The Carolina Cobras made it to National Arena Bowl II in their inaugural season with an 11-5 record. The Cobras will take on the Columbus Lions, a team who will make their fourth consecutive championship appearance.
Top Five Reasons the Carolina Cobras will win National Arena Bowl II
No. Five: Dominating Offense
Cobras Quarterback Charles McCullum has a real good chance at being National Arena League (NAL) MVP this season. In the regular season, McCullum is 296-of-493 (60.04%) for 3,320 yards, 87 touchdowns, and 19 interceptions. McCullum has a special ability that not a lot of quarterbacks have. He is able to give his receivers close to the same amount of receptions, which leaves the defense guessing. Wide Receiver Jordan Jolly has racked up 68 receptions for 790 yards and 19 touchdowns this season. Those stats are great, but not quite good enough to be the top receiver on the team. Tyron Laughinghouse currently sits at number one with 70 receptions for 805 yards and 21 touchdowns. Laughinghouse is currently injured and has a chance of not playing in the National Arena Bowl. If they can activate Laughinghouse in time, he will be a great asset to the Cobras offense. Fabian Guerra has 61 catches for 721 yards and 14 touchdowns this season. While there are many more talented receivers on the Cobras offense, these three take the cake for the number of yards.
No. Four: Terrifying Defense
The Cobras defense is an outstanding group of players that only gets better and better as the weeks go by. Defensive Back Cedric Poole leads the team in interceptions with eight for 86 yards. Poole also leads the team in tackles with 63 total tackles. Defensive Back Michael Green doesn’t have as many interceptions, but he surely has way more yards than Poole. Green has seven interceptions for 130 yards and one touchdown. Defensive Lineman Anthony Ellis makes everything look easy with 4.5 sacks and four four fumble recoveries for 52 yards and three touchdowns.
No. Three: Craig “The Leg” Peterson
Kicker Craig Peterson currently holds the new record for the number of deuces in an NAL season. He has a total of 27 deuces so far, 26 of which are in the regular season. Peterson finished the regular season in third place in all time scoring with 154 points. Peterson has also made the most PAT’s in the regular season with 88. With his accuracy and distance, the Cobras should be able to get a free eight to 10 points with Peterson’s deuces.
No. Two: Lions Limited Pass Game
The Columbus Lions have a good chance that they will be without Wide Receiver Jarmon Fortson after an altercation with a Massachusetts Pirates player that was not dressed for the game. Fortson will be serving a two-game suspension that will likely carry over to next season if the suspension stays. This takes away the leading receiver in receptions, yards, and touchdowns in the entire NAL. This gives the Lions offense with a few options at WR. They recently signed Maurice Williams at the receiver spot. The Lions also have London Crawford, but they don’t have much. This means that the Cobras defense will step up big time in this big game.
No. One: The Ninth Man
Carolina is very known for “The Ninth Man” this season. Their arena may not have a great turnout like Jacksonville’s every single week, but they have a large group of fans that will do anything and everything to make sure their Cobras finish the game with a win. Last week versus the Jacksonville Sharks, The Ninth Man abandoned their end zone seats and moved to the Sharks’ bench to annoy them all game. This worked all game, as players, coaches, and even an owner stepped in to have a word with these rowdy fans. While they might be super annoying to the opponents, it is 100% legal and nobody can do a thing about it. The Sharks were frustrated all 60 minutes of the game that they were called on 22 penalties for 175 yards. Two of those penalties lead to ejections, and one was a warning. If these rowdy group of fans pack the section over by the Lions bench, then the Cobras shouldn’t have an issue winning this game.
National Arena Bowl II
The National Arena Bowl is in Greensboro, North Carolina in the Greensboro Coliseum. The Carolina Cobras will take on the Columbus Lions on Monday, August 27, at 7:00 pm (E.T.).
