The St. Paul Pioneers burst upon the Minnesota Semi-Pro football scene in 2002. Adam Gold and Ryan Venturine, former Minneapolis Lumberjacks who had won a Midwest Regional Championship in 2001, were approached about starting a team based out of St. Paul.
Gold was an all-star linebacker and Venturine a confident and skilled quarterback with the Jacks. They would transfer those skills and attract several of their Lumberjacks teammates to their new team in St. Paul. Jim Walsh, a four-year defensive end with the Jacks, was also asked to help start the new team and he came up with the name, the St. Paul Pioneers. George “King Juicy” Hall also joined the Pioneers organization from the Lumberjacks, volunteering to serve as sideline operations manager.
In their first season, the Pioneers started out like gangbusters, scoring loads of points and dashing to several early wins. After a loss to the Racine Raiders in Racine, Wis., however, the Pioneers stumbled before regaining their traction in the Mid-America Football League playoffs. The Pioneers fell in the league semi-finals that first season.
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Year two would be completely different. Head Coach Adam Gold cleaned house, ridding the team of some players and adding more talent and, more importantly, more character. The squad fell in an early season tilt to the Minnesota Maulers, a perennial MFL power, but would come back to beat the Maulers in the MFL championship game. The Pioneers then captured the Midwest Tournament by destroying teams from Milwaukee and the St. Louis area. Gold and General Manager Brian Schulz worked hard to give the team a national reputation and the season ended with a nail-biting 28-21 loss to the Brooklyn Mariners in the 2003 AFA National Championship Game at the Metrodome.
Gold stepped down as team owner and head coach before the 2004 season to spend more time with his family in Mason City, Iowa. Schulz took over ownership and named Bo Wasurick, an All-America tight end for the Pioneers in 2003, as head coach. All the Pioneers accomplished under Schulz and Wasurick was a second MFL championship in a row, thanks to a 95-yard, last minute drive against the Lumberjacks in the title game. A Midwest Tournament loss to national powerhouse Detroit Seminoles in Detroit, a game that the Pioneers played without either of their two quarterbacks, ended the season.
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More changes came to the Pioneers before the 2005 season, as Scott Ramsdell, Tony Aitkin and Dan Mitchell bought the team from Schulz and moved the Pioneers to the north metro area. The team was renamed the Midwest Pioneers and played its games at Mounds View High School. The new ownership group brought many great things to the organization – a family-friendly atmosphere, terrific game day operations and financial stability. But the Pioneers lost many of the players that had boosted the team to on-the-field excellence and the team, although competitive, failed to win a game in 2005.
Ramsdell, Mitchell and Aitkin didn’t stand pat. They brought in Nate Heiser as head coach and his brother, Mark Heiser, as defensive coordinator. And they reunited with Jason “Cheddar” Fleming, the team’s offensive coordinator from 2003 and 2004. Fleming and the Heisers had won the 2005 MFL championship, leading the Twin Cities Titans to the crown. They would rework their magic with the 2006 Pioneers, helping complete an impressive worst-to-first season and capturing the 2006 MFL championship. A USA Bowl victory over the Rochester Giants at the Metrodome completed a season that saw the Pioneers crowned the best semi-pro team in the upper Midwest.
The next season started with uncertainty for the Pioneers. The team was sold to Eric Wessels, who decided just as the season approached, that outside commitments would keep him from running the team. Jason Blomer, who had long been associated with Minnesota semi-pro football, stepped in at the last minute as owner and general manager. At first, the Pioneers’ road seemed smooth, despite an early loss to their nemesis Lumberjacks. The team defeated the Racine Raiders, the Superior Stampede and the Minnesota Maulers to position itself for a playoff run. But Blomer struggled to make financial ends meet and, only days before their playoff game with the Maulers, the Pioneers could not secure a game field. The team had to forfeit the playoff game and would not have a chance to compete for another MFL title.
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In 2008, original leaders of the team once again steadied the Pioneers’ ship. George Hall – “Juicy” to all who know and love him – took over ownership of the team with passion, commitment and imagination. Schulz and Gold offered their guidance and expertise as vice presidents. While Nate Heiser stepped down as head coach, Mark Heiser took the reins and immediately had an impact. Working with Fleming, the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator, and Walsh, now defensive coordinator, Heiser led the team to NAFL division and regional championships and a spot in the league's Elite Eight. A loss to the eventual national champion Indianapolis Tornados ended a terrific season for the once-again St. Paul Pioneers.
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National Champions!
In 2009, all the hard work, all the dedication, all the passion paid off.
The Pioneers entered the season knowing they had the quality players and coaches to make a run to a championship. Despite a couple bumps in the road, that is exactly what St. Paul did, ending a 15-1 season with a thrilling, last-second 23-21 victory in the NAFL National Championship game in Miami, Fl., beating the perennial powerhouse Nashville Storm.
It was the best season in Pioneers history. The most wins. The fewest losses. All-America and All-Star players. And the franchise's first-ever national title. Since the Pioneers' founding in 2002, the team has won four league championships, three regional crowns, one conference title, one national runner-up finish and one national championship.
In an arena where so many teams are born, play and flame out in just a couple of seasons, the Pioneers are one of a select few that continue to compete – and win – year after year. Now beginning their ninth season, the hugely successful Pioneers are joining the Northern Elite Football League. And the 2010 schedule offers some real possibilities for newfound rivalries. Games against the Minnesota Phoenix, the Rochester Giants and the Twin Harbors Stampede are sure to ignite emotions. It’s sure to be another exciting and successful season of St. Paul Pioneers football.
Leave No Doubt.
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