2007 Columbus Destroyers season

The 2007 Columbus Destroyers season is the 9th season for the franchise and the 4th in Columbus, Ohio. They finished with a 7–9 record and qualified for the playoffs. The Destroyers defeated the Tampa Bay Storm 56–55 in the first round. The Destroyers advanced to the National Conference Championship by beating Dallas 66–59 in Dallas the following week. Columbus swept the table with the top three National Conference teams by defeating the Georgia Force 66–56 to win the National Conference Championship Game and their first conference title in team history and will go to New Orleans, Louisiana, to participate in their first ever ArenaBowl XXI.

2007 Columbus Destroyers season
Head coachDoug Kay
Home fieldNationwide Arena
Results
Record7–9
Division place3rd
Playoff finishQualified

Coaching edit

Doug Kay started his second season as head coach of the Destroyers.

Season schedule edit

Week Date Opponent Home/Away Result
1 March 1 Nashville Kats Away W 58–56
2 March 9 New Orleans VooDoo Away L 52–45
3 Bye Week
4 March 24 Chicago Rush Home L 55–47
5 March 30 Georgia Force Home W 62–61
6 April 5 Dallas Desperados Away L 53–51
7 April 14 Austin Wranglers Home W 72–49
8 April 23 Philadelphia Soul Home W 44–21
9 April 29 Tampa Bay Storm Away L 34–32
10 May 4 New York Dragons Home W 51–42
11 May 11 Grand Rapids Rampage Home W 59–56
12 May 18 Colorado Crush Away L 58–40
13 May 26 Dallas Desperados Home L 56–47
14 June 2 Georgia Force Away L 54–33
15 June 8 Kansas City Brigade Home L 47–34
16 June 16 Philadelphia Soul Away L 56–53
17 June 23 New York Dragons Away W 74–43

Playoff schedule edit

Round Date Opponent Home/Away Result
1st June 30 (3) Tampa Bay Storm Away W 56–55
2nd July 7 (1) Dallas Desperados Away W 66–59
3rd July 14 (2) Georgia Force Away W 66–56
ArenaBowl XXI July 29 (1) San Jose Sabercats Neutral L 33–55

2007 roster edit

Quarterbacks

Fullbacks

  • Currently vacant

Wide receivers

  • Currently vacant
Offensive linemen
  • Currently vacant

Defensive linemen

  • Currently vacant
Linebackers
  • Currently vacant

Defensive backs

  • Currently vacant

Kickers

  • Currently vacant
Injured reserve
  • Currently vacant

Other league exempt

  • Currently vacant

League suspension

  • Currently vacant

Refused to report

  • Currently vacant

Inactive reserve

  • Currently vacant

Recallable reassignment

  • Currently vacant

Rookies in italics
Roster updated March 11, 2019
28 Active, 0 Inactive


Stats edit

Offense edit

Quarterback edit

Player Comp. Att. Comp% Yards TD's INT's Long Rating
Matt Nagy 341 545 62.6 3557 75 15 44 104.4
Scott Dreisbach 30 45 66.7 269 5 2 37 91.8

Running backs edit

Player Car. Yards Avg. TD's Long
Harold Wells 73 197 2.7 13 13
Damien Groce 16 80 5 3 14
B. J. Barre 8 34 4.3 2 16
Matt Nagy 16 22 1.4 6 6
Josh Bush 4 19 4.8 2 9
Brad Greetis 6 4 .8 2 4
Darcy Levy 1 5 5 0 5
Freddie Solomon 1 5 5 0 5

Wide receivers edit

Player Rec. Yards Avg. TD's Long
Damien Groce 118 1342 11.4 26 44
David Saunders 68 550 8.1 18 25
Marcus Knight 44 496 11.3 9 24
Josh Bush 48 461 9.6 6 33
B. J. Barre 22 291 13.2 7 45
Jason Shelley 25 264 10.6 1 23
Freddie Solomon 24 226 9.4 3 21
Darcy Levy 7 105 15 2 28
Harold Wells 11 90 8.2 4 20
Matthew Thomas 7 68 9.7 2 16
Cole Magner 4 44 11 2 29
Howard Duncan 6 38 6.3 1 12
Jason Hilliard 2 14 7 0 9
Brad Greetis 1 10 10 0 10
Peter Martinez 1 5 5 0 5

