The second American Arena League season comes to an end tomorrow night with the West Virginia Roughriders facing off against the Carolina Energy in the AAL championship game. The game will be played at the Wesbanco Arena in Wheeling, WV.
Both teams come into the game with undefeated records (Roughriders 10-0, Energy 5-0), which means one team will finish with an undefeated season as well as a championship.
The Roughriders are playing in their third consecutive championship game. They won the Arena Pro Football championship in 2017 and lost the inaugural American Arena League championship last season.
Carolina was a playoff team last season, their first in franchise history. Ironically, they fell to the Roughriders in the semifinals last season, falling one game short of the title game.
This season, both teams have been dominant in their own way. For West Virginia, their high-powered offense has been led by wide receiver Larry Beavers while their defense was led by Ellis Lankster, who had 15 interceptions.
For Carolina, their quarterback, Steffon Colon, 2017 champion with the Vermont Bucks, has led this team all the way to the title game. Their defense is what got them past the defending champs not once, but twice. They won both of their meetings against the Carolina Havoc by forcing multiple turnovers in each game.
This could also be the last game in league history. There is much question about whether or not the league will play a third season.
