Post by David on Apr 21, 2017 13:50:56 GMT -8
Spokane Empire at Arizona Rattlers
What: An old AFL rivalry is revived when the Empire take on the Rattlers in Phoenix.
When: Saturday, April 22, 6 p.m. (PST)
Where: Talking Stick Resort Arena, Phoenix, AZ
Empire Media: Radio - ESPN 700 AM/105.3 FM
National Media: Stream - YouTube
Series History: First Meeting (as Empire); Arizona led regular season series 8-6 (6-1 in Arizona); Arizona led playoff series 3-1. (3-0 in Arizona)
Note: Dating back to their AFL days as the Shock, Spokane's last win in Arizona came during the 2010 Season
HELPFUL LINKS
Indoor Football League Rules
Indoor Football League Schedule and Results - 2017 Season
2017 Spokane Empire Schedule
Spokane Empire - Vital Statistics
IFL Franchise Index
The Empire are 5-2 overall, 2-1 on the road and 4-1 in conference play. Spokane is coming off a 36-24 home win over the Colorado Crush on April 14. They are averaging 46.6 points per game (4th in IFL) and are allowing 37.4 points per game (3rd). The Empire are first in the Intense Conference.
The Rattlers are 4-3 overall, 1-2 at home and 3-0 in conference play. Arizona is coming off a 70-63 road win over the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles on April 14. They are averaging 48.9 points per game (3rd) and are allowing 43.3 points per game (6th). The Rattlers are second in the Intense Conference.
BREAKDOWN
Total Yards per Game - Empire 230.4; Rattlers 242.3
Pass Yards per Game - Empire 140.7; Rattlers 135.3
Rush Yards per Game - Empire 89.7; Rattlers 107.0
3rd Down Conversion - Empire 40.4%; Rattlers 48.2%
4th Down Conversion - Empire 63.6%; Rattlers 36.4%
Total Tackles - Empire 310; Rattlers 285
Tackles for Loss - Empire 37; Rattlers 27
Total Sacks - Empire 18; Rattlers 8
Fumble Recoveries - Empire 6; Rattlers 3
Interceptions - Empire 8; Rattlers 4
SPOKANE EMPIRE
Empire DL J.D. Griggs (image credit: Sports Illustrated)
ROSTER
# - name (pos)
1 - Samuel Charles (WR)
2 - Bryan Pray (WR)
5 - Tyree Robinson (DB)
6 - Robert Brown (DB)
7 - Mulku Kalokoh (RB/KR)
8 - Andrew Jackson (LB)
10 - Devonn Brown (WR)
11 - Charles Dowdell (QB)
13 - Pasquale Vacchio (LB)
16 - Aaron Wilmer (QB)
18 - Trevor Kennedy (OS)
19 - Craig Peterson (K)
22 - Adrian James (DB)
24 - Dejuan Miller (WR)
33 - John Hardy-Tuliau (DB)
41 - Toney Hurd Jr. (DB)
47 - Nick Haag (LB)
55 - Bill Vavau (OL)
63 - Junior Alexis (DL)
70 - Jonah Austin (OL)
74 - Darren Pinnock (OL)
91 - O.J. Mau (DL)
93 - J.D. Griggs (DL)
99 - Harold Love III (DL)
N/A - Orlandus Harris Sr. (WR)
Adam Shackleford - Head Coach
Cleveland Pratt - Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams
Anthony Payton - Assistant Coach
Marquise Liverpool - Assistant Coach
Marshall Hart - Line Coach
Joshua Artis - Assistant Coach
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Passing Yards - Charles Dowdell 1,040
Passing TDs - Charles Dowdell 24
Passing INTs - Charles Dowdell 10
Rushing Yards - Charles Dowdell 313
Rushing TDs - Charles Dowdell 7
Receptions - Bryan Pray 22
Receiving Yards - Bryan Pray 281
Receiving TDs - Bryan Pray 8
Tackles (Solo) - Pasquale Vacchio 24
Sacks - J.D. Griggs 7.5
Interceptions - Pasquale Vacchio 3
KO Return Ave - Mulkoh Kalokoh 18.7
KO Return TDs - N/A
*Not on Active Roster
Note: Roster information is subject to change and is presented here as a basic guide for following the game. Roster information is gathered from the IFL and the team's official websites.
