AFL Week 7 Recap

After another week of arena football, here are some things to notice.

• Colorado defeated Cleveland, 69-66, in a game that saw both teams combine for 18 touchdowns and 2 field goals. John Dutton passed for 8 touchdowns and 314 yards. Ben Nelson caught 13 passes for 142 yards, Brad Pyatt had 10 receptions and Willie Quinnie accounted for 4 receiving touchdowns. Cleveland quarterback Raymond Philyaw threw 7 touchdown passes, with 6 going to Otis Amey. The Crush trailed 38-31 at halftime, but scored 17 straight points to take the lead for good. Each team had 2 interceptions in the game. After struggling for the entire season, Crush kicker Clay Rush was perfect in his kicking attempts, making 9 extra points and 2 field goals.

• In a battle to help establish National Conference supremacy, Dallas rallied for a 55-44 win over New Orleans. Clint Dolezel completed 25 passes for 278 yards and 7 touchdowns. Will Pettis lead the team in receiving, with 10 receptions for 129 yards and 5 touchdowns. Marcus Nash and Anthony Armstrong also contributed to the offense and sustained scoring drives by gaining first downs. After long possessions by each team in the first quarter, the pace quickly picked up in the second and third quarters, where 75 points were scored on 11 touchdowns. Both teams traded touchdowns in the fourth quarter, and the Desperados held on to the lead by stopping the VooDoo on a missed field goal attempt and an interception. New Orleans was dealt a minor setback and the loss showed they can still improve on offense, while Dallas continued their regular season dominance that has been present for the last two seasons.

• Los Angeles ended their 4 game losing streak by acquiring a victory over the winless Utah Blaze. The Avengers scored a season high 79 points, and had a 44-34 halftime lead. Los Angeles had 281 passing yards on just 18 completions and LaShaun Ward displayed his explosiveness with 7 receptions for 169 yards. Joe Germaine had another good performance, but again it wasn't enough. His 8 touchdown passes and 262 passing yards resulted in a seventh consecutive loss for Utah. Both kick return units were impressive, Utah had a 19 yard return average while Los Angeles had a 21 yard return average. The Avengers led 72-41 at the end of the third quarter, which is a team record for points through three quarters.

• Although they had a 20-0 first quarter lead, San Jose could not stop a huge comeback by the Philadelphia Soul. The Soul won 58-57 in an exciting finish involving three touchdowns scored in the last two minutes, a Philadelphia two-point conversion allowing them to take a 1-point lead, and a missed field goal attempt by San Jose. The Sabercats shut out Philadelphia through the first 15 minutes, only to allow 58 points through the last three quarters. Mark Grieb tossed 6 touchdowns, Rodney Wright caught 12 passes for 110 yards and James Roe had 3 touchdown catches in a losing effort. Matt D'Orazio overcame two early interceptions to spark the amazing comeback with 5 touchdowns and 327 passing yards. The Soul scored 30 points in the fourth quarter and made two-point conversions on their last two touchdowns, the first to tie the game and the second to take their final one-point lead.

• Orlando won its fifth straight game, this time a 75-56 road victory over the inconsistent Grand Rapids Rampage. The Predators exploded for a total of 62 points and 9 touchdowns in the second and third quarter, and held a commanding 75-35 lead entering the final 15 minutes. Shane Stafford had 4 touchdown passes and 14 completions for 203 yards.t.T Toliver was the leading receiver with 12 receptions for 181 yards and 3 touchdowns. Chas Gessner had 6 receptions for 80 yards. James McPherson threw 6 touchdown passes for Grand Rapids in the defeat. Chris Martin returned 9 kickoffs for 173 yards and a 19 yard average. Orlando played most of its bench players in the second half with a huge lead.

• Arizona came out of nowhere to rally for a 63-62 win at Tampa. The Rattlers are now 3-3 for the season and their guarantee to make the playoffs is looking a lot better. Tampa Bay suffered another loss, and their disappointing season continues as their record drops to 2-4. Both quarterbacks were great in this matchup, Brett Dietz had 6 touchdowns and 367 yards on 24 completions and Lang Campbell had 8 touchdowns and 247 yards on 24 completions. Lawrence Samuels caught 8 passes for 61 yards and 1 touchdown and Hank Edwards had 7 receptions for 164 yards and 3 touchdowns. Their efforts were not enough as the Storm lost by one point. For Arizona, Siaha Burley caught 10 passes for 107 yards and 4 scores, while Trandon Harvey caught 7 passes for 82 yards and 3 scores. Kevin Nickerson returned 7 kickoffs for a 20 yard average for the Rattlers. Arizona dominated the time of possession, holding the ball for over 37 minutes.

• New York won its second straight game, defeating Columbus, 62-44. Aaron Garcia is undefeated in his three starts, he threw 8 touchdown passes and had 27 completions for 298 yards. Jason Willis caught 10 passes for 131 yards and 2 touchdowns, Chris Anthony added 9 receptions for 99 yards and 3 touchdowns, and Kevin Swayne was the primary receiver on touchdown passes, with 6 receptions for 61 yards and 3 touchdowns. Matt Nagy responded with 5 touchdown passes and 273 yards. Derek Lee was once again the leading receiver for the Destroyers with 8 catches for 106 yards and 3 scores. Rasheed Marshall had an incredible performance, on offense he had 6 catches for 92 yards, but he also returned 6 kickoffs for a 26.5 yard average.

• Chicago picked up a road victory over Kansas City, 49-42. Russ Michna started at quarterback to give Sherdrick Bonner time to rest, and tossed 4 touchdown passes and had 20 completions for 213 yards. Chicago had 3 rushing touchdowns and had a total of 14 rushing attempts. In a slow-paced game, there were 10 possessions of 5 plays or more. Kansas City had 4 passing touchdowns and 2 rushing scores. Both teams had 3 players catch a touchdown pass and 11 players scored a touchdown in the game. Both kickers, Dan Frantz for Chicago and Peter Martinez for Kansas City,made all of their extra points, but combined to miss all 3 field goal attempts. Travis LaTendresse caught the game-winning touchdown pass for Chicago with 6 seconds left, after the Brigade chose not to use any of their timeouts on that possession. Instead of preserving additional time for their final drive on offense, the Brigade received the ball with time for only one play, and the pass to the end zone fell incomplete. This matchup was also selected as ESPN's AFL Rules Game, where announcers explained the basics and rules of arena football.

• Joe Germaine has thrown for 47 touchdowns, 6 interceptions and 2233 yards. T.T Toliver leads the league in receiving yards with 942. Chris Jackson has the most receiving touchdowns with 26.

• Dallas and Philadelphia are the only undefeated teams, both at 7-0. Kansas City and Utah are both winless. In the American Conference, Colorado and Arizona are on the rise, both have won 2 straight games to even their records at 3-3. In the National Conference, New York and Georgia have both won 2 games in a row, while Orlando has a 5 game winning streak. On the opposite end, Cleveland has a 3 game losing streak, Tampa Bay has a 4 game losing streak, and Grand Rapids and San Jose have both dropped two in a row. After 7 weeks, 5 teams have winning records, 4 teams are even in wins and losses, and 8 teams have losing records.

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!