Weekend Roundup

Sorry Everyone, Life has got the better of me today so I can't do my own personal recap. Instead I will post the official AFL recap, I should be back to form next week:

WEEK 3 RECAPS

FRIDAY, APRIL 16

TAMPA BAY STORM 54, Dallas Vigilantes 41 (Attendance: 14,122)

Tampa Bay - It was a battle of the old versus the new to kick off Week 3, with the new expansion Dallas Vigilantes taking on the 23-season veteran Tampa Bay Storm. Experience prevailed, with the Storm notching a 54-41 victory over Dallas. Dallas had a strike against them before the game even started, losing starting QB Shane Stafford last week with a broken foot. His replacement, Colin Drafts, did his best to fill in. Drafts threw 21-of-30 for 212 yards and four touchdowns. The Vigilantes started off strong, returning the opening kick-off for 58 yards and a touchdown, thanks to WR Kenny Henderson. The game was tied up minutes later after the Storm marched down the field with an 8 play, 44 yard drive for a score. Newly signed Cleannord Saintil made a three yard rush for the score. Drafts notched his first touchdown pass of the season not long after, following a wild play where Drafts tackled and forced a fumble on Tampa Bay after they recovered a Dallas fumble. The scoring was relatively equal throughout the first half, with the Storm taking their first lead heading into halftime, 27-21. The third quarter was a quarter of un-capitalized opportunities for Dallas. The Vigilantes were trailing 33-28 when Drafts found an open Henderson. Henderson headed towards the goal with an opportunity to score, but was stripped from behind and the Storm recovered. Tampa Bay QB Brett Dietz found an open WR Tyrone Timmons not long after for a score to put the Storm up 39-28. Drafts got the ball into the hands of WR Derek Lee to bring the score within five, but Tampa Bay managed two more scores before running away with the win. Henderson led the receiving corps for Dallas with eight catches for 61 yards and two touchdowns. Lee made six catches for 84 yards and two scores. Tampa Bay's Dietz threw 30-of-45 for 320 yards and six touchdowns, with no interceptions, mostly finding the hands of Timmons. Timmons made 11 catches for 108 yards and four touchdowns.

JACKSONVILLE SHARKS 57, Orlando Predators 31 (Attendance: 11,179)

Jacksonville - The Jacksonville Sharks tallied their second win of the season and their first home win ever with a 26 point victory over division rival Orlando this weekend. Over 11,000 fans showed up for the first game ever played in Jacksonville, and the Sharks made sure to keep the crowd entertained. QB Aaron Garcia matched up with WR Jomo Wilson throughout the night. Wilson tallied three touchdowns, while WRs Sale Key, Dallas Baker and Jeron Harvey hauled in one touchdown a piece. Jacksonville set the pace early, outscoring the Predators 24-7 in the first half. Jacksonville scored three touchdowns, two from Wilson and one from Kirby Griffin. K Paul Edinger nailed a 27-yard field goal as the half wound down. Orlando's offense couldn't handle Jacksonville's defense, as exemplified by their solitary touchdown in the first half. The Jacksonville defense also sacked QB Nick Hill four times, and recovered two fumbles. Jason Perry had an interception in the second half, and Micheaux Robinson netted a tipped ball in the end zone to prevent a Predators touchdown. Continuing on last week's success, Hill found WR TT Toliver throughout the game, including a SportsCenter highlight - Hill lofted the ball into a the back corner of the end zone and Toliver wrangled it in before being hit by a defender, sending him over the dasherboards. Toliver held on to the ball for the score. Both teams will be observing byes next weekend.

