The Erie Express are a professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

minor-league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

team based in

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

. They compete in the

Gridiron Developmental Football League The Gridiron Developmental Football League (GDFL) is a low-level american football minor league based in Memphis, Tennessee, using the franchise model. , the league has 63 teams. The GDFL plays a playoff format similar to NCAA tournament, as 16 ...

(GDFL) as a member of the Eastern Xtreme West Division. Founded in 2011, the Express are the reigning 2021 GDFL champions. The team plays at Saxon Stadium, a football venue on the campus of

Mercyhurst University (Seize the day) , former_names = Mercyhurst College (1926–2012) , established = , type = Private university , religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic (Sisters of Mercy) , endowment = $31.8 million , faculty = 136 full-time , administrat ...

in Erie. The "Express" name alludes to Erie being a long-time hub for trains and rail transportation. In 1910,

GE Transportation GE Transportation is a division of Wabtec. It was known as GE Rail and owned by General Electric until sold to Wabtec on February 25, 2019. The organization manufactures equipment for the railroad, marine, mining, drilling and energy generation ...

built a locomotive assembly plant in nearby Lawrence Park and designed the entire

company town A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...

there, which is still in operation today. Erie also has a storied regional history of trains, especially the

Erie Gauge War The Erie Gauge War (sometimes called the Erie Railroad War) was a conflict between the citizens of Erie, Pennsylvania, and two railroad companies over the standardization of the track gauge between Erie and the New York border. It started on Dec ...

(1853–54).

History

Before the Erie Express' GDFL national championship in 2021, they had reached the national semi-finals twice, in 2018 and 2019. In 2019, the Express rostered Glen Conner Jr. as a defensive lineman, wearing the number 23. In their 30–6 victory over the Westmoreland Wolves on April 22, 2019, the Express honored Glen as their "Defensive Player of the Week" with seven tackles, three tackles for loss (−16 yards), three sacks, and an interception. Glen is the oldest brother of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) running back James Conner, an Erie native who played for local

McDowell High School McDowell High School is a public high school located in Millcreek Township, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Erie. It is the only high school in the Millcreek Township School District. The school's mascot is the Trojan. Students There are approximately ...

Trojans before committing to the University of Pittsburgh Panthers (2013–2016). James went on to play in the NFL for the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

(2017–2020) and the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

(2021–present). Since 2016 the Express has hosted the ''Covato Classic'' each year, a game in memory of former Erie player Tyler Covato who was killed in a work accident.

2021 National Championship season

The Erie Express defeated the Columbus Fire (

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

) at

Erie Veterans Memorial Stadium Erie Veterans Memorial Stadium is a football and soccer stadium located in Erie, Pennsylvania, United States. It was built in 1924 with the 1920 Academy High School building (the current Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy) overlooking it ...

to win the Xtreme Conference title, advancing to the GDFL National Championship for the first time. On September 5, 2021, at Saxon Stadium, they proceeded to win the GDFL championship with a 42–40 victory over Inglewood Blackhawks, a team from

Inglewood, California Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 107,762. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. The city is in the South Bay ...

in the

Greater Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...

region (Inglewood is also home to the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division, and ...

and the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

of the NFL, playing at

SoFi Stadium SoFi Stadium () is a 70,240-seat sports and entertainment indoor stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California, United States. SoFi occupies the former site of the Hollywood Park Racetrack, from Los Angeles International Airport an ...

). The Erie Express advanced to the USA Bowl XV Summer National Championship Game at

Daytona Stadium Daytona Stadium, is a 9,601-seat multi-purpose stadium in Daytona Beach, Florida, built in 1988 and home to the Bethune–Cookman University Wildcats football team. It is also used to host home games for the Mainland High School and Seabreeze Hig ...

Daytona Beach, Florida Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal Resort town, resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County, Florida, Volusia County near the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic coastline, its population ...

versus the Iredell Warriors (

Iredell County, North Carolina Iredell County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 186,693. Its county seat is Statesville, and its largest town is Mooresville. The county was formed in 1788, subtracted from Ro ...

), in the

Charlotte metropolitan area The Charlotte metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as Metrolina, is a metropolitan area of the U.S. states of North and South Carolina, within and surrounding the city of Charlotte. The metropolitan area also includes the cities of Gastonia, ...

. The Express arrived at the game with an overall 13–0 record, while the Warriors were 12–1 in the Carolinas Elite Football Alliance. On January 15, 2022, the Express overcame the Warriors by a single point, 25–24.

Logos and uniforms

The primary colors of the Erie Express are navy blue, red, and silver. They mirror the colors found in the City of Erie flag.@ErieExpressFootball on Instagram
/ref> The primary logo features a metallic football player's face capped with a train

wedge plow The wedge plow or Bucker plow was first developed by railroad companies to clear snow in the American West. The wedge plow forces snow to the sides of the tracks and therefore requires a large amount of force due to the compression of snow. The wed ...

and a smokestack in the team's colors above the "Erie Express" wordmark. The secondary logo, found on the jersey sleeves, includes a Pennsylvania keystone in navy blue, charged with a silver E resembling an industrial wedge plow. The helmets are silver with a red facemask, featuring navy blue and red horizontal striping and a collegiate E logo on both sides in white on red. This helmet design resembles the one introduced by the

Navy Midshipmen football The Navy Midshipmen football team represents the United States Naval Academy in NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) college football. The Naval Academy completed its final season as an FBS independent school (not in a conference) i ...

team for the 2012

Army–Navy Game The Army–Navy Game is an American college football rivalry game between the Army Black Knights of the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, and the Navy Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy (USNA) at Annapo ...

. The home uniforms include a navy blue jersey with broad silver and red stripes sweeping over the shoulders. The secondary logo features prominently on the sleeves. The numbers and player names are in red with a white outline. The pants are silver with navy-red-navy side stripes. The away uniforms feature a white jersey with red stripes and numbers outlined in navy blue. The Express wears either red or white pants for this jersey. For the 2021 USA Bowl, the Express wore red jerseys charged with white and navy blue Northwestern stripes.

Home venues

* Saxon Stadium (1,100), 2021–present *

(10,000), select home games, 2021–present * Erie Sports Center, practice facility, 2021–present * Gus Anderson Field (2011–2020)

References

External links

* {{Pennsylvania Sports American football teams established in 2011