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2019 LFL US season

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2019 LFL United States
DurationApril 5, 2019 – August 10, 2019
Legends Cup
DateSeptember 7, 2019
VenueAccesso ShoWare Center, Kent, Washington
ChampionsSeattle Mist
Seasons
← 2018 US

The 2019 LFL US season was the 10th and final season of the Legends Football League (LFL) in the United States. It began April 5 and concluded on August 10.[1]

Developments

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Shortly after the 2018 season ended, the LFL originally elected to hold the 2019 Legends Cup in South Africa's capital city of Johannesburg at Ellis Park Arena.[2] However, this never took place.

In November 2018, defending champion Chicago Bliss head coach Keith Hac and his entire coaching staff resigned in protest of league policies and decisions. Three weeks later the league hired Danville coach JaDae Maguire as a replacement. Maguire did not mesh well with the Bliss and his tenure was short before a new coach, Sidney Lewis, was brought in. In addition to retirements at the end of the previous season, Chicago saw an exodus of many remaining players leaving them with only four returning starters. Chicago would finish the season 0–4, their worst record ever and only their second losing record, and failed to make the playoffs for only the second time ever.

On December 21, 2018, Chris Michaelson, who previously served as the head coach of the Seattle Mist, returned to that franchise as head coach once again. He spent the 2018 season serving as offensive coordinator of the upstart Nashville Knights. For the purpose of rebuilding the Mist franchise to its previous form, Michaelson replaced interim coach Eric Bellamy, who had been named the Mist's interim coach for 2018 after Michelson's supposed retirement in the off-season following a Legends Cup-winning season in 2017. Michaelson previously served as the Mist head coach from 2009 to 2017, leading that franchise to two Legends Cup championship titles.[3][4]

In early 2019, the LFL announced a new broadcast partner in Honduran television network TDTV.[5]

On June 19, 2019, the league announced a change in the playoff format. Instead of the two best teams from each conference playing for their respective conference titles, the league would abandon the conference titles and pit the top four teams with the best records in an elimination tournament. The team with the best record would play the team with the fourth best record while the teams with the second and third best records would play one another. The immediate effect of this change mid-season was to scramble the playoff standings; Chicago was immediately statistically eliminated, Omaha, which had needed only a victory over winless Denver, suddenly needed to also defeat Atlanta, and Los Angeles could still make the playoffs if Austin beat Nashville in the regular season finale.

Teams

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Eastern Conference

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Team Arena City
Atlanta Steam Infinite Energy Arena Duluth, Georgia
Chicago Bliss Sears Centre Hoffman Estates, Illinois
Nashville Knights Nashville Municipal Auditorium Nashville, Tennessee
Omaha Heart Ralston Arena Ralston, Nebraska

Western Conference

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Team Arena City
Austin Acoustic H-E-B Center Cedar Park, Texas
Denver Dream Budweiser Events Center Loveland, Colorado
Los Angeles Temptation Toyota Arena Ontario, California
Seattle Mist Accesso ShoWare Center Kent, Washington

LFL Pro Bowl Eastern Western

Schedule

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Regular season

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Date[6] Visitor Home Venue Score Reference
Friday, April 5, 2019 Seattle Mist Los Angeles Temptation Citizens Business Bank Arena Seattle 34
Los Angeles 19
[7]
Saturday, April 20 Atlanta Steam Chicago Bliss Sears Centre Arena Atlanta 30
Chicago 8
[8]
Friday, April 26 Los Angeles Temptation Denver Dream Budweiser Event Center Los Angeles 47
Denver 18
[9]
Saturday, May 4 Chicago Bliss Austin Acoustic H-E-B Center Austin 38
Chicago 8
[10][11]
Saturday, May 11 Omaha Heart Seattle Mist Accesso ShoWare Center Omaha 6
Seattle 70
[12]
Friday, May 17 Atlanta Steam Los Angeles Temptation Citizens Business Bank Arena Atlanta 33
L.A. 34
Saturday, June 1 Nashville Knights Omaha Heart Ralston Arena Nashville 25
Omaha 49
Saturday, June 8 Seattle Mist Denver Dream Budweiser Event Center Seattle 62
Denver 22
Saturday, June 15 Chicago Bliss Atlanta Steam Infinite Energy Arena Chicago 25
Atlanta 30
Saturday, June 22 Denver Dream Nashville Knights Nashville Municipal Auditorium Denver 12
Nashville 14
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Saturday, June 29 Austin Acoustic Seattle Mist Accesso ShoWare Center Austin 36
Seattle 34
Saturday, July 13 Denver Dream Omaha Heart Ralston Arena Denver 13
Omaha 32
Saturday, July 20 Nashville Knights Chicago Bliss Sears Centre Arena Nashville 8
Chicago 6
Saturday, July 27 Los Angeles Temptation Austin Acoustic H-E-B Center Los Angeles 26
Austin 33
Saturday, August 3 Omaha Heart Atlanta Steam Infinite Energy Arena Omaha 14
Atlanta 50
Saturday, August 10 Austin Acoustic Nashville Knights Nashville Municipal Auditorium Austin 20
Nashville 18

Postseason

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Date Visitor Home Venue Score
Playoff Semi-Finals
Saturday, August 24 Los Angeles Temptation Austin Acoustic Toyota Arena, Ontario, California Los Angeles 39

Austin 29

Atlanta Steam Seattle Mist Seattle 38

Atlanta 14

Legends Cup 2019
Saturday, September 7 Los Angeles Temptation Seattle Mist Accesso ShoWare Center, Kent, Washington Seattle 56

Los Angeles 20

Showcase Game

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Date Visitor Home Venue Score
Saturday, November 16 Los Angeles Temptation Austin Acoustic Mexico City Arena, Azcapotzalco, Mexico City, Mexico Cancelled

Standings

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Team W L Pct PF PA Net Pts TD's Home Record Home Pct Road Record Road Pct GB
x-Austin Acoustic 4 0 1.000 127 86 41 19 2–0 1.000 2–0 1.000
x-Seattle Mist 3 1 .750 200 83 117 32 1–1 .500 2–0 1.000 1
x-Atlanta Steam 3 1 .750 143 81 62 20 2–0 1.000 1–1 .500
x-Los Angeles Temptation 2 2 .500 126 119 7 19 1–1 .500 1–1 .500 2
Omaha Heart 2 2 .500 101 158 -57 a 14 2–0 1.000 0–2 .000
Nashville Knights 2 2 .500 65 87 -22 a 10 1–1 .500 1–1 .500
Chicago Bliss 0 4 .000 47 106 -59 7 0–2 .000 0–2 .000 4
Denver Dream 0 4 .000 65 154 -89 10 0–2 .000 0–2 .000

x - clinched playoff berth

Playoffs

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Semifinals were played on August 24, 2019, at Toyota Arena in Ontario, California. Legends Cup 2019 was played on September 7, 2019, at the Accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington, instead of South Africa as originally planned. In the 2018 State of the League address delivered by Commissioner Mitchell Mortaza, the 2020 Legends Cup was expected to be the first of upcoming Legends Cups to be played abroad in international destinations; however, that was scrapped when the league decided not to hold its next season.[2][14] The schedule on LFLUS.com was updated on June 19, 2019, to show the Legends Cup had been moved. On the same day, the league announced the playoff format would change, with the conference championship title removed. Instead, the top teams from both conference would be ranked 1–4, with 1st facing 4th and 2nd facing 3rd.

Semifinals Legends Cup
      
Seed 1 Austin 29
Seed 4 Los Angeles 39
Los Angeles 20
Seattle 56
Seed 2 Seattle 38
Seed 3 Atlanta 14

Awards

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League MVP

  • Amber Clark - Atlanta Steam
  • Miriah Lopez - Los Angeles Temptation
  • Jade Randle - Seattle Mist
  • Stevi Schnoor - Seattle Mist

Offensive Player of the Year

  • Kassandra Bills - Austin Acoustic
  • ChrisDell Harris - Austin Acoustic
  • Miriah Lopez - Los Angeles Temptation
  • Stevi Schnoor - Seattle Mist

