Caps year. Valor’s year.
The Washington Valor ended their cities championship drought after just 51 days, taking Saturday night’s ArenaBowl after the Washington Capitals won this year’s Stanley Cup in the NHL.
The Valor defeated the Baltimore Brigade at ArenaBowl 31, winning in dominant fashion and securing a 69-55 victory.
The thing is, some though Washington didn’t deserve to be there.
VALOR’S YEAR: Washington Valor win ArenaBowl 31
Washington finished the regular season with a dismal 2-11 record, sitting at dead last in the Arena Football League (AFL) standings.
Thanks to the AFL’s playoff format that saw each team from the four team league qualify for the playoffs, Washington made, “The cut.”
The Valor would go into a two-game, aggregate-scoring series against the top seeded Albany Empire. They kept the first game within one point and then defeated the Empire at home to advance to the championship game against the No. 2 seed in Baltimore.
Despite maybe not being as deserving from the regular season, the Valor proved that the roster they set for the playoffs knew they belonged.
Washington’s win was lead by MVP quarterback Arvell Nelson, who rushed for an AFL record five touchdowns.
Nelson took command of the game early and used his dual-threat style game to help his team bring home the trophy.
“I want to give credit to my team,” Nelson said after the game to the AFL. “My team, they rallied around me. I’m the quarterback, the leader, the general, so I’m in the spotlight. But those guys really won this game for us. They blocked their butts off, caught the ball, made plays, the defense made stops, so I mean it’s special to have won MVP, but I want to give all credit to them.”
Stay tuned for the rest of the regular season of indoor football as the National Arena League wraps up it’s final regular season week and then the playoffs in August. Then, the real fun starts as the off-season begins and teams will be a hop, a skip, and a jump from every which league possible. LWOS will have all of that and more this off-season, we’ll keep you posted.
