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The USAFL Regional Championship Series, presented by Tasmanian, is off to a flying start. And not just because the New York Magpies swooped off with a couple of trophies.
One week after the men and women from the Big Apple came to Philly and won the men’s and women’s Northeast Regional Championships, the scene shifts some eight hours down I-95 and I-85 to Raleigh, North Carolina.
Aussie Rules in the southeast has come a long way in just a short amount of time. And it’s been a microcosm of how more fertile the ground has been for sports here, too. College football and basketball has always been king, but with the addition of pro teams in numerous sports, the Carolinas are major league.
2025 USAFL SouthEastern Regional Championships
Miller Fields at North Carolina State University
821 Dan Allen Dr, Raleigh, NC 27606
First Game starts at 10am EDT
Live Score Link / Live Stream Link
The campus of North Carolina State University is, therefore, the perfect place to crown a champion. Miller Fields hosted the 2017 Eastern Regional, on a day when the home team won in Division 2, and the North Carolina Tigers are itching for a repeat.
But while there’s only four teams here, there should be no shortage of intrigue and excitement. Especially when you consider that two flagship teams are making their regionals debut, and other young teams are looking to prove their meddle on the big stage.
Here’s a look at the four-cornered combatants heading to Raleigh:
Men’s Division
- North Carolina Tigers (1-2)
- Virginia Lions (0-5) (w/ Bayou & Baton Rouge)
- Wilmington Bombers (1-3)/Jacksonville Saints (1-2)
- Maine Cats (0-0) (w/Boston & DC Eagles)
Though Aussie Rules in the southeast, and North Carolina in general, is growing rapidly, the home-standing Tigers are one of a handful that go back to the beginning of the league. In their 28th year, the honor of hosting regionals gives them a chance to win their first carnival since taking out D2 at home in 2017. They’ve spent a lot of time around their offshoot club, the Wilmington Bombers, having combined with them to go 0-2 at the Mid-Atlantic Cup, then picking up their first win with a 40-point triumph at the coast.
Both Keith Phillips and Erik Hansen helped the D.C. Eagles to a second place finish this past weekend at the Northeast Regionals, and would love to get their side another cup at home. There’s a lot of good young talent as well, including Ethan Parsons, Charles Moody, and US Revolution product Trey Yarnall. A balance of speed and skill, the top seeded Tiges are hoping that “YELLOW AND BLACK” will ring out on Saturday afternoon and at the Hibernian that night.
While the Tigers’ tales and tails weave back to the USAFL’s origins, a number of clubs competing in the Southeast Regionals are amongst the league’s newest and fasting growing. Take the case of the Virginia Lions, have players from the Bayou Brawlers and Baton Rouge Tigers alongside. After a slow start numbers-wise, the pride’s membership has expanded in leaps and bounds over the past three seasons, and last year they joined with Chicago to take out D3 at the Super Regionals.
Virginia will have their eyes on picking up their first win of the season after playing hard but coming up just short in their first five games. Ian McCormick, Brian Vrbicek, and Martin Minot spearhead the Lions’ attempt to claw their way to the top. The sextet coming from Louisiana features ruck/forward veteran Chance Mire, and skillful ballgetter/Brawlers team co-founder Will Mussack. It’ll be the first official tournament for the Bayou side as a USAFL club, and it looks to be a solid one when the day is done.
The Brawlers’ 2025 “expansion” mates also make history, as the Wilmington Bombers make the trip up from I-40 on regional debut. They’re part of a split-squad with the Jacksonville Saints; four of whom combined with Boston in 2019 to take out the Eastern D2 trophy here in Raleigh six years ago. The Tons’ only win of the season came over Jax back in February, while the Sainters picked up a victory during April’s Florida Cup.
Nic Parker, Wilmington’s founder, will face Maine, his old side this weekend. He’s done yeoman work in building up the team from a Tigers’ metro side to a USAFL club, and with recruits such as former Boston Demon Logan Houniet, there is plenty of optimism in the Port City. There’s equal optimism in Jacksonville, and their progress in the past several seasons has been equally impressive. 2023 National D4 B&F Jack Wilkosz and his mighty hair pace the Saints’ contingent as a midfielder and rover, and stalwart Basil Benjamin can show up anywhere on the ground.
Rounding out this quartet is a group of invaders from the northeast part of the country. They’re led by the Maine Cats, who became a USAFL club in 2018, won a D3 men’s title alongside Boston, then got absorbed as a Demons metro club, and are back as an independent entity in 2025. The Dees and a number of DC Eagles, fresh off of a 2nd place finish at last weekend’s USAFL Northeastern Regionals, will try to sweep the field from the back as the 4th seed.
US Revolution player Aaron Gray, who has starred for Denver and Boston, brings his midfield awareness to this Cats side. Gray’s leadership alongside Ryan Shumaker should be good in putting all of the pieces together. Veteran Lucas Hemenway from Boston is experienced and versitle. Add in three DC Eagles players – Bernie Berges, Alex Foster, and Luke Myer – who all were key players last weekend and who have excelled in the Revos program, and the Cats may find themselves scratching at the title on Saturday afternoon.
