Massachusetts Pirates
| Massachusetts Pirates | |
|---|---|
| Established 2017 Play in Worcester, Massachusetts at the DCU Center MassPiratesFootball.com | |
| League/conference affiliations | |
| |
Current uniform | |
| Team colors | Teal, navy, gold, white |
| Mascot | Arthur |
| Personnel | |
| Owner(s) | Hassan Yatim Jawad Yatim |
| President | Jawad Yatim |
| General manager | Jawad Yatim |
| Head coach | Patrick Pass |
| Team history | |
| |
| Championships | |
| League championships (0) | |
| Conference championships (0) | |
| Division championships (0) | |
| Playoff appearances (2) | |
| NAL: 2018, 2019 | |
| Home arena(s) | |
| |
The Massachusetts Pirates are a professional indoor football team based in Worcester, Massachusetts, with home games at the DCU Center.[1] The Pirates began play in the 2018 season as a member of the National Arena League (NAL).
The Pirates are the third indoor/arena team to call Worcester home, following the Massachusetts Marauders of the Arena Football League (1994) and the New England Surge of the Continental Indoor Football League (2007–2008)
History
After numerous speculation beforehand, the Pirates were officially announced as members of the NAL on November 15, 2017.[1] The team began play in the 2018 season. The Pirates won their inaugural game, played at the DCU Center on April 7, defeating the Maine Mammoths 51–24. They were led most of the season by quarterback Sean Brackett until the second-to-last regular season game where he was injured for the remainder of the season in a 46–35 loss to the Jacksonville Sharks, who then took over the top seed in the NAL. Darron Thomas started the following week in 67–7 win over the win-less Lehigh Valley Steelhawks; following a Sharks loss to the Mammoths the Pirates secured the top seed and a home game in the 2018 playoffs. The team finished their inaugural season with a regular season record of 11–5 but lost the semifinal playoff game to the Columbus Lions 50–36. After the season, inaugural head coach Ameer Ismail was hired as the head coach of the San Diego Strike Force expansion team in the Indoor Football League,[2] but then joined the NAL's Carolina Cobras instead.[3]
For the 2019 season, offensive coordinator Anthony Payton was named the head coach.[4] The team finished in third place with an 8–6 record and qualified for the playoffs. They lost the semifinal game to the Carolina Cobras 30–26.
Following the 2019 season, the NAL announced it was creating a new league via a merger with Champions Indoor Football. The Pirates announced it did not agree with the merger and withdrew from the league.[5] Head coach Payton then left to become head coach of the Carolina Cobras. Two weeks after the announced merger, it was dissolved and the Pirates rejoined the NAL.[6]
Personnel
Current roster
Quarterbacks
Running backs
Wide receivers
|
Offensive linemen
Defensive linemen
|
Linebackers
Defensive backs
Special teams
|
Reserve lists
|
Management
- Hassan Yatim – Owner
- Jawad Yatim – Owner and president
Statistics
Season-by-season results
| League champions | Playoff berth | League leader |
| Season | League | Regular season | Postseason results | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | Wins | Losses | Ties | |||
| 2018 | NAL | 1st | 11 | 5 | 0 | Lost semifinal (Columbus) 50–36 |
| 2019 | NAL | 3rd | 8 | 6 | 0 | Lost semifinal (Carolina) 30–26 |
| 2020 | NAL | Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | ||||
| Totals | 19 | 11 | 0 | All-time regular season record (2018–2019) | ||
| 0 | 2 | — | All-time postseason record (2018–2019) | |||
| 19 | 13 | 0 | All-time regular season and postseason record (2018–2019) | |||
Head coaches
Note: Statistics are correct through the 2019 National Arena League season.
| Name | Term | Regular season | Playoffs | Awards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | Win% | W | L | |||
| Ameer Ismail | 2018 | 11 | 5 | 0 | .688 | 0 | 1 | |
| Anthony Payton | 2019 | 8 | 6 | 0 | .571 | 0 | 1 | |
References
- ^ a b "The Massachusetts Pirates, a new arena league football team, to play at Worcester's DCU Center". MassLive.com. November 15, 2017.
- ^ "Indoor Football League takes flight in America's Finest City with the San Diego Strike Force". San Diego Strike Force. December 17, 2018.
- ^ "2018 NAL Coach of the Year joins Cobras". Carolina Cobras. January 5, 2019.
- ^ "Pirates Name Payton Head Coach - Gilliam Defensive Coordinator". Pirates. January 7, 2019.
- ^ "Pirates Weigh Anchor from NAL/CIF Partnership". Massachusetts Pirates. September 26, 2019.
- ^ "Pirates Return to NAL for 2020". Massachusetts Pirates. October 10, 2019.
External links
Nickname(s): The City of the Seven Hills, The Heart of the Commonwealth, Wormtown, Woo-town, The Woo | ||
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