Texas and Magnolia State host home openers
The Arena Football Association returns to action this weekend with a pair of games in Humble, Texas and Philadelphia, Mississippi.
Tonight, the Texas Jets (0-1) will play host to the Rio Grande Valley Dorados (0-0) in the Jets’ home opener at the Humble Civic Center Arena. Kickoff is 7 p.m. CDT. Rio Sports Live will provide a livestream of the game via their YouTube Channel. It can be accessed HERE. Tickets are also still available and can be purchased HERE. The Jets fell to the West Texas Warbirds last Saturday night in their season opener, 28-47, while the Dorados had a bye.
And on Saturday night in Philadelphia (MS), the AFA’s two newest entries, the Magnolia State Spartans (0-0) and the Wichita Force (0-0) will meet in the Spartans’ home arena, the Neshoba County Coliseum. Kickoff is 7 p.m. CDT. Tickets are available and can be purchased HERE. These two teams were set to meet in the AFA season-opener back on April 9 in Wichita, however a water line issue at the Wichita Ice Center led to a postponement of the contest and both teams are eager to square off on Saturday night.
The Jets come in looking for their first win of the season, while Head Coach Bennie King’s Dorados are playing their first competitive season since 2019, when they participated in the International Arena League. King led the Dorados to the IAL Championship Game where they fell to the Mexico City Mexicah.
The Force went 5-6 in 2021 under head coach Ene Akpan and are led by quarterback Ed Crouch, MVP of the Fan Controlled Football League a season ago. The Spartans are coached by Dexter Allen and led by wide receiver Marcel Newson and defensive lineman Charles Brooks, both of whom played for the National Arena League Champion Albany Empire in 2021. Newson, who attended Mississippi College, went to training camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2017 and participated in the Spring League in 2019.
The West Texas Warbirds (1-0) have a bye after a 47-28 win over the Jets last Saturday night in Odessa.
Built upon the pillars of diversity, equity and inclusion, the Arena Football Association is focused on placing its franchises in underserved markets, targeting cities whose populations range from 200,000 to 2 million. The League is built on a world-class business model of designed to drive league growth. Every team must adhere to strict business operations principles that help to ensure economic stability.
More information about the Arena Football Association is available at https://arenafa.com/.
