BILLINGS — The Billings Outlaws have brought a world championship back to the Magic City.
Despite a season full of turmoil within the Arena Football League, where half the teams eventually folded, and moving throughout several practice facilities in Billings, outdoor included, the Outlaws persevered to win ArenaBowl XXXIII.
“It's a testament to the kids," Outlaws coach Cedric Walker told MTN Sports. "I think our coaching staff did a hell of a job in regards to letting them know that the only thing we can control is in the building. It's kind of a testament to how we won the championship and got back here."
“There's obviously teams out there that have bigger venues, that have more fans that come to games, that have the spotlight on them more than Billings does, but we kept focused," owner Steven Titus said. "We went through the ups and downs, the turbulent times in the league, the uncertainty from week-to-week, and we focused on what team we were playing next, what we needed to do to beat them and we did."
The Outlaws handed Albany a 46-41 defeat inside the American Dream Meadowlands, a mall in New Jersey. Billings had the best record in the league and fought to host the title game, but Outlaws fans made their presence felt all the way across the country.
“It was very intimate. It was loud. Everyone was very close to the field," Titus said of the venue. "We were the home team but we didn't have that home-field advantage. There were definitely a lot more people there from Albany than there were from Billings, but thank you to everyone from Billings that did come to the game. We had a great turnout."
It was a bit of a nightmare getting back home, however. The IT outages affected the team’s travel, ultimately holding coach Walker and several players up for two days in Minneapolis before finally touching back down in the treasure state.
“We couldn't really enjoy it because of the traffic and everything. What happened with the airlines, guys are already going home. I got back about 3:30 Monday morning. *But, the one thing is, these guys had a smile on their face," Walker said.
It didn’t seem to matter what you threw at the world champion Outlaws this season, because they had an answer for it.
“You have the Orlando Predators, the Arizona Rattlers, the San Jose Sabercats. You're going to have the Billings Outlaws mentioned in that same group," Walker said.
