The West Texas Desert Hawks are a professional indoor football team and an inaugural member of the relaunched Arena Football League. The Desert Hawks are based in Odessa, Texas, with home games at the Ector County Coliseum. The team played their first several seasons as the West Texas Warbirds.
History
The Desert Hawks are the third arena/indoor football team based in Odessa, following the Odessa/West Texas Roughnecks (2004–2012) and the West Texas Wildcatters (2014).
On October 2, 2019, Champions Indoor Football (CIF) announced an expansion team to be based in Odessa for the 2020 season with the team planning to represent West Texas and use it in their team name.[1] A name-the-team contest was held, with Warbirds being announced as the team's name on December 18, beating the "Warriors," "Law," "Outlawz", and "Thunder" in the contest.[2]
The Warbirds' planned inaugural 2020 season was cancelled due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The CIF then delayed the 2021 season, but the local capacity and interstate travel restrictions in Texas led the Warbirds and the Amarillo Venom to withdraw from participating in the 2021 CIF season. The Venom and Warbirds instead launched the Lone Star Series, a series of games between the two CIF Texas teams and a few other Texas-based semiprofessional teams.[3] The Warbirds defeated the Venom, 79–60 to claim the Lone Star Series championship.[4]
Amarillo and West Texas officially left the CIF and turned their Lone Star Series from the previous season into the Arena Football Association (AFA) in November 2021. The new league also announced its initial membership consisting of former Lone Star Series member Texas Jets, former American Arena League champions North Texas Bulls, the dormant Rio Grande Valley Dorados, and the Texas Crude.[5]
In 2023, the Warbirds joined the National Arena League (NAL). After one season in the NAL, the team announced on July 18, 2023, via their Facebook page, that they will join the relaunched Arena Football League (AFL) in 2024.[6] On August 22, 2023, the team changed their name to the West Texas Desert Hawks.[7][8] They were officially announced as the second team to join the AFL on August 31.[9]
Season-by-season
| League champions | Playoff berth |
| Season | League | Regular season | Postseason results | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | Wins | Losses | Ties | |||
| 2020 | CIF | Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | ||||
| 2021 | LSS | 1st | 5 | 0 | 0 | Won semifinal (Arlington) 70–6 Won Lone Star Series championship (Amarillo) 79–60 |
| 2022 | AFA | 1st | 6 | 0 | 0 | Did not play due to scheduling conflicts of AFA championship |
| 2023 | NAL | 5th | 2 | 11 | 0 | Did not qualify |
| Totals | 13 | 11 | 0 | All-time regular season record (2020–2023) | ||
| 2 | 0 | — | All-time postseason record (2020–2023) | |||
| 15 | 11 | 0 | All-time regular season and postseason record (2020–2023) | |||
Current roster
Quarterbacks
Running backs
Wide receivers
|
Offensive linemen
Defensive linemen
|
Linebackers
Defensive backs
Special teams
|
Reserve lists
|
Notes
- ^ "Professional Indoor Football Coming to West Texas in 2020". warbirdfootball.com. October 2, 2019. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
- ^ "New West Texas indoor football team reveals name and logo". warbirdfootball.com. December 18, 2019. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
- ^ "Venom and Bombers ready to start season in the Amarillo Civic Center". KFDA-TV. May 4, 2021.
- ^ Amaya, Chris (July 25, 2021). "INDOOR FOOTBALL: Warbirds cap off undefeated season with championship win". Odessa American. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
- ^ "Sponsors And Investors See Ground-Floor Opportunities With The Expansion Of Arena Football Association". PR Newswire. November 4, 2021.
- ^ "WTX Warbird Football". Facebook. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ "Desert Hawks Football". Facebook. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
- ^ "West Texas Warbirds rebranded as Desert Hawks as program preps for AFL". Permian Proud. August 23, 2023.
- ^ "Arena Football League announces that the West Texas Desert Hawks will be the newest franchise". NewsWest9. August 31, 2023.
