Indoor Football Weekly #22

Credit: The Herald Dispatch (Huntington, WV)

After last week at least this week didn't have as much news, especially the bad kind but we do have some good news as well.

After quite a while we return to our history segment. Six weeks ago, we covered the 2005 season and this week we cover 2006. The APFL, NIFL, UIF, and AIFL (American Indoor Football League previously the Atlantic Indoor Football League) all returned from 2005. The Intense Football League, which was formed in 2004 and went on hiatus in 2005, returned in 2006. And a new league, the Great Lakes Indoor Football League (GLIFL) was formed.
The Six team APFL went down to just five as the Kansas Storm and Nebraska Bears folded while the league added the Nebraska Wildcats. While the NIFL stayed at 22 teams it still went through a plethora of changes including having 6 teams fold, the Rome Renegades leave for the AIFL, and Corpus Christi, Louisiana, Odessa, and San Angelo all left for the Intense Football League. While the Miami Morays renamed the Florida Frenzy, the Rapid City Flying Aces rejoin the NIFL, and 10 new teams added to get back to that 22 team total. United Indoor Football went from 11 teams down to 10 as the Black Hills Red Dogs (renamed the Rapids City Flying Aces) left to go back to the NIFL and the Tupelo Fire Ants folded. The league added the Bloomington Extreme while the Tennessee Valley Raptors moved to Rockford, IL as the Rock River Raptors to make way for an af2 team in Huntsville, AL. After 2005 the Atlantic Indoor Football League was renamed American Indoor Football League and had all six of it's original franchises return, and only one (the Carolina Ghostriders formerly Greensboro) under a different name. Along with the original six clubs the league added 9 expansion teams and 1 team, the Rome Renegades, moved to the AIFL from the NIFL. The Intense Football League also reformed for 2006 with six teams forming the league consisting of former Intense teams in Corpus Christi, Odessa, San Angelo who played in the NIFL in 2005, a 2005 NIFL expansion team in the Louisiana Swashbucklers, and expansion teams CenTex Barracudas and Laredo Lobos. On top of those four leagues a brand new league, the Great Lakes Indoor Football League, was started with six brand new teams.
The APFL had a rough year seeing the Kansas Koyotes lose their first game in franchise history in week one to the Wichita Aviators. It became even crazier as the season went on with the Aviators winning the regular season championship and therefore the rights to host the APFL Championship. In the playoffs the Kansas Koyotes defeated the Iowa Blackhawks in the Semi-Final and after that the APFL decided to move the championship to the Landon Arena, home of the Koyotes. This move caused Wichita to boycott the Championship, which would then be awarded to the Koyotes via forfeit and caused Wichita to leave the APFL. The AIFL had a less-crazy but still event filled season after just four weeks the Carolina Ghostriders folded and would be replaced by the AIFL Ghostchasers to finish out the Ghostriders road schedule. The Syracuse Soldiers would also fold after 10 games and would have their road schedule finished by a combination of three Semi-Pro teams. After all those issues and two rounds of playoffs the Canton Legends would defeat the Rome Renegades 61-40 to win the AIFL Championship. The GLIFL was extremely stable for a first year league and would see all 6 of it's teams complete the entire regular season. With four teams making the playoffs the 1 and 2 seeds would win the Semi-Finals which put Port Huron against Rochester in Great Lakes Bowl I. The #1 seeded Port Huron Pirates would defeat the Raiders 40-34 to win the inaugural GLIFL Championship. With returning for 2006 the six team Intense Football League was very similar to the GLIFL with all teams finish it's season of 14 games (rather than the 10 of the GLIFL) followed up with a four team playoff. With the 1 and 2 seeds facing off in Intense Bowl II the hosting and 1st seeded Odessa Roughnecks would crush the Corpus Christi Hammerheads 97-56. The NIFL however laid it's deathbed in 2006 as it saw one of it's teams, the West Palm Beach Phantoms who never were able to secure a home venue, only play 7 road games most which used entire Semi-Pro teams near the opponents home city. This along with the issues in Lincoln who went 0-14 as did the Twin City Gators helped tarnish the leagues already hurt reputation. With 12 of 22 teams making the playoffs three rounds we're needed to decide who played in Indoor Bowl VI. Indoor Bowl VI saw the Pacific Conference 1 seed the Billings Outlaws host and defeat the Atlantic Conference 1 seed the Fayetteville Guard 59-44. Rounding out 2006 was United Indoor Football and it's 15 game season. The UIF was by far the strongest of all the existing league playing indoor football. After it's 15 game schedule 6 of the 10 teams made the playoffs for the road to United Bowl II. Sioux Falls would beat the Lexington Horsemen 72-64 at the Sioux Falls Arena to win UIF United Bowl II and it's second championship.

