Chicago Knights
| Chicago Knights | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Founded | 2010 |
| League | CIFL (2008-2011) |
| Team history | Milwaukee Bonecrushers (2008-2009) Chicago Cardinals (2010) Chicago Knights (2011-future) |
| Arena | Victory Sports Complex |
| Based in | Loves Park, Illinois |
| Team colors | Black, Blue, Silver, White |
| Head coach | John Burns |
| Championships | 0 |
| Division titles | 0 |
The Chicago Knights were a Professional Indoor Football team based in Loves Park, Illinois. The Knights were founded in 2010 and will continue play in 2011 as a member of the Continental Indoor Football League, playing their home games at the Victory Sports Complex.
The Knights are currently the third Indoor Football Team based in Northern Illinois. The Chicago Rush of the new Arena Football League are based in Rosemont, and the Chicago Slaughter of the Indoor Football League are based in Hoffman Estates. The Knights replaced the Cardinals as the Illinois-based CIFL team, which replaced the Slaughter after they left for the Indoor Football League after a dispute with CIFL management.
Contents |
[edit] 2011 Season
The Knights started the season with a painful 7-53 loss to the defending champions, the Cincinnati Commandos. After almost a complete month off, the Knights were back in action on April 2 against the Port Huron Predators, and came away with a 45-29 win. The Knights were led by Brandon Wogoman, the reigning CIFL All-Purpose Player of the Year, who had a rushing touchdown, a passing touchdown and a kick-return touchdown to lead the Knights to their first win since the franchise moved to their present location in 2010.[1] After a conflict with the Odeum Expo Center, the Knights played what was supposed to be a home game in Indianapolis against the Indianapolis Enforcers. Then on April 7, 2011 it was announced that the Knights would play the rest of their games in Loves Park, Illinois in the Victory Sports Complex.[2]
[edit] 2011 season schedule[3]
| Date | Opponent | Home/Away | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 5 | Cincinnati Commandos | Away | Lost 7-53 |
| April 2 | Port Huron Predators | Away | Won 45-29 |
| April 8 | Indianapolis Enforcers | Away | Won 42-14 |
| April 17 | Indianapolis Enforcers | Home | Won 52-6 |
| April 23 | Dayton Silverbacks | Home | Lost 21-24 |
| April 30 | Marion Blue Racers | Away | Lost 3-31 |
| May 8 | Cincinnati Commandos | Home | Lost 41-48 |
| May 13 | Dayton Silverbacks | Away | Lost 20-37 |
| May 21 | Marion Blue Racers | Home | Lost 24-53 |
| June 4 | Port Huron Predators | Home | Won 2-0 (Forfeit) |
[edit] 2011 Standings
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2011 Continental Indoor Football League
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | PF (Avg.) | PA (Avg.) | STK | ||
| Cincinnati Commandos-y | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 484 | 158 | 53.77 | 17.55 | W10 | Details | |
| Marion Blue Racers-x | 8 | 2 | 0 | .800 | 455 | 218 | 45.5 | 21.8 | L1 | Details | |
| Dayton Silverbacks-x | 5 | 5 | 0 | .500 | 288 | 265 | 32 | 39.4 | W3 | Details | |
| Chicago Knights-x | 4 | 6 | 0 | .400 | 255 | 295 | 28.33 | 32.77 | L5 | Details | |
| Port Huron Predators | 2 | 8 | 0 | .200 | 238 | 226 | 39.6 | 37.6 | L7 | Details | |
| Indianapolis Enforcers | 1 | 9 | 0 | .100 | 71 | 621 | 7.88 | 69 | L3 | Details | |
y - clinched regular-season title
x - clinched playoff spot
[edit] Current roster
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Chicago Knights roster
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Quarterbacks
Running Backs
Wide Receivers
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Offensive Linemen
Defensive Linemen
Linebackers
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Defensive Backs
Kickers
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Injured Reserve
Exempt List
Practice Squad
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[edit] Chicago Cardinals
The Cardinals replaced the Slaughter in the CIFL, after the Slaughter left that league for the IFL due to a dispute with CIFL management. The Cardinals were formerly known as the Milwaukee Bonecrushers, also of the CIFL, and relocated to Villa Park in 2010.[4] The Cardinals use their name with permission from the original National Football League team, now known as the Arizona Cardinals.
