1996 Minnesota Fighting Pike season

1996 Minnesota Fighting Pike season
Head coach Ray Jauch
Home field Target Center
Results
Record 4–10
Division place 4th
Playoff finish Did Not Qualify

The 1996 Minnesota Fighting Pike season was the 1st season and only season for the team in the Arena Football League. The team's lack of exposure or advertising was the key reason for the team's folding at the end of the 1996 season. The team did not have a regional television deal to promote their games or have the games advertised in newspapers and other media. The Pike's final game of the season against the Memphis Pharaohs was played in Tupelo, Mississippi, because the Pharaohs had been evicted from their arena. After the game, the Pike ceased operations. There were no announcements nor press releases; players left town and staff did not receive their final paychecks.

Coaching

Season schedule

Date Opponent Home/Away Result
April 27 Texas Terror Away W 36–24
May 4 Iowa Barnstormers Home L 43–59
May 10 St. Louis Stampede Home L 22–59
May 18 Albany Firebirds Away L 30–85
May 24 Tampa Bay Storm Home L 16–41
May 31 Anaheim Piranhas Home L 23–49
June 7 Arizona Rattlers Home L 27–59
June 15 Florida Bobcats Away L 28–63
June 28 Milwaukee Mustangs Home L 49–61
July 5 Connecticut Coyotes Away W 44–40
July 12 Orlando Predators Away L 12–56
July 19 Texas Terror Home L 51–51
July 26 San Jose SaberCats Away W 40–31
August 3 Memphis Pharaohs Away W 50–25

Personnel moves

Acquired

The roster was full of players that had played at the University of Minnesota or other Minnesota colleges and universities. Former Gopher Rickey Foggie was the quarterback and he struggled adapting to the Arena Football League after many years in the Canadian Football League. Once during the season he was benched in favor of Southwest State's Jeff Loots, who threw four interceptions in a game. Loots was playing on his third expansion team in three seasons. Another player from Southwest State was Alvin Ashley. Perhaps the best-known ex-Pike is kicker Mike Vanderjagt, later a star in the CFL and NFL.

1996 Roster

1996 Minnesota Fighting Pike roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

  • -- Harry Jackson
  • -- William Freeney

Wide receivers

  • -- David Andrews
  • -- Reggie Brown
  • -- Fernando Evans
  • -- Wayne Hawkins
  • -- Eric Jennings
Offensive linemen/Defensive linemen
  • -- Scott Dolfi
  • -- Jon Garber
  • -- Sheldon Haliburton
  • -- Brian Krulikowski
  • -- Mike Sunvold
  • -- Franklin Thomas

Linebackers

  • -- Norman Brown
  • -- Nate Johnson III
  • -- Macey Stephens
  • -- Kevin Wolfolk
Defensive backs
  • -- Tony Harris
  • -- Adrian Lunsford
  • -- D.J. McCarthy
  • -- Randy Smith
  • -- Tony Young

Kickers

  • -- Ty Stewart

Rookies in italics
Roster updated August 16, 2012
32 Active, 0 Inactive, 0 PS

→ More rosters

Stats

Offense

Passing

Place Player Name Completions Attempts Comp% Yards TD's INT's Rating
1 Rickey Foggie 224 443 50.6% 2269 40 16 73.1
2 Jeff Loots 40 75 53.3% 484 7 8 57.2

Rushing

Place Player Name Car Yards Avg TD's
1 Harry Jackson 22 26 1.2 0
2 Guy Howard 11 19 1.7 0
3 William Freeney 5 18 3.6 0
4 Rickey Foggie 17 17 1 4
5 Bruce LaSane 6 12 2 0
6 Wayne Hawkins 3 12 4 0
7 Willie Jennings 8 9 1.1 0
8 Kevin Wolfolk 2 8 4 0
9 Norman Brown 1 2 2 0
10 David Andrews 1 2 2 0
11 Jeff Loots 3 −2 −0.7 0

Receiving

Place Player Name Rec. Yards Avg TD's
1 Reggie Brown 79 964 12.2 17
2 Alvin Ashley 69 971 14 19
3 Eric Jennings 29 230 7.9 0
4 Bruce LaSane 22 275 12.5 6
5 Wayne Hawkins 15 164 10.9 1
6 Harry Jackson 15 128 8.5 1
7 Kevin Guy 9 96 10.6 0
8 Tony Levine 8 83 10.4 1
9 Guy Howard 5 22 4.4 0
10 Franklin Thomas 3 43 14.3 0
11 D.J. McCarthy 2 53 26.5 1
12 Fernando Evans 2 23 11.5 0
13 Tony Harris 2 15 7.5 0
14 Nate Johnson III 2 14 7 0
15 Tony Young 1 45 45 1
16 Tracey Martin 1 14 14 0
17 Adrian Lunsford 1 7 7 0
18 Norman Brown 1 5 5 0

