Southern Steam

Southern Steam
Founded 2013
Current season 2017
League X-League (2014)
AIF (2015–2016)
EIF (2017–present)
Division Southern (2016)
Team history Pennsylvania Steam (2014)
Savannah Steam (2014–2016)
Southern Steam (2017–present)
Based in Reading, Pennsylvania (2014)
Richmond Hill, Georgia (2014–2015)
Savannah, Georgia (2016)
Statesboro, Georgia (2017–present)
Arena DeVaul Henderson Park (2015)
Savannah Civic Center (2016)
Colors Red, White, Black, Grey
                   
Owner(s) Bobby Dammarell
Head coach Bobby Dammarell
General manager Jenny Dammarell
Championships (1) (2017)
Playoff berths (2) (2016, 2017)
Website steamindoorfootball.com

The Southern Steam are a professional indoor football team based in Statesboro, Georgia. The Steam are currently a member of Elite Indoor Football (EIF) for 2017.

The Steam joined X-League Indoor Football in 2013, as the Pennsylvania Steam based in Reading, Pennsylvania. Midway through the 2014 season, the Steam were sold to a Georgia ownership group, who moved the franchise to Savannah during the regular season. Following the 2014 season, the Steam joined American Indoor Football (AIF) for the 2015 season. After the 2016 season, the AIF folded leaving the Steam to search for a new league.

The Steam played their home games at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Arena at the Savannah Civic Center. However, the City of Savannah stated in 2016 that the Steam could not return unless they pay all money owed to the city prior to returning. They began playing in nearby Statesboro instead, first outdoors and then in a converted warehouse for 2017 as the Southern Steam.

Franchise history

Pennsylvania Steam logo
Savannah Steam logo

It was announced in October 2013, that the Pennsylvania Steam would be joining X-League Indoor Football for its inaugural 2014 season, playing their home games at Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania under head coach Shane Houser.[1]

2014 season

After playing one road game as the Pennsylvania Steam, the franchise was sold by Missouri Sports Holdings to an ownership group led by Bobby Dammarell in Savannah, Georgia. The team played their remaining three road games as the Savannah Steam, while the four home games that were scheduled to take place in Reading, Pennsylvania were cancelled and counted as wins for the opposing teams.[2][3][4]

2015 season

It was announced in December 2014, that the Savannah Steam were joining American Indoor Football for the 2015 season, playing their home games at Tiger Arena.[5] However, the Steam eventually played their home games at DeVaul Henderson Park, an outdoor park in Richmond Hill, Georgia. They finished the regular season 5-2, failing to qualify for the playoffs.

2016 season

For 2016, the Steam announced that they would be playing at the Savannah Civic Center.[6] The team would run into severe financial troubles during this season with over $20,000 owed in rent for the use of the Civic Center and several unpaid sponsors. Eventually, the unpaid sponsors took their claims to the local sheriff's department in order to initiate an investigation and obtain the fees they were owed.[7] In June 2016, general manager Jenny Dammarrel, wife of owner/head coach Bobby Dammarrel, first filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy and then was later jailed after being charged with deposit account fraud for bad checks issued to players and staff.[8] Despite the 2016 season's financial difficulties, a 3-5 record, and no wins over another AIF team (one forfeit win, one loss reversed based on ineligible players, and one win over a local semi-professional team), the Steam were still invited to the AIF playoffs against the Florida Tarpons. The Steam replaced the Myrtle Beach Freedom when the Freedom were asked to play against the West Michigan Ironmen when they lost their playoff opponent.

2017 season

On July 18, 2016, the AIF announced it had ceased operations. On August 4, the Steam announced they were accepted into the new Elite Indoor Football.[9] In fact, Elite Indoor Football is based at the same office in the Savannah suburb of Ellabell[10] and its president is Robert Dammarell,[11] also owner of the Steam, indicating that (like the Cape Fear Heroes did in creating Supreme Indoor Football) Dammarell and the Steam created their own league.

On August 17, 2016, the City of Savannah made it clear that the Steam could not return to the Civic Center for home games unless the Dammarrels paid all money owed to the city from the previous season; in any event, the Coastal Outlaws of United States Indoor Football and Arena Pro Football had already secured a lease on the Savannah Civic Center.[12] The Steam had a cross-schedule agreement with Supreme Indoor Football to play games against some of its teams for the 2017 season.

Before starting their season, the Steam appeared to have rebranded to the Southern Steam. Once they starting playing EIF league games, the were listed as playing outdoors in nearby Statesboro. Later in the 2017 season, the team moved home games into a converted warehouse in Statesboro.

Current staff

Southern Steam staff
Front Office
  • Chief Executive Officer/Owner - Bobby Dammarell
  • General Manager - Jenny Dammarell
  • Director of Football Operations - Shawn Martinez
  • Director of Design & Advertising -
  • Director of Sales - Dewitt Maddox
   Head Coach
  • Head Coach – Bobby Dammarell

Offensive Coaches

  • Offensive Coordinator - Tario Washington
  • Offensive Line – Myron Toles Jr

Defensive Coaches

  • Defensive Coordinator – Donterrish Prayor

Special Teams Coaches

  • Special Teams - Joe Levy Williams

Statistics and records

Season-by-season results

Note: The finish, wins, losses, and ties columns list regular season results and exclude any postseason play.

League Champions Conference Champions Division Champions Playoff Berth League Leader
Season Team League Conference Division Regular season Postseason results
Finish Wins Losses Ties
2014 2014 XLIF 5th 0 8 0
2015 2015 AIF 5th 6 2 0
2016 2016 AIF Southern 4th 3 5 0 Lost Division Semifinals (Tarpons) 20–71
2017 2017 EIF 1st Won EIF Championship Game (Furious) 58–14
Totals 9 15 0 All-time regular season record (2014–2016)
1 1 — All-time postseason record (2014–2017)
10 16 0 All-time regular season and postseason record (2014–2016)

Head coaches' records

Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2016 American Indoor Football season.

Name Term Regular season Playoffs Awards
W L T Win% W L
Shane Houser 2014 0 8 0 .000 0 0
Bobby Dammarell 2015–present 9 7 0 .563 0 1

References

  1. ↑ "X-LEAGUE ADDS PENNSYLVANIA STEAM". xleaguefootball.com. October 15, 2013. Archived from the original on December 28, 2014. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  2. ↑ Rippey, Brian (April 10, 2014). "Pennsylvania Steam sold, leaves Reading". readingeagle.com. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Savannah Steam Schedule". oursportscentral.com. Archived from the original on December 28, 2014. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  4. ↑ Curl, Eric (July 8, 2014). "Pro indoor football coming to Savannah". savannahnow.com. Archived from the original on December 28, 2014. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  5. ↑ "American Indoor Football Comes to Savannah". oursportscentral.com. December 23, 2014. Archived from the original on December 28, 2014. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  6. ↑ "INDOOR FOOTBALL: Savannah Steam to play home opener at Civic Center on Saturday". www.savannahnow.com. Savannah Morning News. March 25, 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Sheriff’s Could Get Involved in Savannah Steam Money Troubles". WSAV News 3. May 10, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Lions steer clear of troubled franchises in AIF". Ledger-Enquirer. June 28, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Steam Announce Memberbership (sic) in EIF". EIF. August 4, 2016.
  10. ↑ Both the Steam and EIF list the same phone number as their own.
  11. ↑ http://www.eiffootball.com/about/eif-front-office.html
  12. ↑ "Savannah could soon have Two Indoor Football Teams". WSAV-TV. August 17, 2016.
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