The Cardinals only season was one of utter disappointment. After starting 0-2, they signed Kicker Julie Harshbarger, the 2nd female Kicker in the CIFL history. (The other being Katie Hnida of the Fort Wayne Firehawks) After a successful soccer career at Benedictine University and Rockford College, where she was named to several all-conference teams. Well Harshbarger was not the first woman to score a point in a indoor football game, but she was the first woman ever to score a field goal in an indoor football game.[5] After a 20-58 loss on May 22, and seeing their record drop to 0-8, the Cardinals let several of their best players, including the All-Purpose Player of the Year (Brandon Wogoman), leave the team for the nearby, and contending, Wisconsin Wolfpack.
[edit] 2010 Season Schedule
| Date | Opponent | Home/Away | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2 | Marion Mayhem | Away | Lost 20-60 |
| April 10 | Marion Mayhem | Home | Lost 14-19 |
| April 17 | Miami Valley Silverbacks | Home | Lost 29-46 |
| April 24 | Fort Wayne Firehawks | Away | Lost 45-69 |
| May 1 | Cincinnati Commandos | Home | Lost 22-62 |
| May 8 | Wisconsin Wolfpack | Home | Lost 18-44 |
| May 15 | Cincinnati Commandos | Away | Lost 13-61 |
| May 22 | Wisconsin Wolfpack | Away | Lost 20-58 |
| May 29 | Miami Valley Silverbacks | Home | Lost 24-58 |
| June 5 | Fort Wayne Firehawks | Home | Lost 0-48 |
[edit] 2010 CIFL Standings
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2010 Continental Indoor Football League
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | PF (Avg.) | PA (Avg.) | STK | ||
| Cincinnati Commandos-y | 9 | 1 | 0 | .900 | 493 | 294 | 49.3 | 29.4 | L1 | Details | |
| Wisconsin Wolfpack-x | 8 | 2 | 0 | .800 | 345 | 213 | 34.5 | 21.3 | W3 | Details | |
| Fort Wayne Firehawks-x | 6 | 4 | 0 | .600 | 294 | 267 | 36.75 | 33.375 | W2 | Details | |
| Miami Valley Silverbacks-x | 4 | 6 | 0 | .400 | 309 | 354 | 34.33 | 39.33 | W1 | Details | |
| Marion Mayhem | 3 | 7 | 0 | .300 | 202 | 193 | 33.67 | 32.16 | L5 | Details | |
| Chicago Cardinals | 0 | 10 | 0 | .000 | 205 | 525 | 20.5 | 52.5 | L10 | Details | |
[edit] 2010 CIFL Awards
All-Purpose Player of the Year - Brandon Wogoman (Ended the season playing for the Wisconsin Wolfpack)
1st Team All-CIFL
OL Matt Rohn (Ended the season playing for the Wisconsin Wolfpack)
AP Brandon Wogoman
2nd Team All-CIFL
DL Adrian Herry
DB Ricky Emery
KR Brandon Wogoman
[edit] Milwaukee Bonecrushers
The Milwaukee Bonecrushers were a team in the Continental Indoor Football League. They played their home games at the U.S. Cellular Arena. The Bonecrushers were Milwaukee's second indoor football franchise, following the Milwaukee Mustangs of the Arena Football League.
The franchise made an immediate splash in Milwaukee when it announced former Green Bay Packer Gilbert Brown signed a three-year contract to be the team's first head coach.[6] However, the optimism quickly faded when Brown announced he was resigning from the position after just three games on April 8, 2008. Much of the team's staff and many of the team's players also left at the same time, raising eyebrows among the Milwaukee media and fans. The Bonecrushers finished 2008 with a hodgepodge of players and coaches, winning just one game, a 51-46 road contest against the Muskegon Thunder featuring a 26-yard touchdown run by Bonecrushers' quarterback Brian Ryczkowski on the final play of the game.
