Post by rkozak201 on Mar 7, 2010 8:16:40 GMT -5
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Express quarterback Rob Flowers, a Muhlenberg High and Kutztown University grad, is the reigning AIFA Most Valuable Player.
By Brian Rippey
Reading Eagle
Four years ago Erie brought an indoor football team to the Sovereign Center to help launch a new era.
The Reading Express team was filled with question marks while Erie had an established squad and several standout players led by reigning league Most Valuable Player David Dinkins.
My, how things have changed.
The defending American Indoor Football Association champion Express opens its fifth season today at 2 p.m. in Erie.
The Express, not the Storm, have the returning league MVP in quarterback Rob Flowers, who accounted for more than 100 touchdowns last season.
In addition, Flowers brings back his top two receivers in Jeff Willis and Carmelo Ocasio.
Dinkins is in Erie again, but this time as a wide receiver for former University of Pittsburgh quarterback Rob Rutherford.
"We're coming out as the defending champions," said Bernie Nowotarski, entering his third season as the Express' coach/general manager. "I would have to think we have a bull's-eye on our back.
"I think we have a nice group lined up. Until you get against another team, we'll find out."
Flowers and fullback Jason Henley return in the Express backfield. Willis and Ocasio, who each finished with more than 1,000 receiving yards last season, have been joined by a couple talented, veteran receivers.
Ocasio is in his fifth season with the Express along with linebacker Matt Sola, a Central Catholic and Kutztown University grad, and placekicker Erik Rockhold.
Is what's up front, on the offensive and defensive lines, that concerns Nowotarski, who was an assistant coach for the first two seasons.
"The two lines are the question marks," Nowotarski said. "These first couple of games all you can really do is try to evaluate what you've put together through camp. We look all right, but we're looking at ourselves every day. We've got to get against somebody else and see how we perform."
The Express has performed well in each of its first four seasons. Reading has won four straight division titles, advanced to the conference championship game in each of its first four seasons and compiled a 54-14 record.
Last year, the Express finally made it to the top by defeating Wyoming 65-42 in the AIFA championship game in Casper, Wyo.
Most of the players, including defensive back Sam Bryant, have been waiting to get back on the field since that historic victory July 26.
"I'm excited," said Bryant, a Reading High grad. "I don't think we're at the same level as we were last year, not right now anyway. But if we keep working like we are right now we'll pull it off."
Erie looks to return to where it was two years ago when it defeated the Express once during the regular season and lost to Reading in the first round of the AIFA playoffs. After a 3-11 season filled with turmoil, Erie has rehired coach Shawn Liotta, changed its name from RiverRats to Storm and brought back many of its players from 2008.
Rutherford, one of Bryant's former Pittsburgh teammates, is the team's cornerstone.
Another Erie player familiar to Express fans is defensive back Trent Jones, who spent the last two seasons in Reading.
"We're really excited," Bryant said. "Erie's team is basically the same they had two years ago."
The Express will be on the road again next Saturday to face the expansion Richmond Raiders. Reading will play its first home game of the season in the Sovereign Center Sunday, March 21, at 3 p.m. against the Harrisburg Stampede.
Contact Brian Rippey: 610-371-5070 or brippey@readingeagle.com.
