Lincoln Capitols

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lincoln Lightning logo
Lincoln Lightning logo

The Lincoln Capitols were a professional indoor football team that played their home games at Pershing Auditorium in Lincoln, Nebraska. They originally planned on becoming the Nebraska Knockout, but the name was scrapped. From 1999 to 2000, they were the Lincoln Lightning of the Indoor Football League before the IFL was bought out. The Lightning then played in the Arena Football's farm league during the 2001 season, before leaving the league and joining the NIFL as the Capitols. However, after only one season, the franchise folded. During their four-year run, the franchise's most prominent player was a former Nebraska Cornhusker running back named Damon Benning and the franchise's owner was Scott Atkins.

This team in Lincoln has been a pushover for most of the team's history, despite being successful in the regular season. They are the only team to lose in two shutouts, a rarity in the NIFL

The league, hoping to kill off their APFL competition and make the Capitols better, talked with the St. Joseph Storm of the APFL and interested them in merging with the Lincoln Capitols and becoming the St. Joseph Storm. The team was still bad and was later bought by the league and made a traveling team. The end result was prospective owners saw NIFL as a league to avoid which was a major factor in the league's problems in 2007.

[edit] Season-By-Season

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties

Season W L T Finish Playoff results
Lincoln Lightning (IFL)
1999 7 5 0 1st Southern Lost Semifinal (Green Bay)
2000 10 4 0 2nd Southern Lost Round 1 (Sioux City)
Lincoln Lightning (af2)
2001 6 10 0 7th NC Midwestern --
Lincoln Capitols (NIFL)
2002 10 4 0 1st Pacific Northern Lost Round 1 (Billings)
2003 9 5 0 2nd Pacific Northern --
2004 3 11 0 4th Pacific Northern --
2005 1 13 0 5th Pacific Western --
Lincoln Capitols/St. Joe Cyclones
2006 0 14 0 3rd Pacific Western --
Totals 46 69 0 (including playoffs)

[edit] External links

Defunct af2 teams
Augusta Stallions | Bakersfield Blitz | Baton Rouge Blaze | Carolina Rhinos | Charleston Swamp Foxes | Cincinnati Swarm | Columbus Wardogs | Everett Hawks | Fresno Frenzy | Fort Wayne Fusion | Greensboro Prowlers | Hawaiian Islanders | Jacksonville Tomcats | Lafayette Roughnecks | Laredo Law | Laredo Lobos | Lincoln Lightning | Macon Knights | Memphis Xplorers | Mobile Wizards | New Haven Ninjas | Norfolk Nighthawks | Pensacola Barracudas | Richmond Speed | Roanoke Steam | Rochester Brigade | San Diego Riptide | Tallahassee Thunder | Wichita Stealth
Related Articles: Arena Football League | af2 | Arena football | Indoor football