Touchdowns edit

Player TD's Rush Rec Ret Pts
Damien Groce 31 3 26 2 188
David Saunders 18 0 18 0 112
Harold Wells 17 13 4 0 102
Marcus Knight 9 0 9 0 62
Josh Bush 10 2 6 2 60
B. J. Barre 9 2 7 0 56
Matt Nagy 6 6 0 0 36
Freddie Solomon 3 0 3 0 18
Brad Greetis 2 2 0 0 12
Darcy Levy 2 0 2 0 12
Cole Magner 2 0 2 0 12
Matthew Thomas 2 0 2 0 12
Howard Duncan 1 0 1 0 6
Jason Shelley 1 0 1 0 6

Defense edit

Player Tackles Solo Assisted Sack Solo Assisted INT Yards TD's Long
Brandon Hefflin 105 88 34 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
Jerald Brown 65.5 57 17 0 0 0 5 38 0 22
Rober' Freeman 58 52 12 0 0 0 2 6 0 6
B. J. Barre 51 44 14 0 0 0 1 9 0 9
Ken Jones 28.5 21 15 9.5 9 1 0 0 0 0
Jason Shelley 22.5 18 9 0 0 0 2 8 0 8
Josh Bush 20 17 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Bernard Riley 20 15 10 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Harold Wells 19.5 17 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kelvin Kinney 17.5 15 5 3 3 0 0 0 0 0
Leroy Thompson 17.5 14 7 .5 0 1 0 0 0 0
Scott Dreisbach 11 10 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
David Saunders 11 10 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Peter Martinez 6.5 6 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Marcus Knight 5 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Damien Groce 3.5 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ken Kocher 3 2 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Brad Greetis 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Josh Harris 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jason Hilliard 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Freddie Solomon 2.5 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Eddie Freeman 1.5 0 3 .5 0 1 0 0 0 0
Howard Duncan 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Matt Nagy 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Will Rabatin 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

Special teams edit

Kick return edit

Player Ret Yards TD's Long Avg Ret Yards TD's Long Avg
Damien Groce 40 825 2 56 20.6 1 6 0 6 6
Josh Bush 39 758 2 58 19.4 0 0 0 0 0
B. J. Barre 5 59 0 31 11.8 2 20 0 17 20
Matthew Thomas 3 47 0 24 15.7 0 0 0 0 0
Jason Shelley 3 24 0 21 8 0 0 0 0 0
Josh Harris 1 4 0 4 4 0 0 0 0 0
Brandon Hefflin 1 4 0 4 4 0 0 0 0 0
Marcus Knight 1 4 0 4 4 0 0 0 0 0
David Saunders 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

Kicking edit

Player Extra pt. Extra pt. Att. FG FGA Long Pct. Pts
Peter Martinez 80 97 10 20 45 0.500 110
Matt Nagy 0 1 0 0 0 0.000 0

Playoff Stats edit

Offense edit

Quarterback edit

Player Comp. Att. Comp% Yards TD's INT's
Matt Nagy 19 26 73 262 5 0

Running backs edit

Player Car. Yards Avg. TD's Long
Harold Wells 6 15 2.5 0 6
Damien Groce 1 6 6 0 6
B. J. Barre 1 2 2 1 2
Matt Nagy 4 −1 -.3 1 1

Wide receivers edit

Player Rec. Yards Avg. TD's Long
Damien Groce 7 98 14 2 30
Marcus Knight 6 82 13.7 1 23
David Saunders 3 37 12.3 1 25
Josh Bush 2 34 17 0 24
Harold Wells 1 11 11 1 11

Special teams edit

Kick return edit

Player Ret Yards Avg Long
Josh Bush 5 103 20.6 29
B. J. Barre 1 6 6 6

Kicking edit

Player Extra pt. Extra pt. Att. FG FGA Long Pts
Peter Martinez 8 8 0 1 8

Regular season edit

Week 1: at Nashville Kats edit

1 2 3 4 Total
CLB 7 24 13 14 58
NAS 13 16 0 27 56

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Week 2: at New Orleans VooDoo edit

1 2 3 4 Total
CLB 10 9 19 7 45
NO 7 17 14 14 52

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Week 4: vs Chicago Rush edit

1 2 3 4 Total
CHI 14 24 7 10 55
CLB 14 14 6 13 47

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Week 5: vs Georgia Force edit

1 2 3 4 Total
GEO 6 21 14 20 61
CLB 10 31 7 14 62

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Week 6: at Dallas Desperados edit

1 2 3 4 Total
CLB 14 23 0 14 51
DAL 7 7 14 25 53

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Week 7: vs Austin Wranglers edit

1 2 3 4 Total
AUS 21 7 7 14 49
CLB 14 17 21 20 72

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Week 8: vs Philadelphia Soul edit

1 2 3 4 Total
PHI 0 10 3 8 21
CLB 0 20 3 21 44

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Week 9: at Tampa Bay Storm edit

