Dodge City Law
The Dodge City Law were a professional indoor football team based in Dodge City, Kansas. The team joined the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL) in 2013 as an expansion member for the 2014 season. In 2014, the CPIFL merged with the Lone Star Football League (LSFL) to form Champions Indoor Football (CIF).[1] The Law played their home games at the United Wireless Arena.
| Dodge City Law | ||
|---|---|---|
| Established 2013 Folded 2017 Played in United Wireless Arena in Dodge City, Kansas | ||
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| League/conference affiliations | ||
| Champions Professional Indoor Football League (2014) Champions Indoor Football (2015–2017)
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| Team colors | Graphite, Chartreuse, Silver | |
| Mascot | Marshall | |
| Cheerleaders | Gunpowder Girls | |
| Personnel | ||
| Owner(s) | Sean & Joi Ponder | |
| General manager | Joi Ponder | |
| Head coach | Sean Ponder | |
| Team history | ||
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| Championships | ||
| League championships (0) | ||
| Conference championships (0) | ||
| Division championships (0) | ||
| Playoff appearances (3) | ||
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| Home arena(s) | ||
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History
In September 2013, James Bain, the commissioner of the CPIFL announced that a new expansion team would be coming to Dodge City, Kansas, becoming the tenth team in the league.[2] A name-the-team contest took place in October on the team's website and home office. Over the two weeks, there were over 1,000 submissions. It was decided the team colors would be graphite, chartreuse and silver. Adam McElwain of Hays, Kansas won the contest earning two season tickets for the season.
2014
The Law began its inaugural season with a road win over the Omaha Beef. The team lost the next two games but regained its footing to win 6 of the following 7 contests. A home loss to the Wichita Wild and a win over the faltering Kansas Koyotes rounded out the regular season. The Law finished with an 8–4 record, 4th best in the league and good enough to put the team in the playoffs. They lost their semi-final game to eventual league champion Wichita Wild 33–31.
2015
The Law slipped in their first CIF game, losing 63–68 to the Amarillo Venom, but quickly regrouped and won their next six consecutive games before another late April loss to the Venom. These losses proved to be costly as they failed to make the playoffs at 7–5, while the Venom, who got the last spot in the playoffs, were also 7–5.
2016
2017
On June 2, 2017, the CIF stripped the law of two victories without awarding them to any other team. Reports from other teams and a subsequent investigation found that the Law were in violation of the league's operations manual and guidelines pertaining to uploading video in a timely manner. When asked about the decision, commissioner Ricky Bertz stated, "While this situation was unfortunate and no one in the CIF including the Dodge City Law wanted this to be the final outcome, the board of directors decided that this was what was best for the league given the circumstances and how they related to all team members involved."[3] Ultimately, the team finished with a loss to the Duke City Gladiators in Albuquerque, and a record of 7–5 after the penalty but still made the playoffs. They then lost in the first round at the home of the eventual postseason champions Texas Revolution 59–63.
After the season ended, it was reported that the owners owed refunds to several ticket holders for the first round playoff game that was originally scheduled to be in Dodge City prior to receiving the league penalty.[4] Two days later, owner Sean Ponder posted that the Law had left the CIF.[5]
Statistics and records
Season-by-season results
Note: The Finish, Wins, Losses, and Ties columns list regular season results and exclude any postseason play.
| League Champions | Conference Champions | Division Champions | Wild Card Berth | League Leader |
| Season | Team | League | Conference | Division | Regular season | Postseason Results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | Wins | Losses | Ties | ||||||||
| 2014 | 2014 | CPIFL | 4th | 8 | 4 | 0 | Lost Semifinals (Wichita) 31–33 | ||||
| 2015 | 2015 | CIF | 5th | 7 | 5 | 0 | |||||
| 2016 | 2016 | CIF | Southern | 3rd | 8 | 4 | 0 | Lost South Divisional (Amarillo) 56–98 | |||
| 2017 | 2017 | CIF | South | 3rd | 9 | 3 | 0 | Lost South Divisional (Texas) 59–63 | |||
| Totals | 32 | 16 | 0 | All-time regular season record (2014–2017) | |||||||
| 0 | 3 | — | All-time postseason record (2014–2017) | ||||||||
| 32 | 19 | 0 | All-time regular season and postseason record (2014–2017) | ||||||||
Final roster
| Dodge City Law Roster | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Quarterbacks
Running backs
Wide receivers
|
Offensive linemen
Defensive linemen
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Linebackers
Defensive backs
Special teams
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Reserve lists
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Vs. opponent
| Opponent | Overall | Home | Away | Post. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amarillo Venom | (0-2) | (0-1) | (0-1) | (0-0) |
| Duke City Gladiators | (1-0) | (0-0) | (1-0) | (0-0) |
| Kansas Koyotes | (2-0) | (1-0) | (1-0) | (0-0) |
| Lincoln Haymakers | (1-0) | (1-0) | (0-0) | (0-0) |
| Oklahoma Defenders | (1-1) | (0-1) | (1-0) | (0-0) |
| Omaha Beef | (4-0) | (2-0) | (2-0) | (0-0) |
| Salina Bombers | (2-2) | (1-1) | (1-1) | (0-0) |
| San Angelo Bandits | (1-0) | (0-0) | (1-0) | (0-0) |
| Sioux City Bandits | (1-1) | (1-1) | (0-0) | (0-0) |
| Texas Revolution | (1-0) | (1-0) | (0-0) | (0-0) |
| Wichita Force | (1-0) | (0-0) | (0-1) | (0-0) |
| Wichita Wild | (0-3) | (0-1) | (0-2) | (0-1) |
Awards and honors
- 2014 CPIFL Franchise of the Year
- 2014 CPIFL Best Game Ops, On-Field Promotion/Dance Team
References
- Curtis, John (October 16, 2014). "Law announce 2015 season schedule". Dodge City Daily Globe. Dodge City, KS: GateHouse Media. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
- "United Wireless Arena offering Arena Football for 2014". Dodge City Daily Globe. Dodge City, KS: GateHouse Media. September 25, 2013. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
- "Champions Indoor Football Issues Penalties to Member Team". CIF. June 2, 2017.
- "CIF concerned fans may be owed money by Dodge City franchise". KWCH. July 8, 2017.
- "The Dodge City Law leave CIF League". KWCH. July 10, 2017.