ARIZONA RATTLERS
Rattlers QB Cody Sokol (image credit: Fox Sports Arizona)
ROSTER
# - name (pos)
1 - Tee Shepard (DB)
2 - Darron Thomas (QB)
3 - Allen Chapman (DB)
4 - Nathan Lindsey (DB)
5 - Anthony Amos (WR)
6 - Adam Sauder (DB)
8 - Fred Williams (WR)
11 - Arkeith Brown (DB)
12 - Diondre Borel (WR)
14 - Darrell Monroe (RB)
15 - Dillon Winfrey (WR)
16 - Jamal Miles (WR)
17 - Jon Wolf (QB)
19 - Cody Sokol (QB)
22 - Sawyer Petre (K)
30 - Justin Shirk (LB)
31 - Chris McAllister (DL)
49 - Edward Mosley (DL)
50 - Glen Haisley (OL)
58 - Damian Love (OL)
91 - Justin Martin (DL)
94 - Lamar Mady (OL)
95 - Joshua Gordon (DL)
99 - Jordan Mosley (OL)
N/A - Leon Mackey (DL)
Kevin Guy - Head Coach
Kani Kauahi - Assistant Head Coach
Nick Davila - Quarterbacks and Wide Receivers
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Passing Yards - Darron Thomas 500
Passing TDs - Darron Thomas 13
Passing INTs - Darron Thomas 4
Rushing Yards - Darrell Monroe 256
Rushing TDs - Darrell Monroe 7
Receptions - Anthony Amos 25
Receiving Yards - Anthony Amos 308
Receiving TDs - Anthony Amos 9
Tackles (Solo) - Adam Sauder 35
Sacks - Chris McAllister 4.0
Interceptions - Allen Chapman/Arkeith Brown 2
KO Return Ave - Jamal Miles 20.6
KO Return TDs - Jamal Miles 2
*Not on Active Roster
Note: Roster information is subject to change and is presented here as a basic guide for following the game. Roster information is gathered from the IFL and the team's official websites.
DAVID'S TAKES
SPOKANE:
The Empire got a huge break during their bye week when the Nebraska Danger, who claimed first place in the Intense Conference by defeating Spokane two weeks ago, fell to the Arizona Rattlers. Spokane fought a tough battle last Friday night against the Colorado Crush, but emerged victorious to move past Nebraska back into first place. However, the Empire can't be too content with reclaiming first place; while the Danger are in a two game slide, the Arizona Rattlers a team on the rise. The Rattlers have won 2 of their last 3 games, and are looking like the contending team most expected them to become during the offseason.
In addition to first place being on the line Saturday night, the game will mark the re-establishment of a rivalry between Arizona and Spokane that dates back to the 2010 AFL Season. Spokane faces a tremendous task of trying to pull off a victory in Phoenix, which has historically been a house of horrors for the franchise. Including playoff meetings that were played in Phoenix, Spokane has lost 9 straight road games to the Rattlers. The last time Spokane defeated Arizona was in 2010, a narrow 63-56 in the first ever meeting between the two teams. Their final meeting, a 72-41 Arizona win in the first round of the 2015 AFL Playoffs, would turn out to be the final game in the Spokane Shock era. With a new identity and an established presence in the IFL, the Empire hope to break that losing streak and begin the new rivalry on a winning note.
QB Charles Dowdell had a fair bounce back game against the Crush last week, passing for 136 yards and 2 touchdowns, as well as rushing for 58 yards and a touchdown. The most important stat was the big goose egg under the interceptions category. Despite a few near misses, Dowdell was much more careful with the football. Protecting the football will again be a top priority; historically, Arizona has been a difficult place for opposing teams, especially since the Rattlers known to capitalize on turnovers and turn a game out of control in a hurry. Arizona boasts the fourth ranked defense in the IFL in total offense allowed (215.9 yards/game), including the league's third best passing defense (129.2 yards/game). What's been the team's Achilles's heel this season has been stopping the run; the Rattlers rank eighth giving up an average of 86.6 rush yards/game. Spokane's offense, which ranks third in the IFL at 89.7 yards/game, will be established early.. Dowdell leads all Empire rushers in yardage (313) and rushing touchdowns (7), and has been very effective running the read-option. If he and the rushing combination of Trevor Kennedy and Mulkoh Kalokoh can get the Rattlers on their heels trying to determine which player to stop from running the football, it could open them up for Dowdell's success in the passing game.
Capitalizing on Arizona's eighth ranked rushing defense will be a tremendous key for a Spokane victory. RB Trevor Kennedy returned to rush for 49 yards and a touchdown in his first game action in four weeks. With a week of play under his belt, Kennedy can only get stronger against the Rattlers. As an added emphasis last week, Spokane had both Kennedy (132 rush yards, 4 TDs) and RB Mulku Kalokoh (147 rush yards, 5 TDs) active last week, but neither saw the field at the same time. Look for Head Coach Adam Shackleford to try and get both Kennedy and Kalokoh more involved this week. Both Kennedy (7 receptions, 102 yards, 2 TD) and Kalokoh (6 receptions, 72 yards, TD) can also contribute to Spokane's passing game, either out of the backfield or lined up at receiver, which could help open up Spokane's passing game against a stout Rattler pass defense.
