The Cape Fear Heroes put the finishing touches on their perfect 7-0  regular season by defeating the California Eagles 79-27 in the 2012 AIF National Championship Game at Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville North Carolina on Saturday June 16^th, 2012. The Heroes completed the season 9-0 and in the process staked their claim to the first AIF Championship.

In topping the Eagles the Heroes became the first team in AIF history to complete a season undefeated. The Heroes earlier defeated the Harrisburg Stampede in the AIF Eastern Conference Championship on June 9th by the score of 42-40 to earn the right advance to the AIF championship game.

Other great moments this season where winning the AIF Eastern Conference regular season title on May 19^th by beating the undefeated Harrisburg Stampede by the score of 57-32 and a close battle with the Carolina Force on April 14^th that the Heroes won by a score of 41-40.

The Heroes entered the season with everything on the line to prove and wanting to set their mark on history. Early in the fall of 2011 an ownership group consisting of John Morris, Barbara Spigner and Charles Gunnings was put together and a territory was purchased from the American Indoor Football and later a lease was signed with the Crown Coliseum for the Heroes to play the 2012 season in Fayetteville.

The hard work was then ahead of the team of hiring the right management and coaching staff with the ability of putting a quality product on the field. Players where then recruited with coaches working around the clock to invite the right mix of veteran and rookie players to the first Heroes training camp.  

Jack Bowman the Heroes General Manager says that the Heroes where a special organization in 2012, Head Coach Charles Gunnings structured  a dedicated and skilled group of assistant coaches and support staff who spent endless hours at practice, evaluating opponents game film, working with players in the weight room all of which I believe help lead us to this championship.

Coach Charles Gunnings says how proud he is proud of this team and the sacrifices made by everyone within the organization, player and coaches alike showed great determination and dedication to the Heroes program helping us to achieve our goals. 

The Heroes organization is more then just the game played on the field our overall success is only as good as our sponsors and fan base who without their support would have made this year’s success much harder to achieve. The Heroes would like to thank each one of our sponsors and fans who supported our organization this year and joined us on this great adventure. Our fans new and old, our loyal season ticket holders, our new fans who came on late in the season and our sponsors all deserve to enjoy and cherish in this accomplishment with the Heroes because each one of you helped us get here.

Now that the future is upon us and we look to “Repeat” our performance in 2013 you will see the Heroes active in the community on a year round basis as we continue our commitment to our community and look to build upon our success.