Credit: Indoor Football League

The IFL had well a quite decent Week 11 especially for the amount of bad game that we're scheduled. Kicking off the week was the only Friday night game as the Nebraska Danger hosted the Cedar Rapids Titans. The Titans, who definitely have improved since Week 1, didn't stand a chance as the Danger took a a 50-38 win. Saturday night had three games played and it opened up with the Iowa Barnstormers hosting the Colorado Crush. As covered last week Project FANchise fired Colorado head coach Jose Jefferson for "cost cutting measures" and Marvin Jones took over duties as acting Crush head coach. Iowa controlled the game, which was a very low scoring affair, all night to take a 33-21 win over the Crush. Next up was the IFL Game of the Week between the Wichita Falls Nighthawks and Sioux Falls Storm. The Nighthawks had the Storm's number and took the game 44-36 at home in Wichita Falls. Wrapping up Saturday was the Arizona Rattlers and the Green Bay Blizzard. Arizona made it known that Green Bay was in "The Snake Pit" taking a huge 64-29 win over the visiting Blizzard. Ending the week was the Intense Conference leading Spokane Empire hosting the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles. The game was a lot closer than it should have been and came down to the final seconds for Spokane as they edged out Salt Lake 31-29.
Some good news came out of the Colorado front this week as it's been reported that the IFL is making Project FANchise sell the Crush to new owners and that at least a few parties are interested in buying the team. This is definitely good news as the Crush is having it's most successful season at the gate in quite a few years.
As we enter the last third of the IFL season we actually have playoff races in both the Intense and United Conferences this year! And yes while only 4 teams making the playoffs isn't ideal (6 would be) at least the last 6 weeks will be meaningful. Week 12 kicks off on Friday night with what should be a beatdown as the Arizona Rattlers (5-4) travel to Cedar Rapids to take on the Titans (1-9) at 7:05 PM CT. The other game on Friday night is also a 7:05 PM CT game as Wichita Falls (8-2) hosts Nebraska (6-4). Saturday night has two games at 7:05 PM CT, in the east Green Bay (2-8) takes on the Iowa Barnstormers (7-2) in Green Bay, while out west the Sioux Falls Storm (8-1) have a 2016 United Bowl rematch as they host the Spokane Empire (7-2). Finally on Monday night the two teams from Project FANchise face each other as Colorado (2-7) hosts Salt Lake (1-8) at 7:00 PM CT.

