The Harrisburg Stampede were a professional indoor football team based in

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...

. The Stampede participated in several different leagues over their history: the

American Indoor Football Association American Indoor Football (AIF) was a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...

in 2009 and 2010, the

Southern Indoor Football League The Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL) was an indoor football league based in the Southern and Eastern United States. The most recent incarnation of the league was a consolidation of an earlier league of the same name that was formed by Thom H ...

in 2011,

American Indoor Football American Indoor Football (AIF) was a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...

in 2012 and 2013, and the

Professional Indoor Football League The Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) was a professional indoor football league that played four seasons from 2012 to 2015. Like the Lone Star Football League, the PIFL was mainly composed of teams formerly part of Southern Indoor Foo ...

in what became their final season of play in 2014. The team suspended operations on December 30, 2014. The Stampede played their home games at the

Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center, formerly known as State Farm Show Arena, is a large exhibition center and indoor arena in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It is primarily used for concerts, agricultural exhibitions, the Pennsylvania Far ...

for their first five seasons. In 2014, they played in the

Giant Center Giant Center is a 10,500-seat multi-purpose arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place in the Harrisburg metropolitan area. It is home to the Hershey Bears ice hockey team, the longest-existing member of the American Hockey League ...

in nearby Hershey. The "Stampede" name alluded to the team's original home venue, which hosts the annual

Pennsylvania Farm Show The Pennsylvania Farm Show is an annual agricultural exposition celebrating Pennsylvania's agriculture industry, held every January at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center, located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It is the largest ind ...

, and the team's colors were blue, black and white.

History

2009

The team was co-founded by John Morris and Fred Clark. In September 2008, the team announced that they would use the nickname "Stampede" after narrowing a list of entries down to 3. In the Stampede's inaugural game, they beat an opposing team of

(AIFA) All-Stars, 46–26, in the 2009 AIFA Kickoff Classic. In their first regular season game, the Stampede were defeated by the reigning AIFA champion,

Florence Phantoms The Florence Phantoms were a professional indoor football team based out of Florence, South Carolina, in the United States. They were an expansion member of the American Indoor Football Association (AIFA) in 2006, and were the AIFA Champions of ...

by a score of 19 - 13. In their second ever regular season game, the Stampede defeated the

Baltimore Mariners The Baltimore Mariners were an indoor football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The team was a member of American Indoor Football. The team was founded when the American Indoor Football Association expelled the Baltimore Blackbirds for negotia ...

37-34. After a 2-4 start, Morris fired head coach Kelly Logan and replaced him with defensive coordinator, Mike McDonald.

Marques Colston Marques E. Colston ( born June 5, 1983) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at Hofstra University, and was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the seventh round of the 2006 NFL Draft. He helped the Saints ac ...

, a

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

wide receiver, held a share during the team's first season. Colston left the group after the inaugural season, citing philosophical differences.

2009 season schedule

2010

For the 2010 season, the team hired Ramon Robinson as their head coach. Robinson helped the Stampede turn their record around, leading them to an 11-3 regular season record, clinching a playoff spot. The #2 seeded Stampede defeated the #3

Erie Storm The Erie Explosion was a professional American indoor football team based in Erie, Pennsylvania. Founded in 2007 as the Pittsburgh RiverRats, the Explosion played in the Professional Indoor Football League, the United Indoor Football League, the ...

by a score of 52-48 in the first Stampede playoff game ever. The following week, the Stampede were defeated by the undefeated Mariners by a score of 65-13 in the Eastern Conference Championship Game.

2011

The Stampede began the 2011 season by naming Bernie Nowotarski the team's head coach and general manager. 2011 also brought a new league for the Stampede, as they moved into the

(SIFL) after the merger of the AIFA's Eastern Conference with the SIFL After an 0–6 start to the 2011 season, Nowotarski was removed as General Manager and Head Coach of the Stampede. He was replaced by Josh Resignalo. The following season, the SIFL disbanded, leading the Stampede to re-join their former league, which is now going by

(AIF).

2012

In 2012, the team joined

(AIF), the league was run by previous AIFA owner/CEO John Morris. In January 2012, Morris sold the team to local businessman Justin Coble, who made moves to broaden the fan base and re-energize the city of Harrisburg about the Stampede team; Colston returned to the team's ownership group just prior to the start of the 2012 season.

2013

As of August 2012 Marques Colston's Dynasty Group acquired full control of the team and had continued to grow the footprint of the Stampede with its primary mission of servicing the community in the Greater Harrisburg area. The Stampede advanced to the AIF Championship Game for the second straight year in 2013, this time defeating the Cape Fear Heroes 57-42 earning their first ever title.

2014

In September 2013, the Stampede announced that they would be joining the

for the 2014 season. After the 2014 season, on December 30, 2014, Colston shuttered the team due to financial problems and purchased a stake in the

Philadelphia Soul Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia TSOP, is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush instrumental arrangements, often feat ...

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

Final roster

All-league players

The following Stampede players were named to All-League Teams: * QB E. J. Nemeth (3) * RB Victory Sesay * WR Scorpio Brown (2), Colis Martin (2), Jerrell Jones * OL Randall Bennett (2), Adam Hoffman, Troy Bennett * DL Daniel Orlebar (2), Fearon Wright (2), Jashawn Williams, Amara Kamara * LB Vincent Tiberi (2), Jermaine Thaxton (3), Will Hines (4) * DB Richard Johnson, Armar Watson (2), Travis Proctor * K Cap Poklemba * KR Armar Watson (2)

Season-by-season results

References

External links

Official website

Stampede's 2009 stats

Stampede's 2010 stats

Stampede's 2011 stats
{{PIFL 2007 establishments in Pennsylvania 2014 disestablishments in Pennsylvania