Cape Fear Heroes
| Cape Fear Heroes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Established 2011 Play in Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, North Carolina CapeFearHeroes.com | |||||
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| League/conference affiliations | |||||
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American Indoor Football (2012–2014)
X-League Indoor Football (2015) | |||||
| Team colors |
Red, white, silver, & blue | ||||
| Cheerleaders | Heroes Dance Team | ||||
| Personnel | |||||
| Owner(s) |
Barbara Spigner Crystal Williams | ||||
| President | Robert Williams | ||||
| Head coach | Charles Gunnings | ||||
| Team history | |||||
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| Championships | |||||
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League championships (2)
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Conference championships (1)
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Division championships (0) | |||||
| Playoff appearances (5) | |||||
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| Home arena(s) | |||||
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The Cape Fear Heroes are a professional indoor football team based in Fayetteville, North Carolina, which is currently an announced member of American Arena League (AAL). The Heroes are owned by Barbara Spigner.
They began play in 2012 as an expansion member of American Indoor Football (AIF). The Heroes fared very well in their first three seasons of play, going to back-to-back-to-back AIF Championship Games, going undefeated in 2012. They Heroes finished as runner-up in 2013 and 2014. In 2015, it was announced that the Heroes would be leaving the AIF, and joining the X-League Indoor Football (X-League). In June 2015, the team's season was abruptly ended when they were suspended by the league.[1]
They have won one conference title, in their only season playing in a conference, while finishing with the best regular season record in the AIF for 3 consecutive seasons. The Heroes play their home games at the Crown Coliseum.
History
The Heroes are the fourth arena/indoor football team to be based in Fayetteville, following the Cape Fear Wildcats of arenafootball2 (which played from 2002 until 2004 after which they to Albany, Georgia and became the South Georgia Wildcats), the Fayetteville Guard which played in the National Indoor Football League (2005–2007) and American Indoor Football Association (2008–2010), and the Fayetteville Force which only played in the Southern Indoor Football League for the 2011 season, after which both the Force and the SIFL folded. Despite the AIF's purchase of the Force, the Heroes are considered a completely new franchise.[2]
2012
The Heroes went 7-0 during the regular season, and defeated the California Eagles 79-27 in the AIF Championship Game.[3]
2013
The Heroes returned to the AIF Championship game in 2013, and fell to the Harrisburg Stampede 57-42.[4]
2014
In 2013, General Manager Barbara Spigner, took over the Heroes from Jack Bowman.[5] In December, 2013, Spigner named Josh Resignalo the team's head coach.[6] Tragedy struck the team when DL Cory Groover died from injuries in a car crash in May.
2015
On July 31, 2014 the Cape Fear Heroes announced that they have joined the X-League Indoor Football (X-League). After falling to 4-4, it was announced that the X-League had suspended the Heroes for the remainder of the season for not being in good standing with the leagues rules.[1] Just days later, the Heroes announced that they would be leaving the X-League entirely and operating independently the rest of the season.[7]
2016: Suspension of operations
On August 23, 2015 it was announced that the Heroes would be the charter member of Supreme Indoor Football, one of the two leagues (along with the Continental Indoor Football League) which comprises the Indoor Football Alliance.[8] However, after the CIFL effectively disbanded in January 2016 when the Erie Explosion (the last remaining CIFL team) announced they would take the season off and only one of the SIF's teams (the Buffalo Lightning) were ready to play a 2016 season, the Heroes announced that it would sit out the 2016 season on March 3.[9]
2017
Heroes' owner Barbara Spigner again relaunched Supreme Indoor Football as a league with the Heroes as one of the charter members. They would go on the win the championship against the previously undefeated Triangle Torch. During the offseason, many of the SIF members joined the newly formed American Arena League. On August 23, 2017, the Heroes also announced they would be joining the new league.[10]
Statistics
Season-by-season results
| League Champions | Conference Champions | Division Champions | Playoff berth | League leader |
| Season | Team | League | Conference | Division | Regular season | Postseason results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | Wins | Losses | Ties | ||||||||
| 2012 | 2012 | AIF | Eastern | 1st | 7 | 0 | 0 | Won Eastern Conference Championship (Stampede) 57–32 Won AIF Championship Game (California) 79–27 | |||
| 2013 | 2013 | AIF | 1st | 7 | 1 | 0 | Lost AIF Championship Game (Stampede) 42–57 | ||||
| 2014 | 2014 | AIF | 1st | 7 | 1 | 0 | Lost AIF Championship Game (Baltimore) 44–45 | ||||
| 2015 | 2015 | X-League | 7th | 4 | 4 | 0 | |||||
| 2017 | 2017 | SIF | 2nd | 4 | 2 | 0 | Won semifinal (Bulls) 63–14 Won Championship (Torch) 30–24 | ||||
| 2018 | 2018 | AAL | 4th[lower-alpha 1] | 5 | 3 | 0 | Lost semifinal (Atlanta)[lower-alpha 2] 54–61 | ||||
| Totals | 34 | 11 | 0 | All-time regular season record (2013–2018) | |||||||
| 4 | 3 | — | All-time postseason record (2013–2018) | ||||||||
| 38 | 14 | 0 | All-time regular season and postseason record (2013–2018) | ||||||||
- ↑ Qualified for the playoffs as the third seed due to the Georgia Doom opting not to participate.[11]
- ↑ Hosted the #2 seed as the Havoc had home scheduling issues.
Head coaches' records
Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2018 American Arena League regular season.
| Name | Term | Regular season | Playoffs | Awards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | Win% | W | L | |||
| Charles Gunnings | 2012–2013, 2015, 2017–present | 28 | 10 | 0 | .737 | 4 | 2 | |
| Josh Resignalo | 2014 | 7 | 1 | 0 | .875 | 0 | 1 | |
References
- 1 2 "Edge season over as X-League skips to title game". The Pantagraph. Bloomington, Illinois. June 4, 2015. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
- ↑ Batten, Sammy (November 18, 2011). "Heroes welcomed as Fayetteville's latest indoor football team". Fayetteville Observer. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
- ↑ Sammy Batten (June 8, 2013). "Cape Fear Heroes seeking second straight American Indoor Football championship". The Fayetteville Observer. Archived from the original on November 14, 2013. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
- ↑ Al Myatt (June 9, 2013). "Cape Fear Heroes lose American Indoor Football championship to Harrisburg Stampede 57-42". The Fayetteville Observer. Archived from the original on November 14, 2013. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
- ↑ Sammy Batten (November 14, 2013). "Owner overhauls Cape Fear Heroes". The Fayetteville Observer. Archived from the original on November 14, 2013. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
- ↑ Sammy Batton (December 12, 2013). "Josh Resignalo named head coach of Cape Fear Heroes". The Fayetteville Observer. Archived from the original on December 15, 2013. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
- ↑ Sammy Batten (May 30, 2015). "Cape Fear Heroes leaving X-League". Fayetteville Observer. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
- ↑ "Supreme Indoor Football and Continental Indoor Football League Join Forces". OurSportsCentral. August 23, 2015. Retrieved August 24, 2015.
- ↑ "Cape Fear Heroes to Sit out 2016 Season". OurSportsCentral. March 3, 2016.
- ↑ "Heroes unveil new practice facility, announce new league". The Fayetteville Observer. August 23, 2017.
- ↑ "2018 American Arena League Final Regular Season Standings and Playoff Pairings". AAL. June 12, 2018. Archived from the original on June 13, 2018.
