AFL Week 3 Recap

As the beautiful spring weather begins to come, the AFL season is still young with a lot of promise. Week 3 featured a couple of matchups between 2-0 teams and 0-2 teams, headlined with the first 2013 meeting between the League's storied rivalry between the Sabercats and the Rattlers. The Power and VooDoo each had their bye this week.

Spokane Shock 66, Iowa Barnstormers 43

Week 3 began with a matchup of 2-0 teams trying to become the first team to three wins this season. The Shock were trying to win their theird straight road game to start the season, while the Barnstormers had intentions of making thier home opener an even more joyous night by staying unbeaten. Something had to give, who got to 3-0?
The Shock would get the opening possession and march down the field in four plays, cultivating on Steven Black's 12-yard touchdwon reception to take the early lead. The Shock defense would match their offense's opening drive success by forcing a "four-and-out", the AFL equivalent to a 3-and-out in the NFL, College, etc, which was highlighted by a third down sack of J.J. Raterink. Erik Meyer would find Steven Black for their second touchdown hook-up of the night to take a 14-point lead midway through the first quarter. Four plays later, Raterink would find Darius Reynolds for a 31-yard touchdown to get the Stormers on the board. It was then the Iowa defense's turn to make a stop, and they did when John Mohring clobbered Jeffrey Soloman into the boards, forcing a fumble that was recoverd by Ter'Ran Benton after a 21-yard catch-and-run by Soloman. Things appeared to be turning in the right direction for the Barnstormers, but in the early stages of the second quarter it faded on the Shock three-yard line. Darius Reynolds got the ball on a receiver sweep, got trapped in the backfield and proceded to throw the ball which was intercepted by Marc Schiechl. Meyer would cash it in three plays later when he threw a three-yard touchdown pass to Kamar Jordan to get the lead back to two scores. Iowa followed with a ten-play drive that resulted only in a field goal and Spokane matched with a eight-play, 45-yard drive of their own that produced a touchdown. The Barnstormers had one last possession in the first half, but failed to score on three plays from the Shock one and trailed 28-9 at the half. The first nine minutes of the second half was a tug-of-war of touchdowns, but the Shock defense made the winning surge when Terrance Sanders jumped the route of J.J. Raterink's pass to come up with a interception in the end zone, another red zone stand by the Spokane D. It would only take Erik Meyer two plays to reward his defense's effort, connecting with Kamar Jordan for a 43-yard touchdown to stretch the lead to 24. Erik Meyer and the Shock offense would not miss a beat the rest of the night, leading to another road victory for the orange and blue; Spokane is the first team to three wins in 2013.

Stat Leaders:
Spokane (3-0)                                            Iowa (2-1)
Erik Meyer 24-34 330 yds, 9TD                J.J. Raterink 27-40, 378 yds, 4TD, Int,
Kamar Jordan, 6 rec, 137 yds, 3TD                                11 yds & TD rushing
Adron Tennell 10 rec, 124 yds, 3TD         Marcus Harris 4 rec, 124 yds, TD
Steven Black 3 rec, 23 yds, 2TD               Marco Thomas 10 rec, 119 yds, TD
Terrance Sanders 8 tackles, FF, Int           Collin Taylor 10 rec, 92 yds, TD
Shock D: Fumb Rec., 2 Int, and 2 Sacks

