2008-2009 OPEN TRYOUT INFORMATION

All 17 Arena Football League teams will be holding open tryouts during the off-season.  Check below to see if the team in your area will be hosting one in the near future.  All tryout information will be posted as the League office receives it from teams.  Click on the date for each tryout to learn more.

CHICAGO RUSH: SEPTEMBER 6 

ORLANDO PREDATORS: SEPTEMBER 13 | NOVEMBER 8

SAN JOSE SABERCATS: SEPTEMBER 20 

PHILADELPHIA SOUL: SEPTEMBER 28 | OCTOBER 12

COLUMBUS DESTROYERS: OCTOBER 4

KANSAS CITY BRIGADE: OCTOBER 12

UTAH BLAZE: OCTOBER 17

NEW ORLEANS VOODOO: OCTOBER 18 | NOVEMBER 8 | NOVEMBER 16 | DECEMBER 7

DALLAS DESPERADOS: NOVEMBER 1

LOS ANGELES AVENGERS: NOVEMBER 1 | NOVEMBER 7

Meeting is on Thursday @ 6:30pm @ the practice field.  We will be discussing the practice schedule and planning for the playoffs.  Attendance is mandatory.  If you can not make it let us know.

Players,

Every player must bring a State/Military or College issued Photo ID in order to be eligible to play in Saturday's game in Cleveland.

This is a must as it is the request of the Invaders & will be administrated 30 minutes prior to kickoff.

Thanks,

Anthony 

New Castle News

It took Sam Holmes a minute or two to realize the significance of what had taken place. The New Castle Thunder head coach watched his squad pull out a 14-13 comeback victory against the Ohio Red Bulls on Saturday at Taggart Stadium. It was a meeting of Steel Valley Division opponents, North American Football League powers and nationally ranked minor league teams. “Once we met in the middle of the field (after the game), it hit me,” Holmes said. “We won this game. “It’s a great thing to be ranked No. 1 in the NAFL.” The Thunder-Red Bulls encounter and the city’s Fireworks Festival delivered two powerful shows. “It was an unbelievable slugfest,” Thunder owner Anthony Razzano said. “It was actually the most intense game I was ever a part of.” New Castle found itself in the unusual position of playing catch up to the Youngstown-based team. The Red Bulls (4-1) went ahead 7-0 in the first quarter when quarterback Craig Ladson fired a 34-yard touchdown pass to Jerome Betts. Randall Moore connected on the extra point. New Castle (5-0 overall, 5-0 league) rallied with 19.7 seconds left in the second quarter when Laurel High graduate Brandon Dando hit Clem Ragster on a 4-yard pass. Antonio Reino (Laurel) nailed the point-after attempt. That should have been it going into halftime. However, the Red Bulls stunned the Thunder defense with a Hail Mary touchdown pass with 0.3 seconds left. Forty-four yards from the Ohio end zone, Roosevelt Griffen lofted the ball to Betts and came away with six points. The extra-point try failed. With the start of the second half, came a change of quarterbacks. Dando, who started the contest, came out because of an injured knee. Cecil Howard replaced Dando but later returned to the sidelines.  “He was coming off of three weeks of military (duty) and no practice,” Razzano said. “He took himself out.” With Preston Jones injured and Pat Cain (New Castle) unavailable as the result of a business commitment, Holmes went to a fifth-string signal caller, J.J. Wilson – the team’s starting wide receiver. Wilson was a Farrell standout at quarterback and defensive back. He graduated in June 2000.  “He didn’t want to play quarterback out of respect for the other players,” Razzano said. “He said if you give me the ball. I’ll win the game.” Good to his word, Wilson hit another Farrell grad, Lokie Howell, with less than two minutes in the game for a 16-yard pass. Reino was good on the second extra-point try. “It felt great and still does,” Holmes said. “I’m still rejoicing after the win.” New Castle travels to Pittsburgh this weekend to play the Colts.

Check out the entire poll:

http://www.minorleaguefootballnews.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=91&twindow=Default&mad=No&sdetail=&wpage=&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=2576&hn=minorleaguefootballnews&he=.com

Checkout the NAFL Power Ranking as of Monday, July 14, 2008

http://www.nafl.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=536&Itemid=377

Thunder would like to congratulate #27 Steve Byerely, LB as game 2 Razzano Consulting, LLC defensive player of the game and #8 Preston Jones, QB as Razzano Consulting, LLC offensive player of the game!

Great game guys!