Wheeling Wildcats - Franchise History

Franchise History

In March 2008, it was announced that indoor football would be returning to Wheeling, West Virginia. Owner Dave Bender was debating on putting the team in Elmira, New York, but when he saw the opportunity to Wheeling, he couldn't pass it up. Bender also cited that the location of teams in the league were a large part of why the Wildcats joined the CIFL. The team tried to establish rivalries, challenging the Rochester Raiders to play the Wildcats in the Raiders' first home game. However, the Raiders have since left the CIFL for the newly-established Indoor Football League, leaving the challenged unanswerable. In August, the team announced the signing of head coach Shawn Liotta, who had been coaching the Erie RiverRats of the American Indoor Football Association. In December 2008, the Wildcats announced the signing of former University of Pittsburgh standout quarterback, Rod Rutherford. The team also signed former NFL and Arena Football League player, Robb Butler to play receiver. With both Rutherford and Butler player together for Liotta in Erie the year before, the team's offense had high expectations. The Wildcats, as well as the rest of the CIFL, had an opportunity to get a higher caliber player in 2009, as the Arena Football League suspending it's 2010 season. The reason that many of the AFL players did not make it onto the Wildcats roster was largely due to the players wanting more money than the CIFL would allow.

The Wildcats inaugural season began with a 55-47 road loss to the Marion Mayhem. Two weeks later, the Wildcats played their first home game against the Fort Wayne Freedom. The Freedom offense put on a good display, scoring on every drive except one, in route to defeating the Wildcats 49-34. The following week the Chicago Slaughter came to WesBanco Arena. The undefeated Slaughter had signed several of the Chicago Rush's players who were looking for a place to play with the AFL suspension. The Slaughter defeated the Wildcats 67-59. Four weeks into their season, the Wildcats were 0-4, and faced the also winless Miami Valley Silverbacks. The Wildcats were able to workout their first win against the traveling Silverbacks. The Wildcats would defeat the Silverbacks again three weeks later to make their record 2-6. The Wildcats lost their remaining 4 games of the season to Marion, Rock River, Fort Wayne and Wisconsin. Despite having a good roster, including several NFL, AFL and division one college players, and David Dinkins (who had previously played for AIFA teams in Erie, Pennsylvania, and won the 2005 AIFA MVP), the Wildcats went 2-10 and folded after one season. Liotta, Rutherford and Dinkins returned to Erie in 2010.