Chambersburg Cardinals The Chambersburg Cardinals are a Professional American football team based in Chambersburg , Pennsylvania . The team has had several incarnations since the first team hit the field in 1946 . The current incarnation began play in 2002 and plays in the GDFL History . Independent Years . The Cardinals began in 1946 as an independent team playing in Henninger Field . They played from 1946 - 1955 posting a 70 - 17 - 6 record , before folding due to difficulty scheduling quality teams . Their main rival during these early years were the Waynesboro Tigers . Joining a League . The second incarnation of the Cardinals entered the Interstate Football League as an expansion team in 1968 . They played in the IFL until 1971 when a portion of the IFL , including Chambersburg , merged with the Mason - Dixon Football League to become the Seaboard Football League - - a league that held , among other teams , the Hartford Knights , Long Island Chiefs and New England Colonials , who were , or would move to , the Atlantic Coast Football League in 1973 . They went on to win the league crown in 1973 ( when some of the better teams left for the ACFL ) before the team and league folded midseason in 1974 . A major reason behind the folding was community resentment following a home game against the Colonials in which the stadium lights failed and 4 , 000 fans were sent home without a refund . King Corcoran played for the Cardinals in 1972 , after the Cardinals offered him a starting job . Corcoran had played for the Montreal Alouettes but refused to take a job as a backup . Corcoran left for the Philadelphia Bell of the World Football League in 1974 . An Era of Champions . The Cardinals resumed play once more in 1976 , rejoining the Interstate Football League . In 1978 the teams had a 14 - 0 record and averaged over 48 points per game , no one challenged them for the national championship . That same year the Cardinals cousin , the Franklin County Minutemen , joined the Mason - Dixon Football League and captured the title . In 1980 the Cardinals were named national co - champions by Pro - Football Weekly alongside the Pierce County Bengals after a 16 - 0 season . In 1982 , the Cardinals defeated the Chicago Lions in the championship game held at Trojan Stadium while being watched by over 5 , 000 fans . Between 1977 and 1984 , the Cardinals won 72 straight games , including five perfect season s , a record for noncollegiate football , although there is a record of at least one loss in that time frame , to the Racine Gladiators in the 1981 Minor Professional Football League championship . By the mid 1990s however , the Cardinals folded once more . The Current Team . The current team was born in 2010 , when an investment group saw an opportunity with the existing trend in American Outdoor football . In 2007 , NFL Europe folded and created a lack of placement for quality players . The talk of creating a farm system in the United States became a top issue for the NFL . The investment group felt that Chambersburg would be a great place to start such a team . They could look back through history and see how Chambersburg supported a semi - pro team called the Chambersburg Cardinals . The Cardinals went through many different phases . In the beginning , the Cardinals were labeled as an adult amateur team because of the local players just wanting to play football after high school was over . This went on up until 1969 . In 1970 the team status changed to semi - pro where they recruited players and got them jobs and housing . This continued through the 70 ' s and 80 ' s . In the 90 ' s , Arena Football and NFL Europe came on the scene . At that point , semi - pro football lost most quality players , and it returned to the local player adult amateur status . There were many debates while creating this new professional team . The biggest debate was whether to have a new name for the area or acquire the Cardinals name . The investment group embraced the history of the Cardinals and decided to acquire it . In 2010 , the Cardinals recruited heavily and had over 20 players from around the country come to live in Chambersburg for the football season . Building from scratch , the team began a rise into its current position . The Cardinals , while in the Big North East Football Federation , won the league title in 2010 . From all the different statues , the Cardinals have held , from adult amateur , to semi - pro , to now professional , Chambersburg has been an American Football league champion a total of 12 times . Brief Stint in the AIFL . In 2006 , after a reorganization of the American Indoor Football League that saw the departure of the Syracuse Soldiers , the Cardinals were asked to fill two holes in the schedule . In their first game against the nearby Johnstown Riverhawks , the Cardinals lost by a score of 68 to 0 , billed as the first shutout in AIFL history , although , since it was an AIFL team against a non - AIFL team , that would not be a fair comparison . Their second game against league powerhouse Reading Express had a similar result , a 74 - 0 loss . The AIFL declared that all records set against the Cardinals and the Ghostchasers , a team hastily established to fill the schedule of another team , the Carolina Ghostriders ( which , in turn , had been hastily assembled to fill the schedule of yet another team the year before ) , would be marked with an asterisk . The games referenced were not , nor ever meant to be , anything other than scrimmages for the Cardinals . Both opponents considered them real games but the Cardinals used them as a way to judge new players since they were unable to obtain scrimmages with other teams . It should also be noted that the Cardinals were out of season , as the NAFL is a summer / fall league and the AIFL played in spring , and were likely unprepared for a full - contact game . References . http : / / www . chambersburgcardinals . com / history . html http : / / gdfl . org http : / / bleacherreport . com / articles / 403432 - semi - pro - football - coming - to - a - town - near - you http : / / www . semiprofootball . org http : / / www . nationalfootballevents . com http : / / minorleaguefootballnews . com http : / / www . americanfootballassn . com http : / / www . facebook . com / ChambersburgCardinalsFanPage http : / / blog . pennlive . com / pasports / 2010 / 11 / chambersburg _ cardinals _ end _ cen . html http : / / en . wikipedia . org / wiki / Chambersburg http : / / www . semiprofootball . org / minor / records / playscor . htm http : / / www . semiprofootball . org / minor / records / playpass . htm http : / / www . summithealth . org / cs / Satellite ? c = eHA _ Content _ C & cid = 1285348019769 & pagename = Summit % 2FeHA _ Content _ C % 2FSummit _ Press _ Release _ Content _ Page _ Template http : / / njstags . blogspot . com / 2010 / 08 / stags - lose - battle - to - cardinals . html http : / / www . luckyshow . org / football / LIChiefs . htm http : / / www . shipraiders . com / hof . aspx ? hof = 60 & path = & kiosk =