Post by marinersmedia on May 27, 2010 7:57:13 GMT -5
Baltimore Seeks Title and Playoff Game, Richmond Looks to Add to own History
BALTIMORE, MD (May 26, 2010) – Baltimore, Maryland and Richmond, Virginia are I-95 neighbors; sitting just 150 miles apart. Despite their close proximity, other than a few soccer skirmishes, they have been virtual strangers in the world of professional sports.
Travelling in different sports circles until this season, Baltimore has seen World Series titles with the Orioles and Super Bowl titles with the Colts and Ravens, but Richmond has something Baltimore doesn’t have: an indoor football championship.
Although the Richmond Raiders (5-5) are enjoying their first season of indoor football, the city of Richmond has seen a lot of winning in arena and indoor football. In six previous seasons Richmond teams compiled a 60-28 regular season record, three playoff appearances, two championship games, and an indoor football title in 2005.
Now the Raiders, the Mariners’ newest rivals, stand squarely in the way of Baltimore’s bid for indoor football glory. Mariners’ General Manager Greg Justice noted, “The city of Richmond has always embraced indoor football. In 2000, I played both for and against Richmond in the AF2. They are a town that sniffs play-offs, and like ten years ago, expect to be there. I look for a very loud and enthusiastic crowd on top of a very motivated Richmond Raiders football team.”
With a win this weekend, the Mariners (9-0) can capture their second straight playoff spot. With a Mariners win and losses by the Erie Storm (6-4) and Harrisburg Stampede (6-3), Baltimore can win its first regular season conference championship and also secure the first indoor football playoff game in Baltimore sports history.
“It would be a tremendous opportunity for this organization to host the conference championship. It would be a nice reward for all those who have worked so hard to make this one of the top franchises in the league. Over the past two seasons, we have played very well in front of the home crowd. There is a definite advantage for us to play at 1st Mariner Arena,” said Mariners Head Coach Chris Simpson.
Heading into this Saturday’s game, which will kick off at 7:00 PM at the Richmond Coliseum, the Mariners have won nine straight games to open the 2010 season (tying a league record), won 14 of 15 regular season contests dating back to May 23, 2009, and are 5-0 on the road this season. In doing so, they have compiled the league’s second ranked scoring offense, averaging 64.8 points per game, and the top scoring defense, allowing only 27 points a game.
Leading the Mariners offense is quarterback E.J. Nemeth, who is ranked third in the American Indoor Football Association (AIFA) in passing efficiency by throwing 33 touchdowns, against only six interceptions. His stats have been bolstered by a trio of receivers who are now in their third season with the Mariners and their second partnered with Nemeth.
With three touchdowns in the Mariners last outing, a 63-34 win over the Fayetteville Guard; Scorpio Brown set a new Mariner single season record with 12 touchdown receptions. A mark (11) he held previously with fellow receiver Aaron Yarbough.
Yarbough, the veteran of the receiving squad who is now in his seventh professional season, has already established a career high with 41 receptions and is just 28 yards from surpassing his single season mark for receiving yards (518). The third piece of the receiving corps is Jamaal Stokes, who is the Mariners’ career leader in receptions (148) and receiving yards (1,675).
The rushing attack can claim to be the league’s best as Mariners’ running back Isaiah Grier is leading the AIFA in rushing yards and has already tied his Mariners’ single season record with 20 rushing touchdowns.
For the second consecutive campaign the Mariners emotional leader on the defensive side of the ball is defensive end Fearon Wright. Wright, a former Minnesota Viking, is Baltimore’s all-time leader in sacks (14) and tackles for a loss (15). A model of consistency the Mariners returned five starters from last year’s starting eight on defense. In addition to Wright, Baltimore re-signed linebackers Brian Bradford and Adam Goloboski, both former college All-Americans, defensive back Armar Watson, who leads the AIFA in interceptions for the second season in a row, and DB Richard Johnson, the Mariners’ all-time leader in tackles.
After ranking ninth in the AIFA in scoring defense last season, allowing 42.4 points per game, the Mariners fortified the defense with linemen Melik Brown (North Carolina) and Daniel Orlebar (Appalachian State) and defensive back Jermaine Thaxton (West Virginia). All three have made major impacts. Brown has set the Mariners’ single season sack record, Thaxton is the team’s leading tackler in 2010, and Orlebar ranks fourth on the team in sacks and tackles for a loss.
Special teams have also clicked as the league’s leading scoring kicker in 2009, Baltimore’s J.R. Cipra, is well on the way to securing that title again leading the AIFA’s 2010 kickers in points, field goal percentage, and extra point percentage.
In Richmond the Mariners will face one of the league’s hottest teams. After a 2-5 start, the Raiders released head coach Mike Siani, a former Baltimore Colts and Oakland Raiders standout, and replaced him with arena and indoor football veteran Charles Gunnings. Since that time, Richmond has reeled off three straight wins for the first time in their brief history.
Leading the resurgence is quarterback Robbie Jenkins, who has thrown 37 touchdowns with his own trio of productive receivers: Chris Schubert (49 receptions, 526 yards, and 15 touchdowns), Jay Jackson (48, 729, and 14) and Herb Jones (34, 432, and 8).
The thorn in Richmond’s side is their record against teams with winning records as they are 1-5 against the league’s best and 4-0 against Fayetteville (2-8) and New Jersey (0-9). One of the highlights, and heartbreaks for Richmond this season was their 49-45 loss to the Mariners, in Baltimore on March 28th, when a goal line stand with less than a minute to go preserved the Mariners’ fourth win of the season.
Now as the teams prepare to square off this Saturday, fans in both cities will be anxious to see if Richmond can build on their own indoor football history or if the Mariners can continue to make sports history of their own.
