Indoor Football Weekly #27

Credit: AL.com

Another week is down in the 2017 season and the CIF regular season has now wrapped up. The IFL for the first time in years is coming down to the wire and the NAL continues to exist.

Credit: Indoor Football League

Week 16 in the IFL was again a fairly good week as every team that needed a win in the United Conference got it while last year's Intense Conference Champion Spokane Empire seem to be running out of steam. With Week 16 opening up on Friday night the only IFL game saw the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles take on the Iowa Barnstormers. Salt Lake definitely went down screaming with a plethora of turnovers in a 58-36 loss to Iowa. Saturday night saw the other four games be played and starting in Loveland, CO the Storm needed a bounce back win after a home loss against Wichita Falls the week before. It wasn't pretty but the Storm took down the Colorado Crush 51-29. Out in Green Bay the Blizzard hosted the Nighthawks in a game that Wichita Falls desperately needed to win as they are on the outside looking in at the playoffs. Green Bay, just a week after being slaughtered by Iowa, took Wichita Falls to the ropes but couldn't finish them off. The Nighthawks walk away with a 44-37 win. Out in Cedar Rapids the Titans played host to the Nebraska Danger. The Danger needed Overtime to finish off the Titans with a 52-46 win. Wrapping up the week was the IFL Game of the Week between the Spokane Empire and Arizona Rattlers. Arizona walked out of Spokane with a 33-16 win and the right to host the Intense Conference Championship.

Week 17, the second to last week of the 2017 IFL season and it all kicks off with one game on Friday night when the Iowa Barnstormers (12-2) host the Spokane Empire (8-6) at 7 PM CT in Des Moines, IA. Saturday night had three games to play all at 7 PM CT. In Sioux Falls, SD the Storm (12-2) host the Nebraska Danger (8-6). The Green Bay Blizzard (2-13) host the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles (4-10). Wrapping up Saturday night is another playoff implicating game with the Wichita Falls Nighthawks (11-3) hosting the Colorado Crush (3-11). The final game of the week will be played on Sunday evening at 4 PM CT when the Arizona Rattlers (10-4) host the Cedar Rapids Titans (1-14) in the one of two game with ZERO playoff implications.

Credit: Champions Indoor Football

Champions Indoor Football wrapped up it's 2017 regular season last week in Week 15 with a bombshell notice and 12 teams playing a total of 6 games. The bombshell notice was that the Southern Division leading Dodge City Law had been issued a penalty by Champions Indoor Football for late uploading of game film to Hudl. The penalty issued was forfeiting 2 victories on the season dropping the Law from 9-2 down to 7-2 and fighting for a playoff spot. After the news the week started with two games on Friday night as the Texas Revolution hosted the Wichita Force and Kansas City Phantoms hosted the Sioux City Bandits. In Allen, TX the Revs took down the Force 56-43 and in Independence, MO the Phantoms upset the Northern Division's top seed the Sioux City Bandits 75-70. Saturday night saw four games being played as Duke City hosted Dodge City in a game that was do or die for both teams. The Bismarck Bucks played host to the Bloomington Edge, the Dallas Marshals hosted the Omaha Beef, and the Amarillo Venom hosted the CenTex Cavalry. In those four games the Duke City Gladiators secured a playoff spot with a 43-22 win over the Law. In Bismarck the Edge just took barely took a win over the hometown Bucks 79-78. Down in Mesquite the Dallas Marshals beat the Omaha Beef 62-55 and finally in Amarillo the Venom crushed the CenTex Cavalry 55-27.

This week the 2017 edition of the CIF playoff start. Last year saw 6 teams, 3 from each division, made the playoffs, this year it has been expanded to 8 teams, with 4 from each division. All four games this week will all be played on Saturday night at 7 PM CT. In the Northern Division the #1 Sioux City Bandits host the #4 Bismarck Bucks and the #2 Omaha Beef host the #3 Bloomington Edge. In the Southern Division playoffs the #1 Amarillo Venom host the #4 Duke City Gladiators in what should be a very interesting game as Amarillo has face Duke City three times and barely edged out wins every time. Wrapping up the week is the #2 Texas Revolution hosting the #3 Dodge City Law in a game that if not for the penalty assessed by the league would be being played in Dodge City, KS.

Credit: National Arena League

Week 12 of the National Arena League had four games with all 8 teams playing and of course the usual beatdowns. The three games on Saturday night saw the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks edge the High Country Grizzlies 67-52 in the NAL Game of the Week. The other two games saw the Columbus Lions beat the Georgia Firebirds 81-12 and the Jacksonville Sharks knock off the Wolfpack 77-32. Monday night saw another crushing as the Monterrey Steel struck down the Georgia Firebirds 66-8.

Usually we don't highlight player signings here however this is a little different as Robert Kent, who QB for both the Texas Revolution, until they signed Chris Dixon, and the Dallas Marshals of Champions Indoor Football signed with the Monterrey Steel after Dallas was knocked out from the playoffs. With his contract not officially being over in Dallas let's see what happens in both the NAL and CIF. The other big highlight is the stunt the Columbus Lions are pulled for their trip to Monterrey, MX as they were asking for bottled water donations implying that the water in Monterrey was, let's just say tainted. Monterrey and Columbus have both since taken down their posts relating to this.

Week 13 has three games being played with two on Saturday and one on Monday night. On Saturday night both games will be played on Saturday night at 6 PM CT as the Jacksonville Sharks host the High Country Grizzlies and the Georgia Firebirds host the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks. Monday night at 8 PM CT the Monterrey Steel host the Columbus Lions.

Were down to just two regular season weeks to go and just two leagues left with a Game of the Week. The IFL Game of the Week opens up everything as at 7 PM CT on Friday night the Iowa Barnstormers host the Spokane Empire in a game that BOTH team need a win to help their playoff plights. The NAL Game of the Week is the final game of the week overall as at 8 PM CT the Monterrey Steel host the Columbus Lions.