Page 67 - Fl Stats News Today

The Georgia Force traveled to New Orleans for a Saturday night Arena Football League pairing that would determine which of the teams was guaranteed the opportunity to continue their chase for the AFL championship.

The Philadelphia Soul fell to the Albany Empire 45-27 in ArenaBowl 32 at the Times Union Center in Albany.

The Cleveland Gladiators had two chances to put last year's 4-14 season behind them. The first, they failed to capitalize on. The second, they handled beautifully en route to a 63-53 victory over East Division rival Pittsburgh.

Prior to Saturday night's game, there was already no love lost between the Jacksonville Sharks and the Orlando Predators. The intensity of this budding rivalry has officially been kicked up a notch. In what very well could be a playoff preview, the Sharks beat the Predators 62-55 to take a commanding two and a half-game lead in the Southeast Division with just three games to play.

It seems that year in and year out the Storm come to life in the last half of the season AND when their backs are against the wall. And since 2003, it usually means a first round playoff exit. Going back to 2001, the Storm are 36-20 (.643) in the last eight games of the season.

For any of you that have been reading my musings here at ArenaFan for the past several years, you know that Im not afraid to take shots at anyone that I feel is breaking what the league stands for. Whether were talking about the AFL, the af2, or this arena football like substance formerly known as the AF1, the principals have always been the same. This is a game that was built for the fans.

The AFL sent out media ballots for the end of the season awards and All-Arena teams Sunday afternoon. After filling mine out, I wanted to share it with you and give you reasons why I feel each recipient should be named that specific award. In addition, I've included by All-Arena First and Second Teams. This is my ballot that I'm sending to the league after I post it here first.

The off-season for the Portland Thunder has been a bit turbulent shall we say? It started with the firing of popular first year head coach Matthew Sauk and has became more and more convoluted with every passing week.

Despite radio personality Steve Duemig of 620 WDAE reporting that Tampa Bay Storm general manager and head coach Tim Marcum is being let go by the new ownership Tampa Bay Sports & Entertainment communications director Bill Wickett denies that Marcum has been fired.

After being tied at 27 at halftime, the Rush crumbled and lost control of the game in the third quarter. Multiple passes were dropped once again. Michna had to be mobile, causing him to throw two interceptions, both returned for touchdowns by Iron LB Marcus Everett.