Chicago Rush 48, San Antonio Talons 41

For being an early-season divisional matchup, a lot was at stake for these centeal division foes. The Rush and Talons entered the Alamo on Friday night looking for that first "W" of the 2013 campaign. Dwayne Eley Jr. got the fireworks started right away by returning the opening kickoff to midfield, leading to Tank Cook's one-yard touchdown run two plays later. Chicago would answer with a rushing touchdown of their own to complete the trade of opening drive touchdowns. The second play of the opening drive resulted in a Talon's touchdown, the second play of the second possession saw John Dutton get hit and lose a fumble that would result in a scoop-and-score for Kelvin Morris, putting Chicago up 14-7. Dutton responded on the next series by engineering a four-play drive that ended with Chad Cook's ten-yard touchdown run to tie the game. Rodney Wright returned the ensuing kick off to San Antonio's 21-yard line and would catch a five-yard touchdown five plays later to give the Rush the lead. A 35-yard reception by Jomo Wilson gave the Talons the ball at Chicago's five-yard line. After a holding call on first-and-goal that pushed the ball back to the 15 and a Chicago offside that erased a fourth down stop the Rush had another try at a fourth-and-goal, but from the five. It didn't make a difference as the Rush defense stepped up to make the stop again, forcing Dutton's pass to be dropped by D.J. Stevens. The second quarter quickly turned into a defensive struggle when Fred Shaw provided the Talon defense's response by forcing a fumble that would be recovered by Andre Jones to give the ball back to John Dutton. Just when San Antonio crossed midfield on their ensuing possession Dutton's deep ball got intercepted by Joe Phinisee who would return it to the Talon-nine. Three plays later, Carson Coffman would find Rodney Wright for a four-yard touchdown to make it 28-14 Chicago with two minutes left in the first half. If things already had not turned sour for the Talon faithful, they got rancid when John Dutton went to the ground writhing in pain after a two-yard completion to Burl Toler. Dutton would leave the game and not return with an injury to his right ankle.* Rohan Davey took over at quarterback and got off to a good start completing both of his first two passes to Eley Jr. for 23 yards and a touchdown to pull the Talons back within one score. The Rush opened the second half with a monster nine-play, 47-yard drive that spanned half the quarter and resulted in a one-yard touchdown run by Carson Coffman to build the lead back to 14. The instant magic of Rohan Davey left the building on the second play of the third when he got hit and fumbled, resulting in another scoop-and-score touchdown for the Rush; credit to Brian McNally. Tank Cook would score his third rushing touchdown of the game on a one-yard run with 2:13 left in the quarter to cut the Talons deficit back to 14. After a rough third quarter, the fourth went all most perfect for the people of the Alamo. On the first play of the fourth Carson Coffman's fourth down pass fell incomplete and Rohan Davey would run in a five-yard touchdown three plays later to make it 42-35 with 12:38 left. The good vibes continued for San Antonio as two plays later Joe Sykes broke into the backfield and recorded a sack while forcing a fumble that was recovered and returned 33 yard by Jamar Ransom to the Chicago-six. The chance to tie was squandered when Semaj Moody intercepted Davey's fourth down pass. Three plays later, Fred Shaw returned the favor by intercepting Coffman's pass and returing it to the Rush-12. This time San Antonio would take the opportunity and scored on Burl Toler's 12-yard touchdown catch, but failed to tie the game when Stefan Demos's extra point got blocked. The Rush took a couple of minutes off the clock and scored their only points of the fourth when J.J. Payne turned a screen pass into a 13-yard touchdown. Trailing by seven with 1:35 remaining the Talons took over at their own five to start what hoped to be the game-tying drive. Davey completed his first pass of the series and a pass interference on third-and-four gave the Talons a new set of downs at their own 21 with a little under  50 seconds left to play. Davey failed to complete another pass, throwing four straight incompletions to end the chance of a wild finish. The Rush would kill the clock and Chicago leaves the Alamo winners. Things are looking brighter for Chicago, Carson Coffman looked more comfortable in just his third AFL start and a defense who couldn't make a stop in the first two weeks made six stops, including four takaways, to propel the Rush to their first win.

Stat Leaders:
Chicago (1-2)                                                 San Antonio (0-2)
Carson Coffman 16-38, 199 yds, 3TD, Int,    Rohan Davey 7-20 67 yds, 2TD, Int,
                            3 yds & 2TD rushing                                 5 yds and TD rushing
Rodney Wright 6 rec, 77 yds, 2TD,                Chad "Tank" Cook 6 rush, 17 tds, 3TD
                          12 rush yds                            Burl Toler 8 rec, 59 yds, TD
Reggie Gray 5 rec, 70 yds                               Dwayne Eley Jr. 4 rec, 49 yds, TD
J.J. Payne 3 rush 5 yds, 2 rec, 21 yds, TD      Talon D: 2 Fumb Rec., Int, 3 Sacks
Joe Phinisee 9 tackles, Int

*John Dutton (SAT) suffered a torn right achilles and is out for the rest of 2013

