Wolves secure playoff berth
Despite losing to the Mahoning Valley Thunder last weekend, the Manchester Wolves are headed to the arenafootball2 playoffs for the fifth consecutive season.
"Making it to the playoffs is what you try to accomplish at the start of every season and what you work for as a team all year," Wolves head coach Danton Barto said. "I'd like us to be playing better football right now, but if you look at the history of arena football you'll know that all that matters is that you get to the dance because in this game everybody who is in the playoffs has a chance to win a championship if they are playing well."
Depending on the outcomes of this weekend's games, the Wolves (7-8) will be seeded either No. 7 or No. 8.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers can nail down the No. 1 seed in the conference and have home-field advantage throughout the American Conference playoffs with a victory over the Wolves at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Friday night.
The other division champions are the Tennessee Valley Vipers (11-4) and the Iowa Barnstormers (11-4). Both have earned the right for a home game in the first round of the playoffs.
Last season, which was Barto's first as Manchester's head coach, the Wolves entered the postseason as the seventh seed but made it to the American Conference championship game before falling to the Vipers on the road.
"The best thing now is that we'll be entering a new season where everybody in the playoffs will be 0-0," Barto said. "There is more parity in the af2 than ever before and this year any team can beat any other team on any given night."
The final seedings, playoff bracket and schedule for first-round playoff games will be announced at the completion of the regular af2 season this weekend.
