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PIFL Championship Game Set for Monday

June 30, 2015 - Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) News Release


NASHVILLE, TN (June 30, 2015) - The time has finally come, the moment where six months of hard work and preparation finally payoff. When one team gets to finally call themselves Champion, while another team is left wondering what could have been.

Inside the Columbus Civic Center on Monday July 6th at 7:00 PM the top two-seeded teams, the top-seeded Columbus Lions (9-3) and the second-seeded Richmond Raiders (9-4), from the regular season square off for the third time this season with each squad seeking their first PIFL Championship win.

Since the league's inception Columbus and Richmond have met on the field a combined seven times including the PIFL's inaugural game back on March 10th , 2012. In their two previous meetings this season, Columbus escaped with last minute victories including an opening season win at home where they scored 15 unanswered points to close out the contest for the 52-50 come from behind win.

Two weeks later in Richmond, with just nine seconds remaining the Lions once again squeaked out another win with a 40-yard TD hook-up from Kacz to Ebagua propelling them over the Raiders 47-43. One month into the season sitting at 1-3 in the standings, Richmond finished the remainder of the regular season 8-1 including winning their final six straight contests by an average of 26 points.

Doomed with the task of ending the Venom's title reign, the Raiders once again exposed the defending champs beating them for the second time in less than a month. In the loss, Nashville committed five turnovers with QB Charles McCullum completing just 18 of 42 passes while getting sacked five times and throwing four interceptions launching Richmond to the Championship Game for the third time in four seasons.

Dinged up a bit in the win, QB Jonathan Bane completed 13 of 23 passes for 208 yards and four touchdowns. Since being inserted as the starter in Week 2, Bane torched opposing defenses passing for a league-high 55 touchdowns including a ten touchdown performance against Alabama back on May 2nd , a PIFL single-game record. In the previous two meetings against Columbus he combined to complete 49 of 87 passes for 670 yards with 12 touchdowns and three interceptions.

Also inserted as the starter after his club's second game, rookie QB Casey Kacz ignited Columbus to the number one scoring offense (55.5 points/game) while finishing second overall in touchdown tosses with 52 giving the Lions their best regular season finish since 2011. Helping form a dynamic duo, MVP candidate WR Terrence Ebagua ended the year with a league-high 26 touchdowns becoming just one of four receivers in the league to end the season with over 1,000 receiving yards.

After dropping their regular season finale in Huntsville, the Lions rebounded with a resounding 69-41 win against Lehigh Valley in the opening round of the playoffs. Kacz threw for a PIFL single-game playoff record 327 yards and nine touchdowns while the defense held the Hawks to just five of ten in red zone opportunities.

With the two previous meetings settled by less than a touchdown, fans should expect another close finish along with a new champion being crowned. To track more coverage of the 2015 PIFL Championship Game, log on to www.proifl.com and to gather with other fans from around the league you can follow the PIFL on Facebook and Twitter.



Professional Indoor Football League Stories from June 30, 2015


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