1 2 3 4 Total
CLB 7 6 13 6 32
TB 7 3 14 10 34

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Week 10: vs New York Dragons edit

1 2 3 4 Total
NYD 14 7 14 7 42
CLB 14 17 13 7 51

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Week 11: vs Grand Rapids Rampage edit

1 2 3 4 Total
GR 13 9 20 14 56
CLB 27 7 20 5 59

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Week 12: at Colorado Crush edit

1 2 3 4 Total
CLB 6 14 0 20 40
COL 14 21 6 17 58

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Week 13: vs Dallas Desperados edit

1 2 3 4 Total
DAL 14 21 7 14 56
CLB 7 14 14 12 47

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Week 14: at Georgia Force edit

1 2 3 4 Total
CLB 7 6 0 20 33
GEO 6 13 13 22 54

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Week 15: vs Kansas City Brigade edit

1 2 3 4 Total
KC 27 0 7 13 47
CLB 13 0 0 21 34

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Week 16: at Philadelphia Soul edit

1 2 3 4 Total
CLB 14 13 20 6 53
PHI 14 13 14 15 56

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Week 17: at New York Dragons edit

1 2 3 4 Total
CLB 21 23 16 14 74
NYD 14 9 14 6 43

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Playoffs edit

Week 1: at Tampa Bay Storm edit

1 2 3 4 Total
(6) CLB 14 21 7 14 56
(3) TAM 14 21 7 13 55

at the St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, Florida

The Destroyers entered the playoffs for the first time since their move to Columbus. In a game that was back-and-forth scoring, the key play was a missed extra point by Storm kicker Seth Marler with 1:06 left in the game. Following a delay-of-game penalty, Marler missed an extra point attempt that, had he made it, would have given the Storm a 56–49 lead. After Columbus got the ball on the ensuing kickoff, they drove down to the Storm 1-yard line with 10 seconds left. Columbus QB Matt Nagy called his own number and sneaked into the Storm endzone with 7.9 left in the game, and, after the extra point attempt, the Destroyers had a 56–55 lead and looked to pull off the upset. With 3 seconds left and at their own 10-yard line, Marler tried to make amends by attempting a field goal that, if good, would give the Storm a 58–56 win and a game against division rival Georgia. Marler's kick looked good to begin with, but curved off to the left and missed, giving Columbus the upset win and a matchup against the 15–1 Dallas Desperados.

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Attendance: 10,221

Team 1st Down. Rush. Yds Pass. Yds Fumbles/lost Fumble yds Penal./yds TOP 3rd Down. 4th Down.
CLB 20 22 260 0/0 0 12/63 19:27 4/6 1/2
TB 29 14 315 0/0 0 11/63 40:33 3/5 1/1

Week 2: at Dallas Desperados edit

1 2 3 4 Total
(6) CLB 21 7 17 21 66
(1) DAL 21 17 0 21 59

at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas

The Destroyers blew a 30-point lead and lost to the Desperados earlier this season 53–51 and they lost the 2nd game in Columbus 56–47. This time, it looked as if Dallas, after a shaky start, would continue their dominance over the Destroyers. Leading 38–28 at the half, the tide turned on back-to-back kickoffs by Columbus kicker Peter Martinez. Dallas, who had deferred, got the opening kickoff. However, the ball bounced off the goalpost and into the hands of Columbus' Josh Bush, who rolled into the endzone to make it 38–35. On the very next kickoff, a nearly identical play occurred when the ball again bounced off the goalpost and Columbus recovered at the 4-yard line. On the next play, Damien Groce ran the ball in to give Columbus a sudden 42–38 lead 58 seconds into the second half. After a Clint Dolezel interception set up a field goal for Columbus, Jason Shelley put the game away with a 28-yard reception with 12:55 left in the game to give Columbus a 2-touchdown lead that they held onto to pull off the upset against the Desperados.

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Team 1st Down. Rush. Yds Pass. Yds Fumbles/lost Fumble yds Penal./yds TOP 3rd Down. 4th Down.
CLB 0 0 0 0/0 0 0/0 00:00 0/0 0/0
DAL 0 0 0 0/0 0 0/0 00:00 0/0 0/0

Week 3 (Conference Championship): at Georgia Force edit

at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia

1 2 3 4 Total
(6) CLB 7 28 13 18 66
(2) GA 7 14 21 14 56

The Destroyers Pull off the Upset and they are going to ArenaBowl XXI In New Orleans to play the San Jose SaberCats.

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ArenaBowl XXI vs. San Jose SaberCats edit

at New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana