The Arena Football League conference championship games will be played on Sunday, August 10, the League office announced today.
The American Conference Championship Game between the East Division champion Cleveland Gladiators (17-1) and South Division champion Orlando Predators (11-7) will kickoff at 3:00 p.m. ET in “NET10 Wireless Arena Football” action on CBS Sports Network. The National Conference Championship Game between the West Division champion Arizona Rattlers (15-3) and Pacific Division champion San Jose SaberCats (13-5) will follow at 8:00 p.m. ET in “NET10 Wireless AFL” action on ESPN2.
The Cleveland Gladiators will be making their first conference championship appearance since 2008. The AFL’s version of the “Kardiac Kids” orchestrated yet another dramatic victory in the AFL Quarterfinals, knocking out the two-time defending American Conference champion Philadelphia Soul (9-9), 39-37, on a game-winning 36-yard field goal as time expired. It was Cleveland’s sixth win of the year on the final play of the game and their third win over Philadelphia on the last play of regulation. Cleveland would host ArenaBowl XXVII with a win over the Predators this weekend. The Gladiators have never played in the ArenaBowl.
The Orlando Predators defeated the Pittsburgh Power (15-3), 56-48, in the AFL Quarterfinals to advance to their first conference championship appearance since 2010. However, Predators quarterback Bernard Morris will be making his third consecutive trip to the game, having led the Jacksonville Sharks to the American Conference title contest in 2012 and 2013. An Orlando victory in the American Conference Championship Game would secure the Predators first ArenaBowl berth since 2006.
The Arizona Rattlers survived a scare from the wildcard Portland Thunder (5-13) in the AFL Quarterfinals, advancing to the National Conference Championship Game for the fourth consecutive year with a 52-48 win. Arizona is looking to become the first AFL team to three-peat as ArenaBowl champions since the Detroit Drive won three straight titles from 1988-1990. In order to do that, the Rattlers will have to defeat their greatest rival, the San Jose SaberCats. Arizona has knocked San Jose out of the playoffs in the Quarterfinal round each of the last two seasons.
The San Jose SaberCats looked the part of a championship team in the AFL Quarterfinals, soundly defeating last year’s National Conference runner-up, the Spokane Shock (11-7), 55-28. With the win, the SaberCats advanced to the conference title game for the first time since 2008. In order to vie for the franchise’s first ArenaBowl title since 2007, San Jose will need to defeat the two-time defending AFL champion Arizona Rattlers. San Jose holds the lead over the Rattlers in the all-time series, boasting a 19-18 record against Arizona in the regular season and going 4-3 against the Rattlers in the playoffs; however, two of those three postseason losses have come in the last two years.
The two teams that come out victorious on Sunday will square off against each other in ArenaBowl XXVII in front of a national television audience at 8:00 p.m. ET Saturday, August 23 on ESPN. If the Gladiators win, the game will be played at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. If the Predators win, the winner of the National Conference Championship Game will host ArenaBowl XXVII.
Article provided by arenafootball.com.