Jacksonville Sharks 66, Cleveland Gladiators 49

The Sharks traveled to the "Q" hoping to remain unbeaten while facing the winless Cleveland Gladiators. Jacksonville got off to a fast start, needing just three plays to score the game's first points when Bernard Morris found Jeff Hughley for a 19-yard touchdown reception. Cleveland responded with an eight-play, 47-yard drive that ended on Dominick Goodman's five-yard touchdown catch to tie the game at seven. After Jeff Hughley's second touchdown of the night gave Jacksonville a 14-7 lead the Shark defense forced incompletions from Brian Zbydniewski on third and fourth down, making the first defensive stop of the game. The Gladiator defense answered by forcing Markee White to fumble at the end of seven-yard catch, recording a stop of their own. On the ensuing possession Rashaad Duncan sacked Zbydniewski on second down, which would produce the second consecutive defensive stop by the Sharks. The scoring resumed five plays later when Jeron Harvey hauled in his only pass of the night, a nine-yard touchdown, to make it 21-7. In the second quarter we saw three straight defensive stops that were followed by three striaght touchdowns and Marco Capozzoli's 34-yard field goal to end the half with the Sharks leading by ten. The second quarter saw strings of stops and touchdowns, the third quarter was pretty simple: Cleveland two possessions, fourteen points; Jacksonville two possessions, fourteen points. The fourth quarter wasn't much different, both teams scored touchdowns on their first two possessions of the quarter, with neither defense being able to make a stop until the Gladiators had to make a decisions with 2:12 left. Cleveland faced a nine-point deficit with a 4th-and-19 on their own 23 yardline; after a timeout they elected to try a 41-yard field goal in an attempt to get within six points and to have the opportunity at recovering an onside kick. Ross Gornall's kick missed the target, Jeff Hughley then fielded the ball of the rebound net and made a 33-yard return to the Shark-22. Bernard Morris would close it out by throwing a 16-yard touchdown pass to Markee White and went back to White to complete the two-point play, growing the lead to 17 with one minute left. The Shark defense would make one final stop by forcing four-straight Zbydnieswski incompletions to walk away 66-49 winners. 

Stat Leaders:
Jacksonville (3-0)                                          Cleveland (0-3)
Bernard Morris 23-35, 282 yards, 7TD,         Brian Zbydniewski 19-40, 244 yds, 5TD,
                          20 rush yds                                                            13 yds and TD rushing
Markee White 10 rec, 122 yds, 3TD               Dominick Goodman 9 rec 118 yds, 3TD
Jeff Hughley 7 rec, 94 yds, 2TD, 2 Rush TD  Thryon Lewis 6 rec, 72 yds, TD
Jeron Harvey rec, 9 yds, TD                            LaRoche Jackson 5 tackles, Fumb Rec.
Rashaad Duncan 3 tackles (3 TFL),
                            3 sacks, FF

Philadelphia Soul 61, Orlando Predators 33

The Soul and Predators faced off in the Jungle each looking for their first victory of 2013. Could the Predators salvage their winning season, money-back guarantee or would the Soul get back on the right direction. The fans of the Jungle were already hungry for the Preds and the building erupted when Marcus Everett recoverd a Philadelphia fumble and returned it 22 yards for the scoop-and-score touchdown. Everett would continue his one-man band when he intercepted Dan Raudabuagh's pass and returned it for a touchdown on the next offensive play, and just like that the Predators led 14-0 without taking a single offensive snap. The Soul offense would settle in on their third series, Raudabaugh led a five-play, 45-yard drive that concluded on Ryan McDaniel's 23-yard touchdown reception. Kyle Rowley and the Orlando offense took the field with a seven-point lead, but were unable to graze the end zone at any point in the first half. The nightmare in the jungle started when Rowley's sixth pass attempt was intercepted by LaRico Stevenson and lead to a seven-play drive by the Soul, resulting in a game-tying 15-yard touchdown catch by Larry Brackins. The next Predator drive looked promising until Rowley would misfire on four passes from the Soul-19, turning the ball over on downs. Dan Raudabaugh quickly lead his side down the field and handed it off to Derrick Ross who did the rest, scoring on a one-yard touchdown run to give the Soul their first lead of the night. For the third time in the second quarter, Kyle Rowley and the Predators looked primed to score after a 17-yard reception by Prechae Rodriguez put the ball at Orlando's 24-yard line. Once again, it would go nowhere as Rowley failed to complete three of his next four passes, causing another turnover on downs. Philadelphia would score two plays later on Andre Thurman's four-yard touchdown catch to end the first half on a 28-0 run. Kyle Rowley completed only nine of twenty first-half passes for 63 yards and an interception, resulting in Doug Plank deciding to make the change to Chris Dixon for the second half. Dixon would lead the Predators on a seven-play, 37-yard drive to open the third quarter, but his fourth-and-two pass from the Soul's six yardline was batted away by Rayshaun Kizer. Two plays later, Derrick Ross would take the pitch and go 44 yards for his second rushing score of the night to make it 34 unanswered points for Philadelphia. The Orlando offense finally scored on Prechae Rodriguez's 32-yard touchdown catch with 6:44 to go in the third, but the damage was already done by the Soul. Raudabaugh answered by finding Tiger Jones for an eleven-yard touchdown and James Romain would intercept Dixon's next pass in his own end zone to give the ball right back to his offense. Larry Brackins would catch his second touchdown of the game on the ensuing possession to put this result out of question. After a rough start, the Soul used defense to jump start them to the first win of the season; while the Predators home opener turned out to be their worst loss on the season ,dropping them to 0-3.

