I know this isn't Eagles news, but I wanted to give some love to a local football team who is advancing to the AF2's championship game in Las Vegas this weekend.
That's right, the #1-seeded Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers took out the Green Bay Blizzard Saturday night 72-67 to advance to the AF2's neutral-site ArenaCup game against the Spokane Shock. The Pioneers are looking for a little revenge on the Shock, who knocked them off late in the regular season.
"We are so excited to be playing for a chance to win it all," said Jason Ashworth, the gameday MC for the Pioneers who knows this team and the players as well as anyone. "We obviously don't get all the recognition of the NFL, but I'm telling you these guys work like crazy. This is important to them and it's important to all of us."
The Pioneers were led by their QB Ryan Vena, who was 15-of-19 passing for 331 yards and a game-high eight TD's. He also ran for an 11-yard TD in the third quarter. C'mon, tell me it wouldn't be fun to play in a fantasy football league with numbers like this.
The Pioneers, who are owned by Temple graduate Cosmo DeNicola, face a Shock team that is 18-1 (I don't care what league or sport you are playing…that sounds like problems) and took out the Tulsa Talons 51-44 in their conference title game. The game will go down on Saturday, August 22nd at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
I know it most lilkely wouldn't replace the thrill of the Eagles winning the Super Bowl, but this is a chance for another local team to get a hard-earned trophy. These guys have worked hard for it and they deserve it. Go Pioneers!
