Indoor Football Weekly #17

We are now one third of the way through the 2017 season, as we continue with 2017 we've seen some surprises, and of course some of the same old same old.

Credit: Wichita Falls Time News Record

This week we start a new segment called 5 Questions. This will be done throughout the season interviewing players, coaches, etc from teams around the CIF, IFL, and NAL. This week we had the pleasure of interviewing Wichita Falls Nighthawks Head Coach Billy Back.
Q1 Ashle Norling: Coach, you have one of the highest scoring offenses in the IFL and we know what happened in Sioux Falls last week. After that game are there any adjustments you'll be doing going forward?
Billy Back: No need to panic and make whole else changes, we missed out on a lot of opportunities early in the game. We rush play calls, tripped on open routes and had a few key wide open TD's batted down. We just need to get our rhythm back and move the ball like we know we can. I give Coach Hermanson and that Storm defense a ton of credit also, they are dangerous.
Q2 AN: You're playing Arizona this weekend, a former AFL team on the road in "The Snake Pit". Does that combination change your game plan at all?
BB: No it doesn't effect what we do. They have a great tradition 25 years strong with a great coach. We are looking forward to playing in a great venue with so much Arena football history in it.
Q3 AN: With the return of K Rockne Belmonte a few weeks ago, how has that changed and or improved your overall kicking game?
BB: He's hands down the best kicker in the league. He's equally a weapon (as) anyone on our team. Tanner did a great job filling in and has a future with us once Rock decides to hang them up... but we'll do everything we can to keep Rock kicking as a Nighthawk!
Q4 AN: We are a third of the way through the season now. At this point who would you say have been your impact players on offense and defense?
BB: On offense it's out QB Charles McCullum and our entire offense... we go as a collective group, if one piston isn't firing then we sputter... On Defense it starts up front with Big Walter Thomas and goes to DB Mike Green... We have to get Defensive ends to pick up their play to compliment what Big Walt brings to the table.
Q5 AN: With going to the playoffs last year and dropping it to Cedar Rapids. The slogan this year for the Nighthawks has been Unfinished Business. How is this team different from last year's and other clubs around the league?
BB: This year's team expects to get the job done and is playing with a chip on it's shoulders as where last season it was a learning experience and a guessing game on who we had and how we would perform... So far we have handled the business besides this past week but things will change in time, we have to get back to just worrying about us.
I want to say thank you too Nighthawks head coach Billy Back for being the first person we've interviewed for Indoor Football Weekly. Thank you coach and good luck the rest of the season.

Credit: Indoor Football League

The IFL's Week 6 felt well bipolar in terms of how games went. The games started on Friday with just a single contest as Spokane hosted Salt Lake. In a fairly close game (for Salt Lake standards) the Empire showed the Screaming Eagles whose boss with a 53-36 win at home. The following night both games we're played at the same time with Nebraska hosting Colorado and Wichita Falls traveling to Sioux Falls. At Eihusen Arena in Grand Island the Danger came through and dominated the Crush the entire night taking a home victory with a final score of 55-23. At the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center was a battle of the unbeatens in the IFL Game of the Week. Sioux Falls started out hard and had a 28-10 lead at halftime. The Storm would pull out to an even larger lead in the 3rd scoring 13 unanswered points. After 3 quarters of football the Storm would cruise to a 55-21 victory to move to 5-0 on the season. Sunday afternoon saw two more games as Cedar Rapids faced off with the Iowa Barnstormers and Green Bay faced Arizona. In Des Moines the Barnstormers, for (officially) the first time, beat Titans 46-23. In Green Bay the Rattlers just held on to beat the Blizzard by a final score of 30-29.
Week 7 in the IFL kicks off on Friday night when another round of the FANCHISE Bowl when Salt Lake hosts Colorado at 8PM CT. Saturday night sees three more games being played. Starting at 7:00 PM CT when Arizona hosts Wichita Falls. Next up at 7:05 PM CT (yes a whole 5 mins later) sees Green Bay play host to Cedar Rapids. The week wraps up with the Spokane Empire playing host to Nebraska. As always the games are LIVE and FREE on YouTube.

