By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The newly branded St. Joseph Goats are bringing arena football back to the Civic Arena in downtown this summer.
The Goats played in Kansas City last year in their inaugural season and finished one game shy of competing for a championship and now hope to achieve that in St. Joseph.
Goats Head Coach Dorsey Golston says initially the move to St. Joseph caught him by surprise, but it's a move he's excited about.
"Spent a lot of time in St. Joe my whole life, I'm from Kansas City, Missouri, but me and my dad used to come up here a lot go fishing, so I'm kind of familiar with the city, the town, we'd come up here by Stetson's and all type of stuff like that," Golston tells reporters.
Golston says it's a great feeling to be a part of a sort of resurgence of sports and events happening at the Civic Arena
"I think the people of St. Joseph is going to enjoy holding what 2,500 here I think, we averaged around 23 last year, so you're going to have to come get your tickets early because we plan on packing this thing out," Golston says.
On the team again this year, is last year's league MVP. Boo Smith, a former wide receiver at Missouri, says he's excited about the team's new home in St. Joseph
"This is my first time in Civic Arena, I do know the history of it, but looking at it right now, it's going to be packed, I'm actually excited" Smith says. "Because I also know Missouri Western is just down the road and they have a good football fan base so just coming here with our success and the other fan base, I'm excited for it, I'm excited for sure."
Smith had 1,011 yards last year on 99 catches, and scored 33 touchdowns, and now looks to impress St. Joseph fans with his speedy playstyle.
Wide receiver Ryan Martinez says he hopes and expects to see the stands packed at Civic Arena this summer
"As long as the fans and everybody is behind us and the crowd, we bring from Kansas City, pretty sure we'll pack it out," Martinez says. "Because arena is a fun game, entertaining, it's really mostly meant for the fans because you get to jump in the crowd, throw balls, run around, eat people's popcorn, so it's really fun."
The first home game for the Goats is on June 7th. You can purchase tickets online for both individual games as well as the season. The season opens May 31st.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.