Team of the Year

  • Austin Acoustic
  • Omaha Heart
  • Nashville Knights
  • Seattle Mist

Defensive Player of the Year

  • Alli Alberts - Seattle Mist
  • Amber Clark - Atlanta Steam
  • Britney Dowdy - Austic Acoustic
  • Jade Randle - Seattle Mist

Coach of the Year

  • Dontae Allen / Cale Good - Omaha Heart
  • Yuri Howard - Nashville Knights
  • Chris Michaelson - Seattle Mist
  • Mike Olvera - Austin Acoustic

Coaching Staff of the Year

  • Atlanta Steam
  • Austin Acoustic
  • Nashville Knights
  • Seattle Mist

In The Trenches (Line)

  • Lindsey Burse - Omaha Heart
  • Britney Dowdy - Austic Acoustic
  • Lauren Jay - Omaha Heart
  • Dina Wojowski - Atlanta Steam

Rookie of the Year

  • Lauren Crouch - Omaha Heart
  • Nicole Hulce - Atlanta Steam
  • Bre Mosley - Nashville Knights
  • Emma Vanderheyden - Chicago Bliss

Mortaza Award

  • Jessica Bateman - Austin Acoustic
  • Lindsi Cash - Los Angeles Temptation
  • Nicole Curry - Denver Dream
  • Austina Mellberg - Nashville Knights

True 8th Man Award

  • Jessica Bateman - Austin Acoustic
  • Mike McGhee - Seattle Mist
  • Jessica Robinson - Atlanta Steam

2015 LFL Hall of Fame Induction - Danika Brace

Notes

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1. ^ ^ Omaha finished ahead of Nashville in the standings as a result of their 49-25 head-to-head victory on June 1, 2019.

References

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  1. ^ "Legends Football League - Women of the Gridiron". Legends Football League. Archived from the original on 2016-08-01. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
  2. ^ a b "Legends Cup 2019 to be Played in Johannesburg South Africa"[permanent dead link]. LFL360.com. October 5, 2018. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
  3. ^ "HALL OF FAME COACH, CHRIS MICHAELSON, RETURNS TO THE SEATTLE MIST" (Press release). Legends Football League. December 21, 2018.[permanent dead link] Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  4. ^ "LFL's HISTORIC OPENER TO FEATURE ICONIC MATCH-UP OF SEATTLE vs LOS ANGELES" (Press release). Legends Football League. April 2019.[permanent dead link] Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  5. ^ “TDTV SCORED EXCLUSIVE LFL BROADCAST RIGHTS IN HONDURAS”[permanent dead link]. LFL360.com. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  6. ^ 2019-printable-schedule.pdf[permanent dead link]. LFLUS.com Retrieved 2018-12-17.
  7. ^ "SEATTLE AVOIDS TEMPTATION, OPENS SEASON WITH A 34-19 ROAD WIN"[permanent dead link]. LFL360.com. April 22, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  8. ^ "THE TABLES HAVE TURNED IN CHICAGO-ATLANTA RIVALRY, STEAM HANDLE BLISS, 30-8"[permanent dead link]. LFL360.com. April 28, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  9. ^ "IMPROVED DENVER DREAM STILL NO MATCH FOR LA’S SECOND HALF OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION, TEMPTATION WIN 47-18"[permanent dead link]. LFL360.com. May 6, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  10. ^ "THE HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED REBUILT OMAHA HEART, SET FOR BIG ROAD TEST IN SEATTLE"[permanent dead link]. LFL360.com. May 9, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  11. ^ "DESPITE UGLY PERFORMANCE BY AUSTIN QUARTERBACK MICHELLE ANGEL, ACOUSTIC HANDLE BLISS 38-8"[permanent dead link]. LFL360.com. May 13, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  12. ^ "LAUREN CROUCH IS WELCOMED TO THE LFL, AS MIST HAND HEART 70-6 BLOWOUT LOSS"[permanent dead link]. LFL360.com. May 19, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  13. ^ "NASHVILLE SURVIVES AND KEEPS PLAYOFF HOPES ALIVE DEFEATING DENVER 14-12"[permanent dead link]. LFL360.com. June 29, 2019. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  14. ^ Mortaza, Mitchell (September 24, 2018). "LFL, STATE OF THE LEAGUE 2018"[permanent dead link]. LFL360.com. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
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