Daytona Beach is hosting a professional football game.
The United Football League desperately searched for a Central Florida location for the Orlando Storm’s opening playoff game against the DC Defenders. When it found no such luck, it struck a deal for the top-seeded Storm and fourth-seeded Defenders to play on a neutral field in Columbus, Ohio, before pivoting for the final time.
On June 1, the UFL announced its decision to host the game at Bethune-Cookman University’s home field, Daytona Stadium. The Storm approve.
“It’s a great location, it is close, and we’re fired up about it. It’s awesome,” head coach Anthony Becht said. “Listen, if we had to play in Columbus, I made that statement about, ‘Yeah, we’ll play anywhere,’ because that was what we had. I can’t control the uncontrollable, right? But I’m ecstatic about it. Our players are fired up. I told them on the bus after the game. They were juiced, man.”
Orlando was already the best team in the UFL, the professional spring football league resulting from the merger of the XFL and the United States Football League. The Storm finished the regular season 8-2, two games clear of the St. Louis Battlehawks and Louisville Kings.
Orlando is led by MVP frontrunner and the league’s leading passer Jack Plummer, who’s thrown for 2,188 yards, 17 touchdowns and just one interception. This will be the franchise’s first playoff game in its inaugural season.
“It was great that they were able to find a venue — not too far away from Orlando as well, which is awesome,” Plummer said. “We’re definitely looking forward to playing in front of our home fans, and hopefully we have a good turnout.”
Daytona Stadium holds approximately 10,000 spectators. It sits less than 50 minutes from the Storm’s home at Inter&Co Stadium, which was unavailable this weekend due to prior commitments.
“Mike Repole is our owner, and he’s the one that had to get this thing to happen,” Becht said. “… His passion to get this done for the football team, for the city, to make something work where it’s close and the fans can still be there, man, I commend them. That’s like true leadership at the top.”
While the venue is unfamiliar, the opponent is not.
Orlando closed its final two games of the regular season with 27-19 and 29-23 victories over the reigning-champion Defenders on May 22 and May 31, respectively, setting up a third consecutive meeting between the two. The Storm held DC under 200 passing yards in both contests, but Orlando also allowed more than 200 rushing yards in both instances.
It’s something Becht would like to see improved when the two squads take the field at 3 p.m. on June 7.
“We got to stop the run, man. Last week, it was QB responsibilities. This week, guess what it is? QB responsibilities. We can’t let this guy out of the pocket.” Becht said. “… That run game right now has been keeping them around, and we have to find a way to shut that down. And I’m confident that we will do that this week, and our guys will figure that out and get that done.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Orlando Storm prepare for UFL playoff game in Daytona Beach: ‘We’re fired up’
Reporting by Zach Allen, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