MILWAUKEE IRON 65, Iowa Barnstormers 48 (Attendance: 5,032)

Milwaukee - Two Midwestern foes found themselves head to head this weekend. The Iowa Barnstormers traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to take on the Iron in their first of two meetings this season. Milwaukee won their home opener in front of the crowd of 5,032 Iron faithful. QB Chris Greisen continued his dominance at the quarterback position, throwing 25-of-36 for 382 yards and seven touchdowns. Greisen has yet to throw an interception this season. While Greisen continues to shine, it is his offensive counterparts that are successful in bringing the ball into the end zone. WRs Nate Forse and Anthony "Tiger" Jones have proven to be Greisen's perfect receiving duo. Jones brought in three touchdowns on 12 catches for 171 yards this weekend, while Forse made 10 catches for 146 yards and three scores. Greisen's seventh touchdown was caught by Alvance Robinson. Not to be outdone, Milwaukee's defense also helped to hold off and Barnstormers serge. Marcus Everett intercepted QB Ryan Vena's first possession of the game, eventually leading to an Iron score. Milwaukee managed to pull ahead 13-0 before the Barnstormers got into the game. WR Todd Blythe, known for his athletic catches, caught a pass deep in the corner of the end zone to bring the score to 6-13, but Milwaukee would never once trail throughout the game. Iowa's QB Vena was intercepted twice, including a game-highlighting play. Milwaukee's Virgil Gray nabbed an erratic Vena pass in the end zone, not only disrupting a score for the Barnstormers, but also proceeded to run the ball back 58 yards for a score of his own. Despite two players leaving with injuries in the second half, Milwaukee was able to hold off the Barnstormers and come away with the 17-point win. Greisen continues to lead the league with a quarterback rating of 146.4 after two games.

SATURDAY, APRIL 17

OKLAHOMA CITY YARD DAWGZ 63, Cleveland Gladiators 50 (Attendance: 5,422)

Oklahoma City - The Cleveland Gladiators came into Oklahoma City winless, and unfortunately left just as they came, as the Yard Dawgz dropped the Gladiators 63-50. Cleveland had their work cut out for them from the get-go, with the Yard Dawgz making a defensive stop on their first play of the game, capped off by a quarterback sack by DB Dustin Barno. However, Cleveland eventually managed to score when WB John Dutton found WR Brent Holmes to put the Gladiators up 7-0 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter was an offensive explosion as the two teams scored a total of seven touchdowns. Cleveland scored first on a Dutton to Ryan Stanchek 5-yard pass, but WR Timon Marshall followed that play with a 58-yard kick-off return for a touchdown. After back and forth scoring throughout the quarter, the Gladiators went into the locker room at the half up by three thanks to a 28-yard field goal off the foot of Matt Denny. Cleveland was held completely scoreless in the third, and Oklahoma City made sure to capitalize on their lack of offense. Al Hunt ran in the first of two touchdowns to be scored by the Yard Dawgz in the third to give them the first lead of the game. QB Tommy Grady found an open Marshall in the end zone for the second score. Hunt and Victor Mann scored two more touchdowns in the fourth, while Cleveland tallied up two more touchdown passes as well, by the Yard Dawgz offense had already pulled too far ahead for the Gladiators to catch up. Dutton ended the night throwing 35-of-50 for 309 yards and seven touchdowns. He now has the sixth most touchdown passes in league history with 583. Cleveland heads into their bye week in Week 4 winless, while the Yard Dawgz are slated to take on the Iowa Barnstormers at Iowa on Saturday, April 24 on the NFL Network's Game of the Week broadcast.

Alabama Vipers 63, UTAH BLAZE 54 (Attendance: 4,898)

Salt Lake City - The Utah Blaze dropped their second in a row last weekend, falling to the Alabama Vipers by nine. The Blaze started off the night with a bang, when DB Brandon Hampton intercepted an early Alabama pass and returned it for a touchdown to take the lead. The Vipers quickly answered with QB Kevin Eakin finding an open WR Larry Shipp. Shipp ended up with eight catches for 199 yards on the night. Already with an interception under his belt, Hampton sent the Vipers' defense into a tizzy again, this time returning a kick off return for a score. It was Hampton's seventh return for the season and third kick-off return touchdown. The second quarter was call-and-answer scoring, with the Vipers going into the half up by a field goal, 35-32. Alabama's rushing maniac, Dan Alexander, did what he does best in the second half, rushing in two touchdowns. Alexander currently has 13 rushing touchdowns on the season. Alexander rushed 13 times for 45 yards and four touchdowns on the night. Utah's Aaron Boone made an offensive splash, catching two of the three Blaze touchdowns in the second half, but Alabama's offense was too far gone for Utah to catch up. Overall, the Vipers had 409 total yards of offense to the Blaze's 237. Utah's WB Brett Elliot finished the night 21-of-38 for 231 yards and four touchdowns. Boone ended the weekend with eight catches for 84 yards and two touchdowns. Alabama will observe a bye in Week 4 action, while the winless Blaze head to undefeated Chicago on Friday, April 24.