For more information about the Baltimore Mariners go to www.baltimoremariners.com.
BALTIMORE, MD (May 26, 2010) – Baltimore, Maryland and Richmond, Virginia are I-95 neighbors; sitting just 150 miles apart. Despite their close proximity, other than a few soccer skirmishes, they have been virtual strangers in the world of professional sports.
Travelling in different sports circles until this season, Baltimore has seen World Series titles with the Orioles and Super Bowl titles with the Colts and Ravens, but Richmond has something Baltimore doesn’t have: an indoor football championship.
Although the Richmond Raiders (5-5) are enjoying their first season of indoor football, the city of Richmond has seen a lot of winning in arena and indoor football. In six previous seasons Richmond teams compiled a 60-28 regular season record, three playoff appearances, two championship games, and an indoor football title in 2005.
Now the Raiders, the Mariners’ newest rivals, stand squarely in the way of Baltimore’s bid for indoor football glory. Mariners’ General Manager Greg Justice noted, “The city of Richmond has always embraced indoor football. In 2000, I played both for and against Richmond in the AF2. They are a town that sniffs play-offs, and like ten years ago, expect to be there. I look for a very loud and enthusiastic crowd on top of a very motivated Richmond Raiders football team.”
With a win this weekend, the Mariners (9-0) can capture their second straight playoff spot. With a Mariners win and losses by the Erie Storm (6-4) and Harrisburg Stampede (6-3), Baltimore can win its first regular season conference championship and also secure the first indoor football playoff game in Baltimore sports history.
“It would be a tremendous opportunity for this organization to host the conference championship. It would be a nice reward for all those who have worked so hard to make this one of the top franchises in the league. Over the past two seasons, we have played very well in front of the home crowd. There is a definite advantage for us to play at 1st Mariner Arena,” said Mariners Head Coach Chris Simpson.
Heading into this Saturday’s game, which will kick off at 7:00 PM at the Richmond Coliseum, the Mariners have won nine straight games to open the 2010 season (tying a league record), won 14 of 15 regular season contests dating back to May 23, 2009, and are 5-0 on the road this season. In doing so, they have compiled the league’s second ranked scoring offense, averaging 64.8 points per game, and the top scoring defense, allowing only 27 points a game.
Leading the Mariners offense is quarterback E.J. Nemeth, who is ranked third in the American Indoor Football Association (AIFA) in passing efficiency by throwing 33 touchdowns, against only six interceptions. His stats have been bolstered by a trio of receivers who are now in their third season with the Mariners and their second partnered with Nemeth.
With three touchdowns in the Mariners last outing, a 63-34 win over the Fayetteville Guard; Scorpio Brown set a new Mariner single season record with 12 touchdown receptions. A mark (11) he held previously with fellow receiver Aaron Yarbough.
Yarbough, the veteran of the receiving squad who is now in his seventh professional season, has already established a career high with 41 receptions and is just 28 yards from surpassing his single season mark for receiving yards (518). The third piece of the receiving corps is Jamaal Stokes, who is the Mariners’ career leader in receptions (148) and receiving yards (1,675).
The rushing attack can claim to be the league’s best as Mariners’ running back Isaiah Grier is leading the AIFA in rushing yards and has already tied his Mariners’ single season record with 20 rushing touchdowns.
For the second consecutive campaign the Mariners emotional leader on the defensive side of the ball is defensive end Fearon Wright. Wright, a former Minnesota Viking, is Baltimore’s all-time leader in sacks (14) and tackles for a loss (15). A model of consistency the Mariners returned five starters from last year’s starting eight on defense. In addition to Wright, Baltimore re-signed linebackers Brian Bradford and Adam Goloboski, both former college All-Americans, defensive back Armar Watson, who leads the AIFA in interceptions for the second season in a row, and DB Richard Johnson, the Mariners’ all-time leader in tackles.
After ranking ninth in the AIFA in scoring defense last season, allowing 42.4 points per game, the Mariners fortified the defense with linemen Melik Brown (North Carolina) and Daniel Orlebar (Appalachian State) and defensive back Jermaine Thaxton (West Virginia). All three have made major impacts. Brown has set the Mariners’ single season sack record, Thaxton is the team’s leading tackler in 2010, and Orlebar ranks fourth on the team in sacks and tackles for a loss.
Special teams have also clicked as the league’s leading scoring kicker in 2009, Baltimore’s J.R. Cipra, is well on the way to securing that title again leading the AIFA’s 2010 kickers in points, field goal percentage, and extra point percentage.
In Richmond the Mariners will face one of the league’s hottest teams. After a 2-5 start, the Raiders released head coach Mike Siani, a former Baltimore Colts and Oakland Raiders standout, and replaced him with arena and indoor football veteran Charles Gunnings. Since that time, Richmond has reeled off three straight wins for the first time in their brief history.
Leading the resurgence is quarterback Robbie Jenkins, who has thrown 37 touchdowns with his own trio of productive receivers: Chris Schubert (49 receptions, 526 yards, and 15 touchdowns), Jay Jackson (48, 729, and 14) and Herb Jones (34, 432, and 8).
The thorn in Richmond’s side is their record against teams with winning records as they are 1-5 against the league’s best and 4-0 against Fayetteville (2-8) and New Jersey (0-9). One of the highlights, and heartbreaks for Richmond this season was their 49-45 loss to the Mariners, in Baltimore on March 28th, when a goal line stand with less than a minute to go preserved the Mariners’ fourth win of the season.
Now as the teams prepare to square off this Saturday, fans in both cities will be anxious to see if Richmond can build on their own indoor football history or if the Mariners can continue to make sports history of their own.
For more information about the Baltimore Mariners go to www.baltimoremariners.com.