The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Mavericks are a future professional arena football team based in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, founded in 2024 as an expansion team in Arena Football One and owned by local businessman Matt Rowland. The Mavericks will play their home games at the Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Township, Pennsylvania beginning in the 2025 season.

History

The Mavericks are only the second arena football team to play in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton region and the first since the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers of the original af2 that played from 2002 to 2009, playing in two ArenaCup title games losing to the Tulsa Talons in 2007 and the Spokane Shock in 2009.

The Beginning

Introductary logo

Fifteen years after the Pioneers played their final game in Wilkes-Barre, Arena Football One, (a reorganized offshoot of the failed second revival of the Arena Football League) granted an expansion franchise to local owner Matt Rowland, a graduate of Misericordia University, a private Catholic university in Dallas, Pennsylvania. In a press released posted by AF1, they were quoted as describing Rowland as an "extensive experience as an innovative boxing promoter and has several large boxing cards to his credit."[1][2] The team will play their home games starting in the 2025 season at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in the Wilkes-Barre Township. League president Jared Widman was quoted to say, “The (Mohegan) Sun Arena has been wonderful to work with. Bringing arena football back to Wilkes-Barre, it is something that is exciting and the league is happy about.”[3] Rowland and Widman were college classmates at Misericordia and teammates on that school's lacrosse team.[4]

The team will play in the AF1's East Division along with the Albany Firebirds, Nashville Kats and Orlando Predators.

On November 21, Shawn Liotta was announced as the team's inaugural head coach.[5] Their first-ever signee is defensive back Ikenna Ahumibe.

On December 20, owner Matt Rowland announced the team would be known as the Mavericks and their colors would be red and Carolina blue, with the official logo to be revealed later in the day.[6]

Current roster

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Mavericks
Quarterbacks
  • -- Fred Payton
  • -- Ed Crouch

Running backs

  • -- David Faccone Jr.

Wide receivers

  • -- Tim Keith
 Offensive linemen
  • -- Kyle Rinsky
  • -- Robert Mihaly

Defensive linemen

  • -- Ikenna Ahumibe
 Linebackers
  • -- David Faccone Jr.
  • -- Mahlon Slaughter

Defensive backs

  • -- Darius Doakes

Special teams

  • Currently vacant
 Reserve lists
  • Currently vacant
  • Rookies in italics
  • Roster updated January 13, 2025
  • 9 Active, 0 Inactive

Staff

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Mavericks staff

Front office

  • Owner - Matt Rowland

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

  • Offensive coordinator - TBA
  • Offensive coach - TBA
 Defensive coaches
  • Defensive coordinator – TBA





References

  1. ^ "AF1 Announces Expansion Team in Wilkes-Barre for 2025". Arena Football One. 2024-09-10. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  2. ^ "New arena football league awards expansion franchise to Wilkes-Barre". Times Leader. 2024-09-11. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  3. ^ "Arena football returning to Wilkes-Barre". The Citizen's Voice. 2024-09-11. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  4. ^ Bennett, Steve (2024-09-11). "Arena football returning to Wilkes-Barre". The Citizens' Voice. Retrieved 2024-11-09.
  5. ^ @WBArenaFootball (2024-11-21). ""This is an exciting time for football fans in Northeast PA, Arena football is back in a big way and 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤." - Shawn Lotta, Head Football Coach, Wilkes-Barre Arena Football Team" (Tweet). Retrieved 2024-11-21 – via Twitter.
  6. ^ @OffTheWallFB (2024-12-20). "The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Mavericks! Official team logo to be unveiled later today #AF1" (Tweet). Retrieved 2024-12-20 – via Twitter.
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilkes-Barre/Scranton_Mavericks
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