posted March 8, 2006 at 11:24 EST in NCAA F Articles

Will Wood breathe fire?

Last season, Juston Wood was the star quarterback for the Central Valley Coyotes in arenafootball2, the AFL’s junior league.

A product of Division I-AA’s Portland State, Wood was named second-team All-National Conference at quarterback after leading the 20-team league in total offense with 282.4 ypg and finishing second in passing yards with 272.6 ypg.

Wood tossed a total of 89 touchdowns and had just 19 interceptions. He also led the Coyotes in rushing with 158 yards on 34 carries and 12 TDs.

This season, the 6-foot-1 pivot was elevated to the AFL where he joined the New York Dragons to backup Aaron Garcia, one of the most prolific passers in Arena Football history.

Garcia, who played college ball at Sacramento State, is the AFL’s all-time leader with 757 touchdown passes over 12 seasons. Through the first five games of this season, Garcia had the AFL’s best passer rating (132.9) and a league-leading completion percentage of 77.1.

But in Week 5 against Orlando, Garcia’s season ended when he suffered a broken leg in the third quarter. When Garcia went down, young Wood got the nod.

The rookie held down the fort for the remainder of the game and tossed his first AFL touchdown in a 55-35 victory over the Predators. In total, Wood completed eight of 12 passes for 70 yards and one TD.

Things were a little tougher last week, however, when Wood got his first official AFL start. The Portland, Oregon native threw for 262 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions in a 65-54 loss to the Columbus Destroyers.

Welcome to the big league, son.

With the loss New York dropped to 3-3 straight up (3-3 against the spread). The Dragons are now tied for second with three other teams in the Eastern division.

With his serving of humble pie out of the way, Wood gets another chance to prove himself this Sunday when the Dragons travel to Austin to take on the red-hot Wranglers (3 p.m. ET, FSN).

“When you let one slip away…you can’t wait to get back on the field for another opportunity,” said Wood, who signed with the Minnesota Vikings in the spring of 2003 but was released. “I need to elevate my performance and I need to get the ball in the playmakers’ hands.”

Wood might have a little easier time of it against the Wranglers. Despite having a 5-1 record and leading the Southern division, Austin has one of the worst pass defenses in the AFL. Currently, the Wranglers are allowing 303.3 passing yards per game, second-most in the 18-team league.

Interestingly, the Wranglers are also one of the worst passing teams on offense. In fact, they are averaging the least amount of passing yards in the pass-friendly AFL with 203.8 ypg.

So if the Wranglers have been weak both throwing the ball and against the pass, how have they been winning?

Well, they have been excelling at something that tends to get less emphasis in the AFL: rushing. Through six games, the Wranglers have the second-most total rushing yards in the league with 216 and by far the most rushing touchdowns with 18.

Leading the ground attack for Austin has been fullback/linebacker Dane Krager, who played college football at Division II Angelo State. While at college, Krager made a name for himself on defense racking up 31 sacks and finishing his college career ranked ninth on the school's career tackle list.

Now in his in his third AFL season, Krager is making a mark on offense. The 6-foot-3, 250-pound Austin native has the second-most rushing yards in the AFL with 92 and is tied for the second-most TDs with five.

“I’ve never run the ball before arena football,” Krager told an Austin TV station. “I just think it’s a wonderful thing to give the defensive guy a ball because he's been dreaming about it since he’s been playing defense.”

The Wranglers are 4-2 ATS this season. And even though they’re not putting up big offensive numbers, four of Austin’s six games have gone OVER the posted total.

Other games this week:

Friday, March 10 

Georgia at Columbus (7 p.m. ET)

Colorado at Chicago (8:30 p.m. ET)

Nashville at Utah (9 p.m. ET)

Orlando at Arizona (9 p.m. ET)

Grand Rapids at Las Vegas (10:30 p.m. ET)

Sunday, March 12 

Dallas at Tampa Bay (12 p.m. ET, NBC)

Los Angeles at San Jose (6 p.m. ET, NBC)

Monday, March 13 

Philadelphia at Kansas City (8 p.m. ET)

Comments or Questions? Email FaceOff@BetUS.com.