WR Bryan Pray could see more targets this week. Over the last two weeks, Pray has seen more opportunities in the passing game, including reclaiming the team lead in receiving touchdowns (8). He leads all Empire receivers with 281 yards on 22 receptions. With his rising role in the offense, Arizona could have its hands full containing Devonn Brown (21 receptions, 205 yards, 6 TDs), and Samuel Charles (14 receptions, 179 yards, 4 TDs). The rushing/receiving threat of Kennedy and Kalokoh could open up opportunities for Spokane to get an edge on Arizona's passing defense.
Spokane's defensive line will face a big test against Arizona's second ranked running game, led by RB Darrell Monroe (256 yards, 7 TDs). Fortunately for the Empire, they'll get a huge break as the Rattlers' second leading rusher, Ketrich Harmon, was placed on Short Term IR. Harmon (213 yards, 4 TDs) was part of the successful two-headed rushing attack and could be sorely missed against the Empire's second ranked running defense, which has given up the second least amount of rushing yards (326) and a league low 5 touchdowns this season. With the return of Harold Love III (4 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1.0 sacks) to the defensive line, the hope is the Rattlers will run to the outside, where LB Andrew Jackson, who has been seeing time at defensive line, has been disruptive to opposing offenses. In 7 games this season, he's recorded 20 solo tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks, and a fumble recovery this season.
The player to keep an eye on for Arizona will be QB Cody Sokol, who has taken the reigns from ex-Oregon Ducks star Darron Thomas. Sokol isn't well known for his running ability (52 yards, 1 TD), but has been vastly effective in the Rattler's passing game. It'll be up to J.D. Griggs (13 solo tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks) and LB Nick Haag (16 solo tackles, 5.0 tackles for loss, 4.0 sacks) to get pressure on Sokol. LB Pasquale Vacchio (24 solo tackles, 3 INTs, 5 pass breakups) and DBs Robert Brown (22 solo tackles, 2 INTs, 9 pass breakups), Tyree Robinson (23 solo tackles, INT, 4 pass breakups, John Hardy-Tuliau (21 solo tackles, 2 INTs, 3 pass breakups) and Adrian James (8 solo tackles, 2 pass breakups) to contain Arizona's talented wide receivers. If Spokane is successful in disrupting Arizona's passing offense and shut down the run, they'll snap a 7 year winning drought in the desert.
Player to Watch: J.D. Griggs (DL)
ARIZONA:
After an 0-2 start in their first season in the IFL, the Rattlers look to be a team on the rise, having won 4 of their last 5 games, including a two game win streak entering Saturday night. Ex-Portland Thunder QB Darron Thomas, considered to be the "best QB" by some AFL experts, put up decent numbers, but hasn't taken the IFL by storm. While effective in the running game (128 rushing yards, 2 TDs), he completed 55.8% of his passes for 500 yards, 13 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. In 4 games, Thomas only averaged 125 passing yards per game. This prompted Head Coach Kevin Guy to make a change at QB, turning to Cody Sokol to lead the offense.
Sokol, 2-1 since taking over as starter for Thomas, looks to be the spark that the team needed. Since earning the starting job, Sokol has averaged 163.7 passing yards a game, and has amassed 491 passing yards, 9 touchdowns and only two interceptions. Sokol hasn't run very often, only rushing for 43 yards and 1 touchdown, but he has benefited from the rushing attack of Darrell Monroe (256 yards, 7 TDs) and Ketrich Harmon (213 yards, 4 TDs). Unfortunately for Arizona, Harmon was placed on Short Term IR this week, providing a big blow to the Rattlers' second ranked rushing offense.
What makes Arizona such a unique team this season, is that the team carries three QBs on this roster when most IFL teams carry two. In addition to Thomas, who can run the football, there's also QB Jon Wolf. Wolf hasn't attempted a pass this season, but has rushed 9 times for 25 yards and 3 touchdowns, making him more of a goal line option in Kevin Guy's offense. With Harmon out, it opens the door to potentially wild-cat like formations with Thomas and Wolf to try and bring an extra dimension to the running game.
