LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The Louisville Kings are one victory away from a championship.
That sentence still sounds a little strange.
Not because the Kings haven't earned it. They've won seven of their last eight games. They led the UFL in rushing during the second half of the season. They beat the DC Defenders twice during the regular season and marched into St. Louis last week to eliminate one of the league's most established franchises.
No, it sounds strange because four months ago Louisville didn't have a professional football team.
Now it has one playing for a title.
The Kings will face the two-time champion DC Defenders in the United Bowl championship game at Audi Field Saturday at 3 p.m. on ABC, a matchup that represents both the biggest game in their brief franchise history and the biggest moment yet for professional spring football in Louisville.
The temptation is to view the Kings strictly through the lens of wins and losses. But that would miss part of the story.
When Chris Redman talks about Saturday's game, he talks about football. Having been a part of a Super Bowl team, he knows the big-game drill.
He talks about execution. He talks about avoiding distractions. He talks about making sure players handle tickets, family obligations and everything else that comes with a championship week before kickoff arrives.
The former NFL quarterback knows what happens when big games become bigger than football.
"The field's the same size," Redman said this week. "We've got to go out there and play our game."
Outside the locker room, however, something bigger is happening.
Redman said local businesses already have begun discussing sponsorships for next season. Fans are making travel plans for Washington. Interest in the team continues to grow. The coach believes a championship run can showcase Louisville on a national stage.
"We're as hot as anything in the Louisville community right now," Redman said.
Expansion teams aren't supposed to get here. They're supposed to spend their first season figuring out who they are. The Kings did that on the fly.
Louisville opened the season 0-3 before finding an identity built around a dominant rushing attack and an increasingly reliable defense. The offense reinvented itself behind quarterback Chandler Rogers, running backs James Robinson and Ian Wheeler, and an offensive line that looks dramatically different than it did in Week One.
The defense has become equally important.
Led by UFL Defensive Player of the Year Cam Gill, Louisville allowed just three second-half points in last week's playoff victory over St. Louis despite spending more than 40 minutes on the field. Gill and kicker Tanner Brown, named the league's Special Teams Player of the Year, were both honored this week as key pieces of Louisville's championship run.
Now comes one final challenge.
The Defenders know how to win championships. They've won two of them. They also arrive with a familiar face at quarterback.
Jason Bean, Louisville's original starter and the first player selected by the franchise in the UFL draft, now leads DC after a midseason trade.
The storyline practically writes itself. The quarterback Louisville moved on from now stands between the Kings and a title.
Redman isn't interested in treating it that way. He praised Bean throughout the week, calling him "an amazing athlete" and expressing genuine happiness that the quarterback received another opportunity elsewhere.
"We wish him the best," Redman said. "I just hope he doesn't do too good this week."
Regardless, the Kings aren't playing Saturday because of one trade, one player or one decision.
They're playing because a startup franchise somehow became a contender faster than anyone expected.
The championship would be the reward. The accomplishment may already be the foundation.
Still, championships matter.
And on Saturday afternoon, Louisville will have a chance to do something that seemed highly unlikely when the season began.
It can bring home a trophy before it even finishes unpacking.
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