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Date | August 11, 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Arena | Times Union Center, Albany, New York | ||||||||||||||||||
MVP | Tommy Grady (QB, Albany) | ||||||||||||||||||
Attendance | 12,042 | ||||||||||||||||||
Winning coach | Rob Keefe | ||||||||||||||||||
Losing coach | Clint Dolezel | ||||||||||||||||||
TV in the United States | |||||||||||||||||||
Network | ESPN2 | ||||||||||||||||||
Announcers | Jon Meterparel, Sherdrick Bonner, Meredith Gorman and J. J. Raterink | ||||||||||||||||||
ArenaBowl XXXII was the 32nd and most recent ArenaBowl and the championship game of the 2019 Arena Football League season. The game took place on August 11, 2019, with kickoff at 8:00 p.m. EDT on ESPN2. [1] It featured the winners of the two semifinals, the No. 1 seed Albany Empire and the No. 3 seed Philadelphia Soul.
AFL Commissioner Randall Boe also confirmed that the league's expansion plans for next season would be unveiled during the game; [1] however, these plans were pushed back to several weeks after the game [2] after Boe said that negotiations for the two new teams would not be finished in time. [3] The league ultimately filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on November 27 of that year, making the game the final one in the league's history until the league was purchased in 2023 and the league was revived. [4] [5]
As the higher seed, the No. 1 Albany Empire hosted ArenaBowl XXXII at the Times Union Center. [6]
Semifinals | ArenaBowl XXXII | ||||||||||
1 | Albany Empire | 61 | 62 | 123 | |||||||
4 | Baltimore Brigade | 26 | 21 | 47 | |||||||
1 | Albany Empire | 45 | |||||||||
3 | Philadelphia Soul | 27 | |||||||||
2 | Washington Valor | 33 | 41 | 74 | |||||||
3 | Philadelphia Soul | 69 | 48 | 117 |
The Empire, led by head coach Rob Keefe, finished the regular season 10–2 and earned the No. 1 seed for the second straight season. They defeated No. 4 Baltimore home and away in the semifinal to advance to their first ArenaBowl.
The Soul, led by head coach Clint Dolezel, finished the regular season 7–5 and earned the No. 3 seed for the second straight season. They defeated No. 2 Washington home and away in the semifinal to advance to their sixth ArenaBowl; they are 3–2 in previous appearances.
The all-time series between the Empire and the Soul dates back to the Empire's inaugural game on April 14, 2018. Entering the game, Albany led the series 4–3.
Albany victories | Philadelphia victories |
No. | Date | Location | Winner | Score | ||||
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1 | April 14, 2018 | Albany, NY | Philadelphia | 56–35 | ||||
2 | May 19, 2018 | Philadelphia, PA | Albany | 41–36 | ||||
3 | June 16, 2018 | Albany, NY | Philadelphia | 75–74 | ||||
4 | July 7, 2018 | Albany, NY | Albany | 71–57 | ||||
5 | May 11, 2019 | Philadelphia, PA | Albany | 57–48 | ||||
6 | June 29, 2019 | Philadelphia, PA | Philadelphia | 54–43 | ||||
7 | July 20, 2019 | Albany, NY | Albany | 72–27 | ||||
Series: Albany leads 4–3 |
Scoring summary | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Qtr. | Time | Team | Scoring play | Score |
1 | 12:09 | Philadelphia | Darius Prince 34 yard pass from Dan Raudabaugh; Kenny Spencer kick good | Philadelphia 7, Albany 0 |
6:58 | Albany | Maurice Leggett 54 yard interception return; Adrian Trevino kick good | Philadelphia 7, Albany 7 | |
4:58 | Philadelphia | B. J. Bunn 38 yard pass from Dan Raudabaugh; Kenny Spencer kick good | Philadelphia 14, Albany 7 | |
1:56 | Albany | Quentin Sims 11 yard pass from Tommy Grady; Adrian Trevino kick good | Philadelphia 14, Albany 14 | |
2 | 9:59 | Albany | Quentin Sims 6 yard pass from Tommy Grady; Adrian Trevino kick good | Philadelphia 14, Albany 21 |
4:56 | Philadelphia | Darius Prince 4 yard pass from Dan Raudabaugh; Kenny Spencer kick good | Philadelphia 21, Albany 21 | |
3:23 | Albany | Quentin Sims 25 yard pass from Tommy Grady; Adrian Trevino kick good | Philadelphia 21, Albany 28 | |
0:22 | Albany | Quentin Sims 11 yard pass from Tommy Grady; Adrian Trevino kick good | Philadelphia 21, Albany 35 | |
3 | 10:06 | Albany | Mykel Benson 8 yard pass from Tommy Grady; Adrian Trevino kick good | Philadelphia 21, Albany 42 |
4 | 13:09 | Philadelphia | Lonnie Outlaw 3 yard pass from Dan Raudabaugh; Kenny Spencer kick missed | Philadelphia 27, Albany 42 |
9:59 | Albany | Adrian Trevino 31 yard field goal | Philadelphia 27, Albany 45 | |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Philadelphia | 14 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 27 |
Albany | 14 | 21 | 7 | 3 | 45 |
Statistics | PHI | ALB |
---|---|---|
First downs | 19 | 14 |
Total yards | 300 | 208 |
Rushes–yards | 7–0 | 5–8 |
Passing yards | 300 | 200 |
Passing: Comp–Att–Int | 26–39–1 | 16–25–0 |
Penalties–yards | 3–25 | 3–9 |
Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
---|---|---|---|
Philadelphia | Passing | Dan Raudabaugh | 26/39, 300 yds, 4 TD, 1 INT |
Rushing | Adrian Ferns | 5 car, 1 yd | |
Receiving | B. J. Bunn | 10 rec, 129 yds, 1 TD | |
Albany | Passing | Tommy Grady | 16/25, 200 yds, 5 TD |
Rushing | Mykel Benson | 3 car, 14 yds, 1 TD | |
Receiving | Quentin Sims | 9 rec, 93 yds, 4 TD |
The Arena Football League (AFL) can refer to one of three successive professional indoor American football leagues in the United States. The first of these was founded in 1986, and played its first official games in the 1987 season, running for 22 consecutive seasons until going bankrupt following the 2008 season. The second league, consisting largely of teams from the first AFL and arenafootball2, purchased the first league's assets out of bankruptcy and resumed play in 2010 as a continuation of the first AFL; this second AFL ran for ten further seasons, before again going bankrupt following the 2019 season. A third AFL, which is not directly connected to the previous two iterations of the league but claiming their histories and trademarks, intends to launch in 2024.
The Columbus Destroyers were an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Columbus, Ohio, with home games in Nationwide Arena. The team was founded in 1999 as the Buffalo Destroyers, based in Buffalo, New York, and relocated to Columbus in 2004. They folded along with the original incarnation of the AFL following the 2008 season, after a total of ten seasons of play.
The Philadelphia Soul are a professional arena football team based in Philadelphia. They competed in the Arena Football League (AFL). The Soul made Six ArenaBowl appearances, winning their first appearance and losing their next two appearances. The Soul won in their fourth appearance, against the Rattlers in 2016, winning 56–42. They also won in their fifth appearance in 2017 against the Tampa Bay Storm, winning 44–40 before losing in their sixth appearance in 2019 to the Albany Empire 45-27.
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