Touchdowns

Place Player Name TD's Rush Rec Ret Pts
1 Alvin Ashley 19 0 19 0 114
2 Reggie Brown 17 0 17 0 102
2 Bruce LaSane 6 0 6 0 36
4 Rickey Foggie 4 4 0 0 24
5 Adrian Lunsford 2 0 0 2 12
6 Wayne Hawkins 1 0 1 0 6
7 Harry Jackson 1 0 1 0 6
8 Tony Levine 1 0 1 0 6
9 D.J. McCarthy 1 0 1 0 6
10 Tony Young 1 0 1 0 6

Defense

Place Player Name Tackles Solo Assisted Sack Solo Assisted INT Yards TD's Long
1 Kevin Guy 52.5 49 7 0 0 0 2 0 0
2 Tony Harris 43.5 41 5 0 0 0 1 10 0
3 Adrian Lunsford 41 37 8 0 0 0 7 29 2
4 Alvin Ashley 28.5 27 3 0 0 0 2 42 1
5 Brian Krulikowski 25 19 12 1.5 1 1 0 0 0
6 Nate Johnson III 23 19 8 4.5 4 1 0 0 0
7 Norman Brown 22.5 21 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 Mike Sunvold 21.5 18 7 4 4 0 0 0 0
9 Harry Jackson 19 18 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
10 Franklin Thomas 16 15 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
11 Bruce LaSane 15.5 13 5 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 Guy Howard 14.5 12 5 0 0 0 0 0 0
13 Joe Fuller 11.5 11 1 0 0 0 1 13 0
14 Roosevelt Nix 10 8 4 0 0 0 0 0 0
15 Kevin Wolfolk 9.5 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
16 Reggie Brown 9 8 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
17 Scott Dolfi 8 7 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
18 Randy Smith 6.5 6 1 0 0 0 1 21 0
19 William Freeney 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
20 Wayne Hawkins 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
21 Sheldon Haliburton 4 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
22 Tony Levine 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
23 Ty Stewart 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
24 D.J. McCarthy 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
25 Jeff Loots 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
26 Tony Young 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
27 Jon Garber 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
28 Fernando Evans 1.5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
22 Ricky Foggie 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
23 Eric Jennings 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
24 Macey Stephens 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Special Teams

Kick Return

Place Player Name Ret Yards TD's Long Avg Ret Yards TD's Long Avg
1 Alvin Ashley 52 951 0
2 Adrian Lunsford 22 393 2
3 Reggie Brown 3 23 0
4 Tony Harris 2 26 0
5 Wayne Hawkins 2 9 0
6 Kevin Guy 2 0 0
7 Eric Jennings 1 0 0

Kicking

Place Player Name Extra pt. Extra pt. Att. FG FGA Pct. Pts
1 Ty Stewart 37 43 16 52 30.8 87
2 Mike Vanderjagt 7 10 2 6 33.3 13

Regular season

Week 1: vs Texas Terror

at the The Summit, Houston, Texas

Attendance: 4,520

Week 2: vs Iowa Barnstormers

at the Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Attendance: 14,840

Week 3: vs St. Louis Stampede

at the Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Attendance: 8,726

Week 4: vs Albany Firebirds

at the Times Union Center, Albany, New York

Attendance: 11,712

Week 5: vs Tampa Bay Storm

at the Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Attendance: 7,781

Week 6: vs Anaheim Piranhas

at the Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Attendance: 8,117

Week 7: vs Arizona Rattlers

at the Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Attendance: 8,207

Week 8: vs Florida Bobcats

at the West Palm Beach Auditorium, West Palm Beach, Florida

Attendance: 4,450

Week 10: vs Milwaukee Mustangs

at the Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Attendance: 7,207

Week 11: vs Connecticut Coyotes

at the Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, Connecticut

Attendance: 9,249

Week 12: vs Orlando Predators

at the Amway Arena, Orlando, Florida

Attendance: 15,107

Week 13: vs Texas Terror

at the Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Attendance: 7,380

Week 14: vs San Jose SaberCats

at the HP Pavilion, San Jose, California

Attendance: 14,901

Week 15: vs Memphis Pharaohs

at the BancorpSouth Arena, Tupelo, Mississippi

Attendance: 4,520

Notes

References

    External links

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