On November 4, 2018 the Midwest Football Alliance (MFA) held their annual owners meeting in Des Moines, Iowa. The Chillicothe Swarm was represented by team administrators J. Saucedo, Adam Brown and a few other members of the coaching staff.
MFA owners and administrators reviewed the past season, dissected and discussed rules, policies and entertained expansion team presentations, for the 2019 season.
This year, teams voted to keep the 2018 NFL game rules, gave business and football related presentations and accepted a new franchise out of Rockford, Illinois, the Quad City Nighthawks.
Finally, the owners entered discussions on host cities for the 2019 league championship and all-star games. These games typically land in places like Kansas City, Des Moines and Omaha because of the big city vibe, facilities, hotels, retail and restaurant chains available to a sporting event like this. League President, Tyrone Tyler, brought the question to the table and opened the floor for discussion. The owners voted for the Championship game to be held in Des Moines for 2019 and then the subject of the league all-star game was on deck. “In the past,” Tyler says, “We’ve held these games in larger markets, does anybody have a recommendation or want to throw their city into the hat?”
After a moment of silence as everyone looked around the room at each other, Duane Baily of the Missouri Valley Pitbulls said “How about Chillicothe?” The St. Louis based management sited that the first-rate facilities at Jerry Litton Memorial Stadium would make for a superb location. A member of the Kansas City Bulldogs staff seconded the idea and began naming their favorite Chillicothe restaurants visited when playing the Swarm on the road. The new Illinois team recognized that Chillicothe’s physical location is in the center of the league’s cities, which would produce fair and equal travel for all players selected to play in the game. After two full seasons of Swarm football, everyone in the MFA has played on the road in Chillicothe at least once and all talked about how well they were received by the community. After a vote, Chillicothe was unanimously selected to be the host city for the 2019 Midwest Football Alliance All-Star game.
Later, Duane Baily of the St. Louis based Pitbulls said, “Our (first) impression of Chillicothe’s home field and facilities was above and beyond expectations. We knew just seeing the stadium that we were going against a professional and talented team. It just felt right to have the All-Star game in Chillicothe.”
“I love the idea of bringing our league’s best players to Chillicothe.” Said league president Tyler, “We’ve been to Kansas City, St. Louis and Des Moines it’s time to visit a smaller market. Football fans are everywhere and Chillicothe has a beautiful facility for the game. We’re hoping we get families, friends, student athletes and anyone who loves the game of football to come out and meet our players and see an action packed game.”
Hornets Head Football Coach, Tim Rulo, was also excited to hear the news. “It is another great example of people outside of Chillicothe realizing how great a football town Chillicothe is and always has been”, said Rulo. “So excited for people from around the Midwest to come and visit Chillicothe and interact with this amazing community. Excited for the business it will generate as well. Another opportunity for Chillicothe to shine!”
The Quad City Nighthawks will come to Jerry Litton Memorial Stadium and challenge the Swarm, to kickoff the 2019 Midwest Football Alliance season, on May 4. The 2019 All-Star game will be held on August 31, and kickoff time and tickets will be available at a later date.
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2019 Swarm All-Star selection, Dillon Triplet out of Trenton High School and Baker University, runs through a tackle in the 2018 MFA All-Star Game held on September 8, 2018 in Des Moines, IA.