The rumored reasoning behind the exodus of many of the original members of the franchise was the team's inability to pay its bills or personnel. This was confirmed when a judgment was entered against the Bonecrushers in favor of Challenger Industries, the company that sold the team its game field AstroTurf, in the amount of $29,539.29 on October 15, 2008. Challenger resolved its claim against John Burns, one of the owners of the Milwaukee Bonecrushers, prior to the matter going to trial.[7]
The Bonecrushers returned to action in 2009 with renewed optimism after signing LeRoy McFadden, brother of NFL player Darren McFadden, as its new head coach, as well as the previous year's CIFL Offensive Player of the Year, Randy Bell. However, McFadden also chose to resign after just three games,[8] leaving assistant coach, John Burns, to take over as head coach. While the Bonecrushers survived the 2009 season in Milwaukee, and in spite of bringing in top announcer Dennis J. O'Boyle to handle the public address and master of ceremonies duties at the U.S. Cellular Arena, attendance dwindled to nearly nothing and the team finished with a record of 3-8.
Prior to the 2010 season, the Bonecrushers management reorganized and the team elected to cease operations in Milwaukee. Many of the individuals involved with the Bonecrushers, including Burns, moved onto be part of the new Chicago Cardinals franchise based in Villa Park, Ill.[9]
While the Bonecrushers franchise is generally regarded as having failed in the eyes of Milwaukeeans, their existence did help create two other CIFL franchises: The Cardinals and the Wisconsin Wolfpack. Plans had already been in place for the Wolfpack to field its first outdoor team in the summer of 2008 when Brown left the Bonecrushers. Eventually, many members of the Wolfpack's staff were brought in to help the Bonecrushers complete the indoor season. In 2009, the Wolfpack fielded a CIFL team of its own in Madison, Wisconsin. The Bonecrushers would play the Wolfpack twice in their final season in Milwaukee, losing both times.
[edit] 2008 Season Schedule
| Date | Opponent | Home/Away | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 21 | Chicago Slaughter | Home | Lost 41-64 |
| March 29 | Muskegon Thunder | Home | Lost 35-60 |
| April 6 | Flint Phantoms | Home | Lost 53-62 |
| April 12 | Marion Mayhem | Away | Lost 19-43 |
| April 19 | Chicago Slaughter | Away | Lost 18-56 |
| April 27 | Miami Valley Silverbacks | Home | Lost 42-43 |
| April 30 | Saginaw Sting | Away | Lost 28-51 |
| May 9 | New Jersey Revolution | Away | Lost 32-56 |
| May 17 | Muskegon Thunder | Away | Won 51-46 |
| May 23 | Rock River Raptors | Home | Lost 3-56 |
| May 31 | Saginaw Sting | Home | Lost 28-54 |
| June 7 | Rock River Raptors | Away | Lost 29-53 |
[edit] 2008 CIFL Standings
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2008 Continental Indoor Football League
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Overall | Division | |||||||||
| W | L | T | PCT | W | L | T | PCT | ||||
| Great Lakes Conference | |||||||||||
| East Division | |||||||||||
| Kalamazoo Xplosion-y | 11 | 1 | 0 | .917 | 5 | 1 | 0 | .833 | |||
| Muskegon Thunder-x | 5 | 7 | 0 | .417 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | |||
| Fort Wayne Freedom | 5 | 7 | 0 | .417 | 2 | 4 | 0 | .333 | |||
| Miami Valley Silverbacks | 3 | 9 | 0 | .250 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | |||
| West Division | |||||||||||
| Chicago Slaughter-y | 8 | 4 | 0 | .667 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | |||
| Rock River Raptors-x | 7 | 5 | 0 | .583 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | |||
| Milwaukee Bonecrushers | 1 | 11 | 0 | .083 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | |||
| Atlantic Conference | |||||||||||