SPOKANE SHOCK 78, Bossier-Shreveport BattleWings 70 (Attendance: 10,378)

Spokane - The Spokane Shock and Bossier-Shreveport BattleWings delivered on what was bound to be a high-scoring, high offense game, as the Shock defeated the BattleWings by a score of 78-70 on Saturday. The top-2 highest scoring teams in the league added significant numbers to their stats in an offensive shoot-out of a game. Coming into the game, Bossier-Shreveport was undefeated, thanks in part to the QB Raymond Philyaw-to-WR PJ Berry connection. Spokane clearly studied their game filmBerry was heavily covered all night, eventually being limited to only four receptions, 10 less than his last outing. Because of the heavy coverage of Berry, Philyaw was forced to find other open receivers and WR Randy Hymes proved to be the most trustworthy. Hymes went on to make nine catches for 174 yards and five touchdowns. While Bossier-Shreveport's stand-out offense attempted to continue their dominant trend, Spokane's defense did everything they could to stop it. With the game at 7-6 in the first quarter, Spokane DL Ben McCombs sacked Philyaw hard in the end zone, giving the Shock a safety and a 9-6 lead. The defense stepped up again in the second, when DB Roshawn Marshall intercepted a tipped pass and returned it to the seven yard line. Philyaw found Berry on the next play for a 14 yard touchdown to put the BattleWings ahead 26-23. Spokane didn't let that sit long, however, at QB Kyle Rowley rushed the next possession for a touchdown to put the Shock ahead 30-26. The second half continued to be a scoring trade off. Spokane's defense started the fourth quarter strong with two consecutive turn-overs: DL Jerry Turner stripped Philyaw of the ball, which was recovered by LB Kevin McCullough. Rowley found an open WR Markee White on the ensuing play for a score, and DB Roderick Mosley intercepted soon after for another score to finally seal the game for Spokane. Both teams will be observing byes next weekend.

Chicago Rush 70, ARIZONA RATTLERS 56 (Attendance: 14,998)

Phoenix - The Rattlers managed to pull in over 14,000 fans in the first ever free pro sporting event, but the home-court advantage wasn't enough to propel the Rattlers to a victory. Arizona fell to the undefeated Chicago Rush, 56-70. The game was a game of see saw scoring all night, with both teams pulling ahead at points but the opponent proceeded to chip away at the lead. Both quarterbacks were intercepted twice in the game, a telling sign that defense was a key part of the game. Both of Chicago's interceptions were returned for touchdowns. The two foes were nearly even throughout the first half, when the Rattlers got up a score on a QB Nick Davila pass to WR JJ McKelvey. The Rush tied it up at 28 just a few minutes later, when QB Russ Michna found an open WR Kenny Higgins for a 23-yard pass. The Rush defense continued to roll from that point on, with DB Nygel Rogers returning an interception for a 14-yard score. Chicago was up 42-35 going into the half, but the battle continued in the third quarter. Michna found WRs Nichiren Flowers and Allen Turner open for scores, while Arizona tried to stay in the game with another Davila-to-McKelvey pass. The Rush were only up one touchdown with a little over three minutes remaining in the game and Arizona threatening to score, but LB DeJuan Alfonso continued the season-long trend of changing possession when it counts, intercepting a Davila pass and running it back for another interception touchdown, putting the Rush up 14 and giving them the win. Davila ended the night throwing 34-of-54 for 346 yards and eight touchdowns. Michna went 12-of-26 for 215 yards and seven touchdowns. His 26 attempts were his fewest so far this season. Flowers was the leading receiver for Chicago, with five catches for 107 yards and four scores. McKelvey led the Rattlers with 12 catches for 110 yards and four touchdowns. Two more of Arizona's receivers broke 100 yards in addition to McKelvey: Rod Windsor with 108 and Trandon Harvey with 121.

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