Baltimore Brigade Beat Philadelphia Soul, 31-21

The Baltimore Brigade remain the only team to defeat Philadelphia Soul in the past two years as they picked up their second win over the two-time defending arena bowl champions 31 to 21 on Friday night in Baltimore. The Brigade got off to a fast start forcing a turnover on Philadelphia’s first possession, and turning that into a touchdown on fourth down just a few plays later.

Baltimore carried over the momentum into the second half is the extended that lead to 28 to 14 into the fourth quarter. A field goal followed by a Rauabaugh interception, after which he came out of the game with an injury, sealed Baltimore’s win as they moved to 3-1. They also moved into a tie, with the Soul, atop the arena football league standings.

Baltimore’s defense shut down Philadelphia’s offense through most of this game. Joe Powell was making tackles left and right and Virgil Gray recorded the interception for Baltimore.

They held Philadelphia to just 21 points, tied for the second-lowest score for the Soul in a game in franchise history.

Both teams will take a week off during the universal bye. Philadelphia will host the Albany Empire on May 19 while the Brigade will travel to take on the Washington Valor at the Capital One Arena for the first time this season.

Baltimore Brigade Best Washington Valor, 61-56

The Baltimore Brigade showed off a much improved offense with a 61-56 win over the Washington Valor.

Last season, the Brigade offense got off to a very slow start. Injuries to quarterback Shane Carden and wide receiver Reggie Gray killed their hopes of making a deep playoff run. On opening night, on the first possession, the Brigade offense showed their might as they marched down the field and scored a touchdown, led by Randy Hippeard in his debut with the Brigade.

Washington’s ultimate demise came  following Hipppeard’s first touchdown as Brigade quarterback, a deep shot to Kendrick Ings. They couldn’t handle the ball after it bounced off the rebound net and Baltimore recovered. Hippeard would score again to make it 14-0.

The two beltway rivals went back and forth up and down the field the rest of the game, as the Valor countered with newly acquired quarterback Nick Davila. The three time MVP and Arena Bowl champion accounted for seven touchdowns in his first game in the AFL since losing ArenaBowl XXIX to the Philadelphia Soul.

He threw a touchdown to his favorite receiver in Rod Windsor to cut the lead to five late, but the Brigade ran the clock out, interestingly by becoming the first team to run the clock out by taking a knee in AFL history as the practice is now legal.

The first Beltway game ends in a shootout. Next week, the Valor host the expansion Albany Empire. The Brigade are at Philadelphia.

Butera Stepping Down Ends All Chances of Arena Football in San Antonio

This morning, after three years on the job, Arena Football League commissioner Scott Butera was replaced by Randall Boe, the executive vice president of Monumental Sports & Entertainment. Butera’s administration was marred by only three expansion franchises against 11 teams that were either shut down or relocated to other leagues.

Perhaps no mark was blacker on his tenure then when he told the league-owned Las Vegas Outlaws that they would be allowed to play in the playoffs if they qualified, only to shut them down the day after clinching a playoff spot.

One other black mark on his tenure was his failure to bring the Arena League back to San Antonio, TX. He was nearly a month into his job when the league made official the news to shut down the team. He was quoted at the time as saying “San Antonio is a very desirable city for the AFL and efforts will continue to bring Arena Football back to the Alamo City; The AFL has the utmost appreciation for the passion and support Talons fans have shown their team and we look forward to returning to San Antonio.”

However, nothing ever came to fruition. In 2015, Butera and the Spurs were on the brink of bringing back the Talons, only for the Spurs to back out at the last moment due to instability in the league at the time.

Butera even managed to visit San Antonio and the Spurs in March 2016 and talk to them about bringing back a team, but not even that was enough to make it a reality. Along the way, the Cleveland Gladiators, a team that is owned by Dan Gilbert, owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, announced they would be taking two years off due to arena renovations. A month later, the Tampa Bay Storm announced they would suspend operations, becoming the second NBA/NHL owned team that would not play in 2018.

This news is a blow to the hopes of the AFL returning to San Antonio. Butera was the commissioner that emphasized NBA and NHL owners joining the AFL. While he was only able to bring in one, he had talks with Spurs Sports And Entertainment and had hope of restoring a team in the Alamo City.

Not much is known about Boe and what kinds of ownership groups he will try to attract to the AFL, but the [temporary] loss of the Gladiators and the permanent loss of the Storm has hurt the chances of this dream ever coming true, and with Butera gone, those chances get worse with every passing day.

Ranking the ArenaBowls, #3: ArenaBowl XIX

Denver football is once again on top.

Instead of the Broncos, it was the Colorado Crush of the AFL, owned by John Elway. Clay Rush made a 19 yard field goal at the buzzer to lead the Crush over the Georgia Force 51-48 in ArenaBowl XIX.

Willis Marshall set the stage with three rushing touchdowns in the first half, giving the Crush a 31-20 lead at halftime. But the Force didn’t go away, rallying back thanks to Matt Naggy. Naggy threw three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to help the Force tie the game at 48 with just 18 seconds to go. Even that was too much time as the Rush calmly nailed the field goal to win the game as time expired.