Credit: Champions Indoor Football

The CIF had a weekend full of close games and of those close games two we're offensive showdowns and thew other was pure defense.Week 10 opened in Salina, KS with the Salina Liberty hosting the Omaha Beef. The winless Liberty gave the Beef a run for their money and in the end Omaha won 26-23. The other Saturday game saw Sioux City host West Michigan in a rematch from Week 9 where the Ironmen dominated the Bandits. That wouldn't be the case at the Gateway Arena at Tyson Events Center as the Bandits took revenge with a 53-37 win over the Ironmen. Sunday gave us a matinee game from Independence, MO with Kansas City hosting Dodge City. The Law would overcome a tough night in the kicking department (they had three consecutive PAT's blocked and it would have been four if not for a penalty) to win 62-61 in OT. Ending the week was a nightcap and the CIF Game of the Week between the Amarillo Venom and Texas Revolution. In a game that completely lacked defense the Texas Revolution won a last minute victory 96-95 over the Amarillo Venom. This also has the distinction of being the highest scoring game of the season and potentially the most points all time in Arena/Indoor history.
Champions Indoor Football is now in the last 5 weeks of the regular season and with 4 playoff spots on the line the race is really heating up. In the Northern Division Sioux City has guaranteed themselves a spot in the CIF Playoffs while in the Southern Division all 4 spots are still up for grabs. On top of that no teams are mathematically out, but that all will change this week with a full slate of 7 games scheduled all on Saturday night. Opening the evening is the West Michigan (3-5) hosting Bloomington (5-3) at 6 PM CT. At 6:30 PM CT the Salina Liberty (0-8) host the Texas Revolution (5-2), this game is a playoff make or break for the Liberty as a loss puts them mathematically out of contention. 7 PM CT has five games including the Amarillo Venom (6-1) hosting the Duke City Gladiators (4-3), Duke City has lost the two previous meetings this season by just a combined four points. Also on the table is an All-Kansas clash between the Wichita Force (3-4) and the Dodge City Law (7-1). Sioux City (7-1) also will host the Bismarck Bucks (3-4), Omaha (4-3) hosts Kansas City (1-7) in a must win game for the Phantoms as a loss puts them out of playoff contention. And finally the Dallas Marshals (4-3) host the CenTex Cavalry (0-7), a loss for CenTex means they are also out of playoff contention. All games of course are viewable on Eversport.

Credit: National Arena League

The National Arena League's Week 7 had two close games and a huge blowout with all games being played last Saturday at the same time. The biggest game was the NAL Game of the Week and what looks to be a preview of the NAL Championship Game as the Jacksonville Sharks hosted the Columbus Lions. Jacksonville, even without QB Tommy Grady who is out for the season, proved once again they are the best team in the NAL by beating the Lions 37-28 in "The Shark Tank". Up North the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks hosted the Corpus Christi Rage and absolutely massacred the visitors by a score of 95-28. Wrapping up the week was the Georgia Firebirds hosting the Wolfpack, who are now onto their second head coach. The Firebirds won a close game in Albany 35-32 over the Wolfpack.
Week 8 of the NAL has their first full slate of four games since Week 3 and three of the games are being played at 6 PM CT. In what looks to be a massacre even worse than last week the Jacksonville Sharks (6-0) host the Corpus Christi Rage (0-5). Then the Wolfpack (0-4) head to Allentown, PA to face the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (5-1). Wrapping up Saturday is the Columbus Lions (3-3) hosting the Monterrey Steel (3-1). Sunday has just one game scheduled for 2:30 PM CT when the High Country Grizzlies (2-3) host the Georgia Firebirds (2-4). The Grizzlies-Firebirds game should be interesting depending on which Firebirds team shows up as they have been extremely bipolar, fighting to a close loss against a good Columbus team but barely beating a bad Wolfpack team.

Last week had probably the best slate of Game of the Week matchups of the entire season so far. All of the games this week are on Saturday and it'll kick off with the NAL Game of the Week as the Columbus Lions host the Monterrey Steel. Monterrey is coming off a bye week preceded by a loss to Jacksonville while Columbus is coming straight off a loss to the same team. Look for a fight as Monterrey looks to show they are the better team while Columbus tries to salvage the second half of their season. Heading west is the CIF Game of the Week at 7 PM CT with the Amarillo Venom hosting the Duke City Gladiators. Amarillo has gotten the best of Duke City both times they've played so far but just by a hair. The Gladiators will be coming into this game well rested having not played last week while Amarillo will want blood after losing a heartbreaker to the Revolution last week. Then going North for the IFL Game of the Week, also at 7 PM CT with the Sioux Falls Storm hosting the Spokane Empire. This is the 4th ever meeting between these two teams, and the Storm have won all 3. Spokane is coming off a very close win against Salt Lake and looking to prove themselves against the IFL juggernaut, while Sioux Falls is beat up and coming off a loss to Wichita Falls but don't think that will stop the Storm, this will be a good one folks. The CIF game can be seen on Eversport IFL on YouTube, the NAL on Livestream.