Trenton Freedom
The Trenton Freedom was a professional indoor football team based in Trenton, New Jersey. The Freedom were a member of the Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL).[1] The Freedom began play in 2014 as an expansion member of the PIFL. The Freedom played their home games at the Sun National Bank Center.
| Trenton Freedom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Established 2013 Folded 2015 Played in Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, New Jersey | ||
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| League/conference affiliations | ||
Professional Indoor Football League (2014–2015)
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| Team colors | Red, Silver, Blue, White | |
| Mascot | General George | |
| Personnel | ||
| Owner(s) | Dennis Williams Michael Schubiger | |
| President | Dennis Williams | |
| General manager | Jeff Gonos | |
| Head coach | Kevin O’Hanlon | |
| Team history | ||
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| Championships | ||
| League championships (0) | ||
| Conference championships (0) | ||
| Division championships (0) | ||
| Playoff appearances (1) | ||
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| Home arena(s) | ||
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Franchise history
2014
In August 2013, Owners Dennis Williams and Michael Schubiger announced their intentions to bring an indoor football team back to Trenton, New Jersey.[2] The owners held name the team contest, and picked the name "Freedom," as well as named Adam Turkel to be the team's first head coach and general manager.[2] When looking for a league to play in, Williams and Schubiger both were lobbying to become members of the Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL).[2] In September, the team officially became the 7th member of the PIFL for the 2014 season.[3] In November 2013, the team announced that they were replacing Turkel with Kevin O'Hanlon as the team's inaugural coach.
The Freedom began their inaugural season on March 30, 2014 at home, defeating the Richmond Raiders 52–17. Quarterback Warren Smith threw for four touchdowns and ran for two more. Defensive Back Domonic Joseph was named PIFL Defensive Player of the Week. The Freedom lost their first road game, 48–47 at the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks. Wide receiver Antoine Rivera caught 13 passes for 132 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
The Freedom rebounded in their second home game for a 66–63 win over the Columbus Lions. The Freedom suffered their second road loss, 42–36 at Lehigh Valley April 26, but linebacker Jeffery Morgan earned the franchise's second PIFL Defensive Player of the Week honor by scoring a pair of touchdowns. Success continued at home May 3, as the Freedom rallied with 16 points in the last two minutes to edge Richmond, 33–32, with Marques Slocum earning PIFL Defensive Player of the Week. The winning trend at home continued May 11 with a 52–39 triumph over the Harrisburg Stampede as William Hollis was named PIFL Defensive Player of the week, the team's third straight selection.
With a 52–42 win at Richmond, May 17, the Freedom recorded the franchise's first-ever road victory. The following week, back at home, the Freedom avenged two earlier losses to Lehigh Valley with a 55–42 victory to push their record to a PIFL-best 6–2 atop the National Conference.
The Freedom, with a 57–49 win at Harrisburg June 7, clinched a PIFL playoff berth in its first season in moving to 7–2.
With a 49–47 comeback win over the defending PIFL champion Alabama Hammers June 14, the Freedom clinched the regular-season National Conference title and a home playoff game in the franchise's first season.
The Freedom dropped a 52–49 decision to the Georgia Fire in the team's final regular-season home game.[4]
The Freedom finished the regular season with an 8–4 record, the 2nd best in the league, but were defeated by the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks in the National Conference Championship Game by a score of 49–38.[5]
2015
On August 26, 2015, the Freedom announced that they wouldn't be returning to play in 2016.
Players of note
Final roster
| Trenton Freedom roster | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Quarterbacks
Running backs Wide receivers
|
Offensive linemen
Defensive linemen
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Linebackers
Defensive backs
Kickers
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Injured reserve
Exempt list
Failure to report
Left squad
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Awards and honors
The following is a list of all Freedom players who won league awards:
| Season | Player | Position | Award |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Roger Jackson | WR | Offensive Rookie of the Year |
| 2014 | Warren Smith | QB | Most Valuable Player |
| 2015 | Jerome Hayes | LB | Defensive Player of the Year |
All-League players
The following Freedom players were named to All-League Teams:
- QB Warren Smith
- FB Melik Brown (2)
- WR Richie Martin
- OL Lavon McCoy (2), Malcolm Speller
- DL Gerrard Bryant, Michael Atunarse
- LB Jerome Hayes
- DB Mike McMillian
- Iron-man Melik Brown (2)
Head coaches
| Name | Term | Regular season | Playoffs | Awards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | Win% | W | L | |||
| Kevin O'Hanlon | 2014–2015 | 14 | 10 | 0 | .583 | 0 | 1 | |
Coaching staff
| Trenton Freedom staff | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Front Office
Head Coach
Offensive Coaches
|
Defensive Coaches
| |||||
Season-by-season results
| 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 | PIFL | National | 1st | 8 | 4 | 0 | Lost National Conference Title 39-43 vs. (Lehigh Valley) | |||
| 2015 | 2015 | PIFL | 5th | 6 | 6 | 0 | |||||
| Totals | 14 | 10 | 0 | All-time regular season record (2014–2015) | |||||||
| 0 | 1 | - | All-time postseason record (2014–2015) | ||||||||
| 14 | 11 | 0 | All-time regular season and postseason record (2014–2015) | ||||||||
References
- Hester, Matthew. "PIFL Sinks Their Fangs Into Nashville." Professional Indoor Football League. November 11, 2013. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
- Jenna Pizzi (September 17, 2013). "Trenton Freedom looks to join Professional Indoor Football League". www.nj.com. New Jersey On-Line LLC. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- "Trenton Freedom join PIFL". www.nj.com. New Jersey On-Line LLC. September 20, 2013. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- George O'Gorman (May 4, 2014). "Freedom hoping to keep momentum going from huge comeback". www.trentonian.com. The Trentonian. Retrieved May 5, 2014.
- "Trenton Freedom come up short in playoff loss to Lehigh Valley". www.nj.com. New Jersey On-Line LLC. July 6, 2014. Retrieved July 7, 2014.