Stat Leaders:
Philadelphia (1-1)                                         Orlando (0-3)
Dan Raudabaugh 23-33 250 yds, 7TD, Int    Chris Dixon 9-13, 120 yds, 2TD,
Derrick Ross 8 rush, 53 yds, 2TD                                       Int, 16 rush yds
Ryan McDaniel 7 rec 103 yds, TD                 Prechae Rodriguez 7 rec, 102 yds, 2TD
Tiger Jones 5 rec, 64 yds, TD                         Jason Geathers 6 rec, 60 yds
Larry Brackins 4 rec, 33 yds, 3TD                 Dominic Jones 11 tackles
James Romain/Larico Stevenson Int each      Marcus Everett 2 defensive TD

Arizona Rattlers 73, San Jose Sabercats 47

The first 2013 meeting between the AFL's greatest rivals provided us with another chapter of this storied history, but also gave us an undefeated wild western showdown in the on this week's CBS Sports Network game of the week. The Sabercats received the opening kick, but that didn't stop the Rattler defense from making an early impact. Anttaj Hawthorne and Mracus Pittman combined for a sack on San Jose's first offensive play and five plays later Marquis Floyd intercepted Aaron Garcia's pass at his own ten yard line and returned it 40 yards for the touchdown to give Arizona the 7-0 lead. Garcia would rebound on his next possession, finding Fred Williams on the sixth play of the drive for an 18-yard touchdown to tie the score at seven. Nick Davila would throw two touchdown passes to Tysson Poots on both of his first two series, which sandwhiched Garcia's second touch pass; keeping the Rattlers ahead by seven. With 12:59 left in the second quarter Aaron Garcia was looking for his third touchdown of the afternoon but after three straight incompletions his fourth down pass became his second interception thrown at the Arizona ten yard line; Virgil Gray made the interception and returned it to the Rattler-21. It would only take Davila two plays to hit Kerry Reed for a 24-yard touchdown to capitalize on another defensive stop. The first half was already a rough one for Garcia, but it got even tougher when his third pass of the ensuing possession was intercepted by Kerry Reed and returned 43 yards for another Rattler pick-six, blowing the game up to a 21-point margin. Odie Armstrong's one-yard touchdown run on the final play of the half kept the Rattler lead at 21 points, 49-28, at halftime. New half, same story, as the Rattlers got opening possession of the second half and continued the domination of their bitter rival when Nick Davila dumped it off to Armstrong who turned it into a 37-yard touchdown; pushing Arizona's lead to 28. Jason Willis made a four-yard touchdown catch to provide San Jose's answer, but Davila would engineer a 10-play, 35-yard drive, spanning seven minutes that resulted in Garrett Lindholm's 24-yard field goal. On the last possession of the third quarter the Rattler defense forced back-to-back incompletions by Aaron Garcia to turn away the Sabercats one more time. Any wild comeback hopes for San Jose were dashed when Nich Pertuit's onside kick attempt failed and on the next play Davila threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Rod Windsor to get the lead back to three scores, sealing the win for Arizona. No Maurice Purify, no problem as the Rattler offense didn't miss a beat on Saturday night to couple another impactful performance by the defense to reach 3-0.

Stat Leaders:
San Jose (2-1)                                              Arizona (3-0)
Aaron Garcia 25-42, 293 yds, 6TD, 3 Int    Nick Davila 13-22 231 yds, 6TD
Fred Williams 7 rec, 108 yds 2 TD             Odie Armstrong 7 rush, 11 yds, 2 TD,
Jason Willis 10 rec, 99 yds, 2 TD                                           2 rec, 67 yds, TD
Jamarko Simmons 5 rec, 55 yds, 2 TD        Tysson Poots 3 rec, 63 yds, 2 TD
                                                                      Kerry Reed 5 rec, 53 yds, 2 TD, Int ret-TD
                                                                      Marquis Floyd 10 tackles, Int ret-TD
                                                                      Virgil Gray 9 tackles, Int
                                                                      Garrett Lindholm 10-10 PAT, 1-1 FG (24)

