{"id":38041,"date":"2014-03-18T20:29:27","date_gmt":"2014-03-19T03:29:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=38041"},"modified":"2014-03-18T20:29:27","modified_gmt":"2014-03-19T03:29:27","slug":"ross-bell-and-stephens-earn-weekly-honors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=38041","title":{"rendered":"Ross, Bell and Stephens Earn Weekly Honors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AFL<\/a><\/p>\n

CHICAGO<\/span><\/b> \u2013 Philadelphia Soul FB DERRICK ROSS<\/b> has been awarded Russell Athletic Offensive Player of the Week, while LA KISS MLB BEAU BELL<\/b> has been named the Riddell Defensive Player of the Week and San Antonio Talons WR D.J. STEPHENS<\/b> has been named J. Lewis Small Playmaker of the Week for Week 1 of the 2014 NET10 Wireless Arena Football League season. In addition to these awards, the AFL is also awarding the Cutters Catch of the Week and AFL Highlight of the Week. Portland Thunder WR JEFFREY SOLOMON<\/b> earned the Cutters Catch of the Week, while Orlando Predators DB ARNESS IKNER<\/b> was awarded the AFL Highlight of the Week.<\/span><\/p>\n

RUSSELL ATHLETIC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
\n<\/span><\/b>Ross (6-0, 250, Tarleton State) tied a single-game AFL record with six rushing touchdowns in Philadelphia\u2019s 55-62 overtime loss to the Arizona Rattlers in Week 1. His sixth score came with 23 seconds to play in the fourth quarter and tied Dan Alexander\u2019s single-game League mark, originally set in 2007. The AFL\u2019s all-time leading rusher, Ross ran the ball 12 times for 46 yards in the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

RIDDELL DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
\n<\/span><\/b>Bell (6-2, 240, UNLV) collected 4.5 tackles, three sacks, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup in LA\u2019s 41-38 victory over the San Antonio Talons in Week 1. His three sacks represent a new single-game franchise record and brings his career sack total to 20.<\/span><\/p>\n

J. LEWIS SMALL PLAYMAKER OF THE WEEK
\n<\/span><\/b>Stephens (5-11, 180, Arkansas-Monticello) set a single-game franchise record with 14 receptions in San Antonio\u2019s 38-41 loss to the LA KISS in Week 1. He led the team with 140 receiving yards and three touchdowns in the game. Stephens also returned two kicks for 53 yards, finishing the game with 193 all-purpose yards. He will be awarded a timepiece crafted by J. Lewis Small for his efforts.<\/span><\/p>\n

CUTTERS CATCH OF THE WEEK
\n<\/span><\/b>Solomon (6-0, 200, Washington State) made a diving 32-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter of Portland\u2019s 34-64 loss to the San Jose SaberCats on Monday. The score, which landed at No. 7 on ESPN SportsCenter<\/i>\u2019s Top 10 Plays, was the first passing score in Thunder franchise history. Solomon will receive a Cutters hat and shirt in recognition of the catch.<\/span><\/p>\n

AFL HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK
\n<\/span><\/b>Ikner (5-8, 180, Middle Tennessee State) returned a kickoff 55 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter of Orlando\u2019s 49-47 victory over the Jacksonville Sharks in Week 1. The return changed the complexion of the game for the Predators, who were able to knock off the South Division rival Sharks for the first time since 2010.<\/span><\/p>\n

Russell Athletic Offensive Player of the Week candidates included<\/span><\/i>: Arizona\u2019s Tysson Poots, Cleveland\u2019s Chris Dieker, Orlando\u2019s Jason Boltus, San Antonio\u2019s D.J. Stephens, San Jose\u2019s Reggie Gray, Spokane\u2019s Erik Meyer and Tampa Bay\u2019s Justin Hilton.<\/span><\/p>\n

Riddell Defensive Player of the Week candidates included<\/span><\/i>: Arizona\u2019s Jeremy Kellem, Orlando\u2019s Mark Robinson, New Orleans\u2019 Eddie Moten, Pittsburgh\u2019s Virgil Gray, San Jose\u2019s David Hyland and Spokane\u2019s Paul Stephens.<\/span><\/p>\n

J. Lewis Small Playmaker of the Week candidates included<\/span><\/i>: Arizona\u2019s Marquis Floyd, Orlando\u2019s Braylon Bell, Pittsburgh\u2019s Virgil Gray, Portland\u2019s Duane Brooks, Spokane\u2019s Terrance Sanders and Tampa Bay\u2019s Michael Lindsey.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Arena Football League is also awarding the MVP of the Week, where fans are given the opportunity to select the winner. Candidates include Cleveland Gladiators QB CHRIS DIEKER<\/b>, Orlando Predators QB JASON BOLTUS<\/b> and Spokane Shock QB ERIK MEYER<\/b>. Fans will have 24 hours to vote on ArenaFootball.com beginning at 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 19. The winner will be announced on Thursday, March 20.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO \u2013 Philadelphia Soul FB DERRICK ROSS has been awarded Russell Athletic Offensive Player of the Week, while LA KISS MLB BEAU BELL has been named the Riddell Defensive Player of the Week and San Antonio Talons WR D.J. STEPHENS has been named J. Lewis Small Playmaker of the Week for Week 1 of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[578,536,9182],"class_list":["post-38041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories-news-notes-around-professional-football","tag-afl","tag-arena-football-league","tag-l-a-kiss"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38041"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38043,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38041\/revisions\/38043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}