Credit: Champions Indoor Football

In Champions Indoor Football, Week 5 has come and gone but gave us plenty of exciting football. Opening up the weekend was a DFW Area clash as the Dallas Marshals traveled to Allen to play the Texas Revolution. The Marshals would get punished on the Revs red turf by a final score of 61-18. Saturday night saw the other five games get played. In the CIF Game of the Week the Amarillo Venom took on the reigning CIF Champion Wichita Force at the INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, KS. In a game that was close for 60 minutes the Venom got revenge on the Force with a 56-47 win. Also in Kansas an in-state showdown was happening again between Dodge City and Salina, the Law proved more efficient then the Liberty with an 87-42 win. Out in Albuquerque the Duke City Gladiators slaughtered the Cavalry in battle winning 75-14 over CenTex. Bloomington's US Cellular Coliseum was the setting not only for the closest (and lowest scoring) CIF game but also a fun Twitter battle between the Edge and the Bucks. Well Bloomington's fan supported the Edge who took down the Bucks 24-21. Wrapping it all up was the Kansas City Phantoms and Sioux City Bandits. The unbeaten Bandits flexed their muscles and showed why they are the team to beat knocking off Kansas City 62-35.
Week 6 starts with some HOT news as Salina Liberty head coach Eric Clayton resigned effective immediately on Tuesday night. Salina is currently sitting at 0-4 on the season and Clayton has a record of 2-14 as the only coach the club has known since replacing the Salina Bombers. Current offensive coordinator Mike Bonner has been named Interim Head Coach, while the Liberty conduct a coaching search, and John Ludas will move to the defensive coordinator role.
The games this week kick off with a single Friday night game when Sioux City travels to Omaha to take on the Beef at 7PM CT. Saturday night will again see 5 games this week starting when Dallas heads to Dodge City as the Marshals will try and break the Law for the first time this season at 6:30 PM CT. Also at 6:30 PM CT and also in Kansas is yet another in-state clash as the 1-3 Wichita Force play the 0-4 Salina Liberty. 3 games are set for a 7PM CT kickoff with CenTex hosting the Texas Revs, Kansas City hosting Bloomington, and Bismarck hosting a winless West Michigan team. The week caps off on Sunday night as the Amarillo Venom face off with the Duke City Gladiators at 7PM CT in Amarillo. As always the CIF games can be viewed on Eversport.

Credit: National Arena League

Now moving to the National Arena League and to get started let's go over how the league looks heading into Week 3. As much as I want this league to succeed things are not looking up for the NAL. With the Dayton fiasco, the anemic attendance in Albany (Georgia Firebirds) and now problems in Corpus Christi and Monterrey. In Monterrey the issue is that while they have live television in Mexico somewhere along the lines they have not streamed their home games live. With not showing the game live and moving back the broadcast and effectively lying about that is not a good start. In Corpus Christi things are much more severe. First the turf is reportedly in very poor condition, and considering it's the Corpus Christi Sharks (who last played in 2009). The goalposts were also very bent and uneven, along with being hung at 10' rather than the 15' that every other team in the NAL uses. Adding to the list of issues a player for both the Rage and the Lions was hurt and both were turf related injuries. This is not the start the NAL wanted or needed in it's first season.
Recapping Week 2 in the NAL two games opened the week at 6PM CT as Jacksonville played Georgia and in the NAL Game of the Week; High Country hosted Lehigh Valley. Down in Florida a very unsurprising outcome happened as the Sharks beat the Firebirds 55-26 in front of 7,156 fans. In Boone, NC a very entertaining Game of the Week happened. With both the Grizzlies and Steelhawks having streaks of scoring and no lead ever being safe the entire night it showed both teams came to play. Lehigh Valley just was the better team that night spoiling the Grizzlies first ever home opener 48-42. Sunday night saw the Columbus Lions travel to Corpus Christi to play the Rage. Just like the Georgia Firebirds the Rage had a very anemic attendance at the American Bank Center. At least the fans were able to get in the building unlike the now defunct Fury's home opener in 2016. As bad as it was off the field it was even worse on the field as the Lions roared to an 85-18 victory over the hometown Rage. And finishing off the week was the Monterrey Steel hosting the Wolfpack. The Steel would make the traveling Wolfpack regret the trip with a 61-24 win.
Week 3 again has 4 games with all 8 teams playing and just like Week 2, two games are on Saturday, one on Sunday, and one on Monday. On Saturday night at 6PM CT Lehigh Valley heads to Jacksonville at the same time the Wolfpack play the High Country Grizzlies in Boone, NC. On Sunday afternoon the Columbus Lions host in state rival the Georgia Firebirds at 5PM CT. And wrapping up Week 3 is their second matchup in 3 weeks, as the Monterrey Steel host the Corpus Christi Rage.

After a good set of games last week, this weeks games have a lot to live up too. First up is the CIF Game of the Week on Friday night when the Omaha Beef (2-1) hosts the Sioux City Bandits (4-0) at 7PM CT from the Ralston Arena in Ralston, NE. Both teams faced off back in Week 1 when Sioux City took out the Beef 63-44 at the Gateway Arena at Tyson Event Center. On Saturday at 6PM CT is the NAL Game of the Week as the Jacksonville Sharks host the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks from "The Shark Tank" Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. Both Jacksonville and Lehigh Valley enter the game at 2-0 in the NAL's inaugural season. This will be the Steelhawks and Sharks first ever meeting in both clubs history. Wrapping up the week is the IFL Game of the Week as at 9PM CT the Spokane Empire host the Nebraska Danger from the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. Both the IFL and NAL games can be viewed LIVE and FREE on YouTube while the CIF is available on Eversport.