Former Hogs Ready For AFL Playoffs
Courtesy: Texas A&M - Kingsville Sports Information
Former Texas A&M-Kingsville football players Jeff Chase, Brent Holmes, Eddie Moten and Van Nelson are all preparing for the postseason in the Arena Football League while playing for teams that posted the top two regular season records in the league.
Holmes and Moten are part of a Philadelphia Soul squad that posted a 13-3 regular season record and won the team’s first Eastern Division, clinching a first round playoff bye and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Holmes and Moten both played at Texas A&M-Kingsville in 2002 and 2003.
Both Holmes and Moten started their indoor football careers close to home in 2004. Holmes played with the Corpus Christi Hammerheads and Moten with the Rio Grande Valley Dorados, earned All-AFL2 honors.
Chase and Nelson are both offensive linemen for the Dallas Desperados. Dallas (12-4) will play host to the New York Dragons (8-8) in an AFL National Conference wild-card playoff game 6:30 p.m. Friday at American Airlines Center.
Holmes has caught 69 passes for 734 yards and 11 touchdowns in just 10 games this season while playing for three different teams.
He played for the Georgia Force in week one, catching eight passes for 156 yards and three scores against Dallas.
He was cut by Georgia and picked up by Tampa Bay and in four games with the Storm, caught 25 passes for 246 yards including a 9 catch, 109 yard effort against, you guessed it, the Philadelphia Soul.
Holmes played in his first game for the Soul on May 17 and in the five games he has played in, he has 36 receptions for 343 yards and six scores.
He had 11 catches for 125 yards and two touchdowns against Cleveland and in the final minute of the game against Dallas the previous week, forced a fumble on a kickoff return and then made a 10-yard sideline grab for a first down to clinch a 71-64 victory.
Moten, one of the best defensive players in the AFL, leads the Soul with 93.5 total tackles and six interceptions.
He has been playing very well of late, intercepting a two-point conversion with five seconds remaining to give the Soul a 62-61 victory over the Cleveland Gladiators last week and pick off two passes, returning one for a touchdown in Sunday’s 59-30 win at New York. In his last three seasons he has intercepted 28 passes and returned seven of those for touchdowns.
Chase is in his fifth year as the starting center for Dallas, while Nelson was claimed off the Soul practice squad on May 20.
Ironically, these two teams met in one of the biggest AFL regular season games in league history when the Soul beat the Desperados 57-28 in a game marking the latest (Week 9) battle of undefeated teams in Arena Football League history.
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