Steubenville Stampede releases 2007 Schedule
October 31, 2006 - Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL)
Steubenville Stampede News Release
Steubenville, Ohio October 31, 2006- The Steubenville Stampede, a first year member of the Continental Indoor Football League (formerly the Great Lakes Indoor Football League) announced today its complete 2007 schedule.
Steubenville will open its season on Saturday, March 24 at 7pm at Steubenville's St. John Arena against the NY/NJ Revolution. The Revolution play their home games in Morristown, New Jersey and will travel 770 miles roundtrip to take on the Stampede in the opener.
Following a road contest at the Wayne County Rumble in Wooster, Ohio on Saturday, March 31, the Stampede will take a week off before returning to St. John Arena for back to back home games against the Chesapeake Tide on Friday, April 13 and a rematch with Wayne County on Friday, April 20.
Eight days later, Steubenville's only professional sports franchise will make their first long road trip of the season, traveling to Bethlehem, PA on April 28 to take on the Lehigh Valley Outlawz.
It will not be the teams last long road trip of the season though.
After two more consecutive home contests on Saturday, May 5 and Saturday, May 12 versus the New England Surge and Springfield (IL) Stallions, the Stampede will become road warriors for the next three weekends.
After beginning the season with five of the first seven games at home in the friendly confines of the Steubenville St. John Arena, the Stampede will travel roundtrip 458 miles, 1,174 miles, and 624 miles in consecutive trips to face the Miami Valley Silverbacks (Troy, OH), the New England Surge (Worcester, MA) and the Rochester Raiders (Rochester, NY). The total roundtrip mileage over the three week stretch equals 2,256. The long trek does not seem to bother Stampede General Manager Jim Gibson however.
"That three week stretch in late May and early June is certain to be grueling, but with five our first seven games at home, we have an opportunity to get off to a fast start and build a great deal of confidence", commented Gibson. If we are able take advantage of our early season home schedule, it should not matter where we are playing later in the season because we will be playing for playoff positioning. It is the same theory that the NFL lives by, win all your home games and break even on the road and you should be in the playoffs".
Following the three week sightseeing tour across the eastern United States, the league gives the Stampede a second bye week to recover before they host Lehigh Valley on Saturday, June 16 in the final regular season home game of the campaign. The Stampede close out the season the following week with a 602 mile roundtrip visit to Upper Marlboro, MD to take on the Chesapeake Tide for a second time.
"I believe that if the community gets behind the efforts of Head Coach R.J. Bowers and the entire Stampede organization from the outset, supports us in the stands, supports our players and their efforts, and is vocal while in attendance at our first five home games, then we will be in position to deliver a home playoff game as a reward, regardless of our long road trips to end the year", said Gibson.
Gibson is also excited about the teams that will be visiting the Stampede, Steubenville and the Upper Ohio Valley.
"We are going to be playing host to teams from markets like New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts and eastern Pennsylvania. The entire community has a chance to showcase our area to players, coaches, administrators, business executives and fans from markets that may have never been exposed to the city and valley and all that we have to offer. In my opinion that is very exciting and offers all of us an opportunity to collectively show off what might be one of the best kept secrets in the country in terms of a vibrant, enthusiastic community with much to offer. I hope that everyone that has a vested interest in our community does all in their power to roll out the red carpet to our visitors when they converge upon our area this spring. I also hope we send them home just a bit disappointed in their trip with a mark in the loss column."
The Stampede will be announcing season and individual game ticket prices soon.
A complete schedule appears below.
Steubenville Stampede 2007 Schedule
March 24th Saturday 7:00pm NY/NJ @ Steubenville
March 31st Saturday 7:00pm Steubenville @ Wayne County
April 13th Friday 7:30pm Chesapeake @ Steubenville
April 20th Friday 7:30pm Wayne County @ Steubenville
April 28th Saturday 7:00pm Steubenville @ Lehigh Valley
May 5th Saturday 7:00pm New England @ Steubenville
May 12th Saturday 7:00pm Springfield @ Steubenville
May 18th Friday 7:30pm Steubenville @ Miami Valley
May 26th Saturday 7:00pm Steubenville @ New England
June 2nd Saturday 7:00pm Steubenville @ Rochester
June 16th Saturday 7:00pm Lehigh Valley @ Steubenville
June 23rd Saturday 7:00pm Steubenville @ Chesapeake
For additional information, please contact the Steubenville Stampede at 740-314-1139
• Discuss this story on the Continental Indoor Football League message board...
Continental Indoor Football League Stories from October 31, 2006
- Steubenville Stampede releases 2007 Schedule - Steubenville Stampede
- Silverbacks ink Brady - Dayton Silverbacks
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
