The Reading Express were a professional indoor football team based in Reading, Pennsylvania. They were most recently a member of the United Conference of the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. It has one of the largest number of currently active teams am ...

(IFL). The Express began play in 2006, as an expansion team of the

American Indoor Football League 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 ...

. The team was originally going to be named the Reading RiverRats, but passed on that name in favor of the "Reading Express." The RiverRats name and logo was moved to an AIFA team in Pittsburgh in 2007. The owners of the Express were Ted & Lisa Lavender. They played their home games at the Sovereign Center.

Franchise history

2006

On September 14, 2005, the Express were announced as an expansion team of the

(AIFL). On November 6, 2005, the Express named Ollie Guidry the team's first ever head coach. On Sunday, March 26, 2006, the Express won the AIFL's very first overtime game 41-38 against the

Johnstown Riverhawks The Johnstown Riverhawks was a professional indoor American football team based out of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. They were a charter member of the American Indoor Football Association (AIFA). They played their home games at Cambria County War Mem ...

on the road, as kicker Erik Rockhold booted the game-winning 45-yard field goal. On Friday, May 12, 2006, the Express managed to knock the

Erie Freeze The Erie Freeze was an American indoor football team based in Erie, Pennsylvania. They were an original member of the American Indoor Football League in 2005, and advanced to the first AIFL Championship Game. When the league was reorganized into ...

out of the #1 spot in the conference by getting revenge 59-48. At the end of their inaugural year, the Express held the highest record in the AIFL's Northern Conference, at 12-2. This, however, was padded by two games against amateur outdoor franchises—the Cumberland Cardinals and a team known as the Philadelphia Scorpions, both of which were blowouts. In the opening round of the 2006 AIFL Playoffs, the Express managed to knock out the fourth-seeded

Huntington Heroes The Huntington Heroes were a professional indoor football franchise and member of the American Indoor Football Association (AIFA). The Heroes played their home games during their inaugural 2006 season at the Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse in Hunti ...

with a 56-23 victory. In the Northern Conference championship game, they faced the second-seeded

Canton Legends The Canton Legends was a professional indoor football team based out of Canton, Ohio. They were a charter member of the American Indoor Football Association, which played their first season under the name Atlantic Indoor Football League, and th ...

for the Northern Conference title and a chance to participate in the American Bowl. Unfortunately, the Express got derailed as they got shut out in the second half and fell 44-24. Even though they fell one game shy of the league championship, it wasn't a total loss, as wide receiver Carmelo Ocasio was named the 2006 Northern Conference Offensive MVP.

2007

In the 2007 season, now part of the AIFL's reorganized form (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 ...

), the Express built on their success in the previous season, finishing a league-best 14-2 in the regular season, defeating the

Pittsburgh RiverRats 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 ...

42-24 in the first round, and defeating the

66-51 to claim the Northern Conference Championship and earn a trip to AIFA Championship Bowl I at the

Florence Civic Center The Florence Center is a 10,000-seat multipurpose arena in Florence, South Carolina. The arena was known as the Florence Civic Center until it rebranded in November 2017. It hosted the infamous eighth WWF In Your House pay-per-view in 1996, dur ...

. Unfortunately, the Express got derailed yet again, losing to the

Lakeland Thunderbolts The Lakeland Thunderbolts were a professional indoor football team. They were a member of the American Indoor Football Association (AIFA). They played their home games at the Lakeland Center. History The Lakeland Thunderbolts began in 2005 as ...

54-49.

Season Schedule

2008

Season Schedule

2009

In the 2009 season, the Express had another fantastic season, finishing the regular season 11-3, defeating the Baltimore Mariners 50-20 in the first round, and defeating the

Columbus Lions The Columbus Lions are a professional indoor football team based in Columbus, Georgia and are a member of the American Indoor Football Alliance. The were a founding member of the National Arena League (NAL) for the 2017 season. The Lions were ...

60-51 in the conference championship game to earn another berth in the AIFA Championship Bowl III in Casper, Wyoming. This time in the title game, the Express were overpowering and they defeated the

Wyoming Cavalry The Wyoming Cavalry were an American professional indoor football team based in Casper, Wyoming. They were most recently members of the Intense Conference in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Cavalry began play in 2000 as an expansion member ...

65-42 to win their first AIFA championship.

Season Schedule

2010

2011

On July 21, 2010, the Express announced that they would be promoting interim head coach/ offensive coordinator, Chris Thompson, to head coach for the 2011 season. On August 18, 2010, the Express announced that will be leaving the AIFA and joining the

(IFL).

2012

Final roster

Head coaches

''Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2012 Indoor Football League season.''

Season-By-Season

, - , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;", Reading Express (AIFL) , - , 2006 , , 12 , , 2 , , 0 , , 1st Northern , , Won Round 1 ( Huntington)
Lost NC Championship ( Canton) , - , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;", Reading Express (AIFA) , - , 2007 , , 14 , , 2 , , 0 , , 1st Northern , , Won Round 1 (

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

)
Won NC Championship ( Canton)
Lost AIFA Championship Bowl I ( Lakeland) , - , 2008 , , 10 , , 4 , , 0 , , 1st EC Northern , , Won ECN Round 1 (

Erie 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 ...

)
Lost EC Championship (

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

) , - , 2009 , , 11 , , 3 , , 0 , , 1st Northern , , Won Divisional (

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

)
Won Semifinal (

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

)
Won AIFA Championship Bowl III (

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

) , - , 2010 , , 8 , , 6 , , 0 , , 4th Eastern , , -- , - , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;", Reading Express (IFL) , - , 2011 , , 8 , , 6 , , 0 , , 1st Atlantic , , Won Round 1 (

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

)
Lost Conference Semi-Final ( Green Bay) , - , 2012 , , 2 , , 12 , , 0 , , 8th United , , -- , - !Totals , , 73 , , 39 , , 0 , colspan="2", (including playoffs)

References

External links

Official Site of the Reading Express

Express' 2006 Season & Results

Official Site of the Reading Express Smokin' Hot Steam Team

Express's 2007 Stats

Express's 2008 Stats

Express's 2009 Stats

Express's 2010 Stats
{dead link, date=April 2011 2006 establishments in Pennsylvania 2012 disestablishments in Pennsylvania