One thing Arizona has done right since moving to the IFL is stockpile a wealthy amount of depth and talent in its wide receiving corps. Ex-Spokane Shock WR Anthony Amos, who signed with Arizona in 2016, joined the team in its transition to the IFL and has emerged as the number one target for Thomas and Sokol. He leads the team with 25 receptions for 308 yards and 9 TDs, while Jamal Miles (17 receptions, 159 yards, 2 TDs) and Fred Williams (15 receptions, 176 yards, 3 TDs) round out the rest of the receiving corps. The team will see the return of Ex-Empire WR Diondre Borel (4 receptions, 29 yards, TD) from injury, and Demarius Washington, the 2016 IFL Offensive Player of the Year, was recently traded to the Wichita Falls Nighthawks. Dillon Winfrey could see the field, but his roles in the offense remains to be seen at this point.
Defensively, Arizona possesses talented defensive backs in Adam Sauder (35 solo tackles, 3 pass breakups), Arkeith Brown (32 solo tackles, 2 INTs, 3 pass breakups), Allen Chapman (24 solo tackles, 2 INTs, 3 pass breakups), and Nathan Lindsey (15 solo tackles). While experienced with Brown and Chapman, they'll have their hands full against a talented Empire passing offense that possesses wealth upon wealth of talented playmakers. The Rattlers will lean on LB Justin Shirk (13 solo tackles, 1.0 sacks), Chris McCallister (13 solo tackles, 7.6 tackles for loss, 4.0 sacks), and Joshua Gordon (9 solo tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks) to try and contain Spokane's running game and put pressure on Charles Dowdell. When pressured, Dowdell has made errant passes, which could lead to interception opportunities for Brown, Sauder, and Chapman.
Player(s) to Watch: Cody Sokol (QB)
QUOTABLE
Empire HC Adam Shackleford on the race for first place in the Intense Conference.
"We have good teams on our heels and that doesn't scare us. We want to be pushed."
Empire LB Pasquale Vacchio on the play of the Empire's defense this season.
"I think that when we're on the same page, we're the best defense in the league."
Empire LB Andrew Jackson on playing defensive end.
"It was frustrating at first. It's all new to me. But it's a blessing. To be out there and learn a new position, all I can do is perfect my craft and get better every week."
FEATURED SOCIAL MEDIA
IFL SCHEDULE THIS WEEK
April 21 - Wichita Falls Nighthawks (7-1) at Colorado Crush (1-6), 6 p.m.
April 22 - Iowa Barnstormers (5-2) at Cedar Rapids Titans (1-7), 7:05 p.m.
April 22 - Sioux Falls Storm (7-0) at Green Bay Blizzard (2-6), 5:05 p.m.
April 22 - Salt Lake Screaming Eagles (1-6) at Nebraska Danger (4-4), 5:05 p.m.
EXTRA
QB Nick Davila played with Spokane from 2008-2009 (image credit: The Spokesman-Review)
What's there to say about Nick Davila that most AFL talking heads haven't discussed? He had a vastly successful career as the starting QB for the Arizona Rattlers. From 2010-2016, Davila completed 67.4% of his career passes for 32,616 yards, 766 TDs and 91 INTs. His success with the Rattlers earned him three AFL MVP Awards (2011, 2014, 2016), the 2014 AFL Offensive Player of the Year Award, three Second Team All-Arena honors (2011, 2012, 2013) and one First Team All-Arena Honor (2014). He also led the Rattlers to one of the greatest runs in professional sports; from 2011-2016, he won 5 National Conference Titles (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016), and 3 ArenaBowl Championships (2012, 2013, 2014). When the Rattlers moved from the AFL to the IFL, Davila retired from arena/indoor football to become the team's Quarterbacks and Wide Receivers Coach.
What most AFL fans overlook about the future AFL Hall of Famer is that his greatness didn't start in Arizona; it started in Spokane.
Davila was a relative unknown when he arrived in Spokane as a free agent in 2008. Spokane, which was playing in the af2 (arenafootball2) at the time, initially did not go with Davila as the team's starting QB, opting to start Jason Murrietta instead. Murrietta would start the Shock's first 5 games, passing for 543 yards, 20 TDs and 6 INTs. In the sixth game of the season, the Shock struggled to maintain a lead against the Lubbock Renegades. In search of a spark, Adam Shackleford sent Davila in for Murrietta. The Shock would hold on to win 43-41, and shortly afterward Shackleford named Davila the starter. Davila would return to Spokane for the 2009 season, despite offers from multiple AFL teams. It turned out to be the right choice, as the AFL would suspend operations for the 2009 season.
In his two seasons with Spokane, Davila completed 611 of 882 passes (69.3%) for 6,798 yards, 152 touchdowns and 18 interceptions. He would win two National Conference Titles (2008, 2009) and ArenaCup X (2009).