The Lakeland Royals finished the season tied for 1st in the FBA. With the tiebreakers in place the Royals are in second place and are headed to the Playoffs.
The Royals will play the Palm Beach Titans Saturday at Seminole State University located at 100 Weldon Boulevard, Sanford, Fl. The game is currently scheduled for 6 PM Saturday, however, there is the possibility that it may be moved up earlier in the day. Should the Royals win they will move to the Championship playoffs. The playoffs are the best out of 3 and the location for the playoffs has yet to be announced. It will rotate between the two teams with the highest seed having the first and third games at home.
This is the first year that the Royals have played in the FBA. The Royals are owned by Amy Rhodes, the first female and youngest owner of an FBA team. She has put together an amazing team and an amazing coach in David Thornton. To achieve what they have achieved as an expansion team was unthinkable to everyone except the Royals players, coaches, and their owner.
Dale Rhodes, the Team President, stated “I think we took the FBA by surprise. No one thought we would be this competitive this quickly. Amy and Coach Thornton have done a masterful job guiding this young team to great success and I applaud them for their tenacity.”
Three of the teams players have contracts waiting for them to play professionally overseas at the end of the season. Amy Rhodes said “This is what this league is all about! We work very hard to assure these players have visibility and that they are able to go to the next level.”
The season has not been without it’s challenges. The Royals got into a slump two thirds of the way through the season and dropped two straight games. However, they bounced right back to win the next two to finish out the season at 9 and 3.
Now the playoffs are upon them. Are they able to make the run? Will they achieve the unbelievable and win the championship? Only time will tell. But they have already achieved more than expected so there is nothing that is out of reach for the upstart Lakeland Royals. I can tell you this, Amy, Coach Thornton, Dale and the team all believe they can. What we do know is it is going to be fun to watch!