| East Division | |||||||||||
| New England Surge-y | 8 | 3 | 0 | .727 | 5 | 1 | 0 | .833 | |||
| Lehigh Valley Outlawz-x | 7 | 5 | 0 | .583 | 4 | 2 | 0 | .667 | |||
| New Jersey Revolution | 3 | 9 | 0 | .250 | 2 | 5 | 0 | .286 | |||
| Chesapeake Tide | 2 | 10 | 0 | .583 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | |||
| West Division | |||||||||||
| Rochester Raiders-z | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | |||
| Saginaw Sting-y | 10 | 2 | 0 | .833 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 | |||
| Marion Mayhem-x | 7 | 5 | 0 | .583 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | |||
| Flint Phantoms | 1 | 11 | 0 | .083 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | |||
[edit] 2009 Season Schedule
| Date | Opponent | Home/Away | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 6 | Chicago Slaughter | Away | Lost 24-84 |
| March 20 | Rock River Raptors | Away | Won 53 - 40 |
| March 28 | Wisconsin Wolfpack | Home | Lost 20 - 36 |
| April 4 | Miami Valley Silverbacks | TBD | PPD |
| April 11 | Wheeling Wildcats | Home | Won 35-32 |
| April 18 | Rock River Raptors | Home | Lost 31-41 |
| April 25 | Chicago Slaughter | Away | Lost 25-78 |
| May 2 | Wisconsin Wolfpack | Away | Lost 26-69 |
| May 9 | Fort Wayne Freedom | Home | Lost 33-51 |
| May 16 | Rock River Raptors | Away | Lost 12-32 |
| May 22 | Chicago Slaughter | Home | Lost 50-70 |
| May 30 | Miami Valley Silverbacks | Home | Won 40-32 |
[edit] 2009 CIFL Standings
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2009 Continental Indoor Football League
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Overall | Division | |||||||||
| W | L | T | PCT | W | L | T | PCT | ||||
| East Division | |||||||||||
| Marion Mayhem-y | 9 | 3 | 0 | .750 | 8 | 1 | 0 | .889 | |||
| Fort Wayne Freedom-x | 6 | 5 | 0 | .545 | 5 | 2 | 0 | .294 | |||
| Wheeling Wildcats | 2 | 10 | 0 | .167 | 2 | 5 | 0 | .286 | |||
| Miami Valley Silverbacks | 0 | 10 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 7 | 0 | .000 | |||
| West Division | |||||||||||
| Chicago Slaughter-y | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | |||
| Wisconsin Wolfpack-x | 7 | 5 | 0 | .583 | 4 | 4 | 0 | .500 | |||
| Rock River Raptors | 7 | 5 | 0 | .583 | 3 | 5 | 0 | .167 | |||
| Milwaukee Bonecrushers | 3 | 8 | 0 | .273 | 1 | 7 | 0 | .167 | |||
[edit] Season-by-season
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties
| Season | W | L | T | Finish | Playoff results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milwaukee Bonecrushers (CIFL) | |||||
| 2008 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 4th Great Lakes West | -- |
| 2009 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 4th West | -- |
| Chicago Cardinals (CIFL) | |||||
| 2010 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 6th | -- |
| Chicago Knights (CIFL) | |||||
| 2011* | 4 | 6 | 0 | 4th | Lost in CIFL Semifinals to Cincinnati |
| Totals | 8 | 36 | 0 | (including playoffs) | |
* = Current Standing
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20110403/SPORTS/104030326/Football-Predators-fall-Chicago
- ^ http://mystateline.com/fulltext-sports?nxd_id=244687
- ^ "Home of the Continental Indoor Football League". CIFLFootball.com. http://ciflfootball.com/ciflwebsite/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=76. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
- ^ http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/business/70461402.html
- ^ http://www.rrstar.com/carousel/x370835817/Hononegah-grad-Harshbarger-makes-indoor-football-history
- ^ JS Online: Graphic
- ^ Milwaukee County Courthouse, Case No.: 2008-CV-008105
- ^ More Turmoil for Bonecrushers
- ^ Where are the Bonecrushers?
[edit] External links
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