NO 2 WAYS ABOUT IT IN ARENA GAME, YOU PLAY ALL THE TIME OR NOT AT ALL.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

In the chaotic world of arena football, the hunter always soon becomes the hunted.

One minute, Tony Plantin is rushing forward, kicking, elbowing, battling with each step as he tries to sack the opposing quarterback. The next, he's doing everything possible to protect his own quarterback.

In this era of specialization, when even high school kids often thumb their noses at the idea of playing multiple positions, arena football players are throwbacks who play both ways.

``I'm not trying to denigrate the NFL or anything like that, but it just takes a different kind of athlete to play arena football,'' said Plantin, a starting two-way lineman for the Avengers.

``You're not going to find many people who are going to come out here and have success right away trying to both block and rush, play both sides. The most dangerous person in the league is somebody who can do both.''

Arena football features eight players per side, typically a quarterback, a fullback, three receivers and three linemen on offense, and three linemen, two linebackers and three defensive backs on defense.

Only the quarterback and one of the receivers are not required to play defense. That means receivers and fullbacks, accustomed to carrying the ball, must tackle, and defensive linemen must adjust to the idea of somebody coming at them.

Non-specialists only can be substituted out of the lineup once per quarter, meaning two-way players can expect to be on the field upward of 45 to 50 minutes of a 60-minute game.

``It's tough,'' said Avengers receiver/linebacker Greg Hopkins, one of the league's top two-way players. ``We have guys who come in here every week for workouts who have been offensively or defensively oriented by nature, and they get thrown on the other side of the ball and they get frustrated.

``Some guys have played in the NFL and they come in with a bit of a chip on their shoulder, thinking, `I shouldn't be in this league, it's kind of a rag-tag organization,' and maybe they're great on offense. But when you turn them around and make them play the other way, they realize it's no joke.''

Because he takes less physical punishment and hits than the average lineman or fullback/linebacker, Hopkins has been known to play an entire game without taking off a play.

A leading candidate for the league's ``Ironman of the Year'' award, Hopkins enters tonight's game against Arizona tied for second in the league in receptions (79), third in receiving yards (989), tied for sixth in interceptions (5) and tied for fourth in fumbles recovered (2).

No other player is in the top 10 in all four of those categories, and Hopkins is also fourth on the team with 33 1/2 tackles, which means he's a rare player who excels equally on both sides of the ball.

In most cases, particularly on the line, teams sacrifice defensive skill to have a talented offensive player on the field, or vice versa.

Offensive players in their late 20s or early 30s who haven't played defense in more than a decade since they graduated high school are required to re-learn defensive techniques.

``I played fullback in college and then when I came to arena, it just kind of came natural, the defensive part,'' said fullback/linebacker Chad Dukes, the league's top ironman in 1998.

``I actually needed more help with the offensive part, because people are getting bigger and stronger and faster. The defense is just sort of a reaction, find where the ball is, and just play.''

The transition is more dramatic for linemen, who spend years developing intricate footwork and hand movements for one side of the ball and then have to adjust to the other side.

``When I first got in this league, I was getting tossed all over the place when I was on offense,'' said Plantin, a third-year player. ``It just looked terrible. But people realize, `Hey, this guy might never have played offense before, so we're going to have to give him time to work on it.' ''

Familiarity with a position is one thing, stamina is another. It takes not only physical strength but mental toughness to have a team score a touchdown on your defense and then have to come back and answer on offense seconds later.

The clock runs after every play except after a penalty, so rest time during the game is minimal.

Still, Dukes struggled to remember when asked to recall an instance when he voluntarily came out of a game this season.

``Maybe ... once,'' Dukes said after a long pause. ``And even then, I questioned myself, because my breath started coming back. I was in the game for a quarter and a half, almost two quarters, but it was crunch time and I thought maybe I should stay in. But I'm not going to be any good if I can't run.

``You can't just sit down if you want to. This sport is demanding. They have those extreme sports and that Ultimate Fighting, and this is like the ultimate of football.''

AVENGERS vs. ARIZONA

Kickoff: 7:30 p.m., Staples Center.

TV/Radio: Fox Sports Net 2; 1540-AM.

Matchup: The Avengers most likely will be without offensive specialist Chris Jackson, who injured a hamstring in practice Wednesday and did not practice Thursday or Friday. Jackson has missed three games this season with wrist and hamstring injuries and officially is listed as questionable for tonight. It's a big game for the Avengers (7-4), who with a victory by four points or more can get the tiebreaker over Arizona (8-3) for the No. 2 playoff seeding, with only games against unimpressive Indiana and Buffalo remaining. The Avengers entered the week tied with Chicago and New Jersey for the third playoff spot, and only the top four teams earn first-round byes.

- Rich Hammond

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

The Avengers' two-way linemen, clockwise from top left: Vince Amey, Tony Plantin, Mathias Vavao and Carlos Fowler.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer

Box:

AVENGERS vs. ARIZONA (see text)