Tampa Bay Storm 77, Utah Blaze 65

Both teams entered Utah looking for their second win of 2013, the Blaze looking for that elusive first home victory. On the first play of the game Tommy Grady completed a seven-yard pass to Chase Deadder who would be hit by Jean Fanor and fumble. Adrian McPherson misfired on his first four passes to give the ball right back to Grady who completed his next two passes, throwing a 26-yard touchdown to Aaron Lesue on the second of them to record the first score of the night. McPherson scored on a 14-yard touchdown run three plays later. Aaron Lesue caught his second touchdown of the quarter on Utah's next possession, which was followed by a net recovery by Brandon Tompkins on the ensuing kickoff to keep the ball with the Blaze. It took just three plays for the Blaze to capitalize, a one-yard touchdown run by Ben Stallings to make it 21-7. After the Storm cut the lead to seven, Jean Fanor forced Chase Deadder to fumble for the second time, giving Tampa Bay a chance to tie the game. McPherson would lead a seven-play, 43-yard drive that ended in Terence Crosby's second touchdown run, tying it at 21. The teams would trade touchdowns to go into halftime tied at 28. Tampa Bay took their first lead on the opening possession of the second half when McPherson threw a 23-yard touchdown to Joe Hills, making it 35-28. Things got wild on the ensuing kickoff when Juan Bongarra (the Storm kicker!) made a net recovery but fumbled when he was hit by Maurice Leggett, who would also make the recovery. After all the mess, Tommy Grady threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Brandon thompkins to tie the score at 35. Things got away from the Blaze when Tampa Bay put together another seven-play, 45-yard drive that resulted in the second McPherson-Hills touchdown of the night and on the next play Tommy Grady got called for intentional grounding in the end zone that resulted in a safety. Adrian McPherson scored his third rushing touchdown on the next offensive play, stretching Tampa Bay's lead to sixteen. The Storm began the fourth with a 57-41 advantage, but where not safe with Tommy Grady having the ball to begin the quarter. Jean Fanor recorded his third takaway of the game when he intercepted Grady's pass on first-and-goal from the one, denying Utah the chance of getting back within one score. Adrian McPherson threw his fourth touchdown pass to Joe Hills, a  26-yarder, to extend the lead to 23 midway through the fourth. The Storm survived two more onside kicks and walked away with a comfortable 77-65 victory. Adrian McPherson and Joe Hills connected for five touchdowns on the night, while the Storm as a team rushed for five touchdowns to go along with timely defense. Despite losing their first two home games, the Blaze got a spark from Aaron Lesue who made his season debut this week.

Stat Leaders:
Tampa Bay (2-1)                                        Utah (1-2)      
Adrian McPherson 20-31, 294 yds, 5TD,   Tommy Grady 23-38 355 yds, 6TD, 2 Int
                                41 rush yds, 3 TD        Brandon Thompkins 8 rec, 127 yds, TD,
Terrence Crosby 5 rush, 12 yds, 3 TD                                           Kick-ret TD 
Joe Hills 16 rec, 259 yds, 5 TD                   Aaron Lesue 7 rec, 103 yds, 2 TD
Jean Fanor 3 tackles, 2 FF, Int                    Mario Urrutia 5 rec, 90 yds, 2 TD


Week 3 Players of the WeekOffensive Player of the Week: Joe Hills, Tampa Bay WR
- Joe Hills has undoubtedly emerged as Adrian McPherson's favorite target after the first three weeks of the season. Hills recorded 16 receptions for 259 yards and five touchdowns en route to the 12-point road win. The 16 receptions and 259 yards both represent League-highs in 2013, while his 259 receiving yards marks the most in Storm franchise history and the third-highest single-game total in League history. 

Defensive Player of the Week: Marcus Everett, Orlando JLB
- Everett accounted for all 14 of Orlando's first half points via a fumble-recovery-return touchdown and an interception-return touchdown on the first two possessions of the game. Unfortunately for Orlando they could not make good use of Everett's effort and lose their home opener, falling to 0-3.

Playmaker of the Week: Dominick Goodman, Cleveland WR
- Goodman caught in nine passes for 118 yards and three touchdowns in Cleveland’s 66-49 defeat to the Sharks in Week 3. He also shined as a kick returner by tallying 157 yards on six returns, to total his final all-purpose yardage mark to 275 yards. This is the highest single-game total for all-purpose yards in the AFL this season.

For more on any of these six games, or the Arena Football League go to: http://www.arenafootball.com/sports/a-footbl/sched/afl-a-footbl-sched.html