DestinationFAY

T he Fayetteville Mustangs made quite a splash in their inaugural game in the National Arena League. Most expansion teams in any professional sports league take their lumps during that initial season. Not the Mustangs. e indoor football team went to Orlando on April 8 and not only won but set a league record for points scored in the opening week of the season. e Mustangs beat the Predators 68-43. "We shocked the league," said owner Robert Twaddell. e previous record was 66 points. at's the kind of splash Twaddell, a chiropractic physician who has lived in Fayetteville since 1996, hoped to make when he decided to bring indoor football back to Fayetteville. "I really enjoyed arena football in years FAYE T TE VILLE MUS TANGS VIA FAYE T TE VILLEMUS TANGS .COM Mustangs bring indoor football back to Fayetteville BY G A RY M A N G U M past," Twaddell said. "I just wanted to bring it back to Fayetteville." e Mustangs are Fayetteville's fih entry in an indoor football league, following the Cape Fear Wildcats (arenafootball2, 2002-04); the Fayetteville Guard (National Indoor Football League, 2005-07); the Fayetteville Force (Southern Indoor Football League, 2011); and Cape Fear Heroes (American Arena League, 2012-19 with an off year in 2017). e Mustangs home field is the Crown Coliseum. e National Arena League began in 2017 and has seven teams, including Fayetteville. e others are Orlando; Jacksonville, Florida; San Antonio; Albany, New York; Greensboro; and Odessa, Texas. e Mustangs play a 14-game regular- season schedule that ends July 29 with a home game against Albany. Coach Charles Gunnings was not surprised by the Mustangs' opening-week success. "We've got some good athletes on my team who can make some good things happen out there," said Gunnings, who has been a part of all of Fayetteville's indoor league teams, starting as a player with the Wildcats in 2002. "It's not my first rodeo," he said. "I've been here, like, 18 years." Arena football is played on a field sized to fit stadiums where ice hockey and basketball are played. e field is 50 yards long instead of 100, and the end zone is 8 yards deep as opposed to 10. e units on the field are smaller, too, with eight-man squads on offense and defense instead of 11. at necessitates many players going both ways. at's just the way Gunnings likes it. "It's actually football I grew up in, the Arena Football Ironman league. We have to go both ways to play," Gunnings said. "You obviously have to play defense, so it makes you a true athlete in this league. You don't necessarily have to be the best football player, but you've got to be a true athlete." For more information, go to FayettevilleMustangs.com. 36 DestinationFAY 2023-2024

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