The Green Bay Blizzard came one step closer to the American
Conference Championship game Friday night as they beat the reigning
ArenaCup Champion Memphis Xplorers in front of 6,005 rowdy fans at
the Resch Center.

Memphis was the first to draw blood on a 13-yard pass from QB Brian
Jones to OS Kevin Prentiss. The Blizzard answered right back with a
42-yard pass of their own from QB James MacPherson to OS Brent
Holmes. Memphis fired right back and served up two unanswered TDs to
the Blizzard, the first coming from a 58-yard kickoff return from
Prentiss and the second a 39-yard pass from Jones to WR/DB Adrian
Burnette. As the first quarter wound down the Blizzard was able to
score once more on WR/DB Dontrell Jackson's 4-yard run and after the
failed kick from K Dallas Pelz, the first quarter would end with the
score 20-13.

The second quarter started with a bang as the Blizzard scored two
straight TDs. The first was a 27-yard pass as MacPherson connected
with Holmes in the end zone and the second was 12-yard fumble
recovery by WR/LB Robert "Superman" Garth. Memphis would not be
silenced and Jones scored again with a 1-yard run, tying the score
at 27-27. The Blizzard fired right back with a 40-yard TD pass from
MacPherson, this time to WR/DB Gerald Harris. K Steven Azar came in
as the half wound down to kick a field goal for the Xplorers. As the
teams headed into the locker room the Blizzard led 34-30.

The third quarter was a back-and-forth battle. The Blizzard struck
first on a bruising 7-yard run by FB/LB Jeff Cogell. Jones again
helped himself out by scoring on a 1-yard run, but Holmes quickly
answered with a 58-yard kickoff return of his own. With 3:30 left in
the third quarter FB/LB Joshua Rue scored on a 16-yard run, and the
quarter ended with the Blizzard leading 47-43.

The fourth quarter proved to be more of the same as the Blizzard
took a commanding lead as they scored two consecutive TDs, extending
their lead to 17 points. The Xplorers were able to score only one
more time as Jones hooked up with Prentiss for a 12-yard pass. The
Blizzard put the last nail in the coffin as they scored one more
time on 10-yard pass from MacPherson to Harris. That would close out
the scoring, and as the clock wound down the Blizzard faithful kept
the Resch Center rocking as the Blizzard would leave the field 67-50
winners over the defending af2 Champions.
With the win the Blizzard improves to 11-6, while the Xplorers
finish the 2006 campaign with a record of 12-6. It was Head Coach
Danton Barto's last game at the Xplorers' helm, as he moves on to
become the Head Coach of the AFL's Las Vegas Gladiators.

Next up for the Blizzard is a match-up with the winner of tomorrow
night's game between the #1-ranked Florida Firecats and the #4
Manchester Wolves. The game is in Florida, and if the Firecats win,
the Blizzard will travel there for the American Conference
Championship Game. If Manchester wins, they will come to Green Bay
next Friday. The winner of next week's game will advance to
ArenaCup7 in San Juan Puerto Rico on Saturday, August 26th to play
the National Conference Champions.