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AFL Week 5 Recap & Kristy Lee Cook

Another week of arena football has passed, and below are a few of our observations.

 

  • Chicago continued their dominating performance in the AFL, defeating the Arizona Rattlers 59-35. The game was tied 14-14 early in the second quarter before the Rush scored two consecutive touchdowns to take a big halftime lead. Sherdrick Bonner threw five touchdown passes, three to Damian Harrell. The Rush forced three interceptions and a fumble, holding Arizona to just one touchdown in 28 minutes of play during the second and third quarters. This game marked the first time that the Rattlers had faced former quarterback Sherdrick Bonner after his 14 seasons with the Arizona franchise.

  • Philadelphia moved to 5-0 with a win over the Tampa Bay Storm. Both quarterbacks had near-perfect performances, Matt D'Orazio passed for 7 touchdowns, 296 yards and no interceptions, while Brett Dietz threw for 6 touchdowns, 400 yards and no interceptions. In a tight game, two Storm fumbles proved to be the difference. The Soul scored with 38 seconds left to take an 8-point lead and knocked down a game-tying touchdown pass on the final play.



  • In two games, Matt D'Orazio has thrown for 15 touchdowns, no interceptions, and 702 yards. On the season, Philadelphia quarterbacks have passed for 35 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Star receiver Chris Jackson has caught 19 touchdowns and has a total of 538 receiving yards, while his teammate Larry Brackins has 11 touchdowns and 551 yards.

  • San Jose squeaked out a less than impressive 44-36 victory over the winless Kansas City Brigade. Mark Grieb only had 1 touchdown pass, but receiver Rodney Wright had a huge game with 14 receptions for 165 yards. The 3 Sabercats field goals gave them their winning margin of victory.

  • Although the Brigade lost, they showed a lot of competitiveness and desire by giving the defending champs a close game. Two consecutive stops in Sabercats territory late in the third and early in the fourth prevented them from getting the victory. The defense played much better, allowing 44 points and only 5 touchdowns, they came into this matchup allowing 64 points per game, the worst in the league.

  • The Orlando Predators picked up their first road victory, beating Columbus 47-44. In a defensive battle, the Predators and Destroyers traded scores throughout the game, until John Vaughn kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired to give Orlando a narrow win. There were just 3 defensive stops in the game, despite the low score, and back-to-back touchdowns and a safety gave Orlando an early lead, which they maintained. The Destroyers were stopped just once on a safety, and this was one of the few instances where a team was not stopped by an interception, fumble, turnover on downs or missed field goal attempt and still lost the game.

  • Chris Greisen threw 8 touchdown passes and had 248 yards in Georgia's decisive 70-49 win at Utah. Tiger Jones was the leading receiver for the Force with 5 touchdowns and 131 yards on 9 receptions. Joe Germaine threw for 7 touchdowns in a losing effort. The Utah Blaze are 0-5 with the league's worst record, and this was their first double-digit loss on the season.

  • The Rampage had another surprising scoring outburst in an 84-59 home win over the Los Angeles Avengers. Chris Martin returned 3 kickoffs for touchdowns and Grand Rapids scored 56 points in the first half.The Rampage scored 21 straight points in the first 5 minutes. James MacPherson passed for 5 touchdowns in the victory, and the defense caused 3 fumbles and an interception, leading to quick scores.

  • Dallas pulled out a 33-31 win over the struggling New York Dragons, after they blocked a field goal and the ball rolled through the end zone for a safety. The defenses combined for 7 stops and each offense produced just 4 touchdowns and a field goal. The 64 total points is the lowest for any game this season.

  • New Orleans improved to 4-1 with a win at Colorado. Danny Wimprine continued building on his amazing season, with 6 touchdowns and 314 yards with just 1 interception. James Jordan and Javarus Dudley both had 9 receptions and 106 yards for the VooDoo, and Jordan also caught 4 touchdowns. John Dutton tossed 7 touchdowns in the loss. The Crush lead late in the fourth quarter before New Orleans scored a go-ahead touchdown with 36 seconds left for the win. Colorado kick returners Jason Harmon and Willie Quinnie gave their offenses plenty of scoring opportunities as they returned 7 kickoffs for 145 yards and a 20.7 yard average.

Side Note: Kristy Lee Cook is the sister of Colorado quarterback John Dutton. She is one of the final nine contestants on American Idol. As an arena football writer and a supporter of its players and families, I hope that you will take the time to watch her performances and show your support by voting for her to advance to the next round if you like her singing abilities. Thank you.

 

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!