the game was tied at halftime, Chicago scored consecutive touchdowns to take a 13-point lead and stopped a desparate Storm comeback attempt late in the fourt quarter. Russ Michna threw for 4 touchdowns and completed a lot of short passes, with 18 completions for 184 yards. Travis LaTendresse was the primary receiver with 9 receptions for 98 yards and 3 scores. Brett Dietz completed 21 passes for 290 yards and 3 touchdowns in the loss and the 9 receptions for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns by Lawrence Samuels still was not enough. Tampa Bay cut the lead to 5 points with 28 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, but failed to receover the onside kick and Chicago was able to run out the clock.

• Joe Germaine leads the AFL with 64 touchdown passes and 3148 passing yards and has a 68.9% completion percentage, but has only lead the Blaze to 1 win and their 1-9 record is the worst in the league.

• Five quarterbacks have 50 or more touchdown passes on the season, and the top four scoring teams all are leading or are tied for the lead in their division.

By Chad Fukoka
ProFootball-fans.com Staff Writer

> Check out Chad's Arena Football Rules & AFL Basics article and see how your team is doing in the 2008 AFL standings as AFL teams continue to battle for a chance to play in Arena Bowl XXII!