Indoor Football Weekly #26

Credit: Clarksville Online

A belated Happy Memorial Day from Indoor Football Weekly to our readers. We've already reached the final week of the season in one league, Champions Indoor Football as they enter Week 15. The IFL is in it's final three weeks with HUGE playoff races in both conferences for the first time in years. The NAL is just kind of running out it's season with al four playoff spots pretty much decided.

Credit: Indoor Football League

The Indoor Football League's Week 15 was filled with entertaining games. It all kicked off on Friday with two games, the first of which saw the Iowa Barnstormers manhandle the Green Bay Blizzard 64-12 in front of a nice crowd in Des Moines, which included a small but loyal contingent of Blizzard fans. Finishing up the night was the Spokane Empire hosting the Colorado Crush. After losing to the Crush in Week 14 the Empire, who did release QB Charles Dowdell, would beat the Crush 48-43. Saturday night saw just one game, the first of two IFL Game of the Week showcases between the Sioux Falls Storm and Wichita Falls Nighthawks. The Nighthawks would take down the Storm IN SIOUX FALLS by a score of 36-21. Wichita Falls broke 3 streaks that night the first being a 68 game home winning streak by Sioux Falls and by virtue of that broke Sioux Falls unbeaten record at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center. Last but not least they are the first team since the Billings Outlaws in 2010 (the last time Sioux Falls didn't win the title) to beat the Storm twice in the same season. Sunday evening saw the second IFL Game of the Week in the Intense Conference between the Arizona Rattlers and Nebraska Danger. The Rattlers would keep themselves in 1st place in the Intense Conference with a 43-33 win over the Danger. The week wrapped up in Salt Lake with the Screaming Eagles hosting the Cedar Rapids Titans. The Titans didn't stand a chance and looked like a team wanting their season to be over as they were crushed 64-27 by Salt Lake.
Week 16 has all 10 teams playing five games over two days. The week starts on Friday night when the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles (4-9) host the Iowa Barnstormers (11-2) at 8 PM CT. The other four games all kick off on Saturday starting at 6 PM CT with the Colorado Crush hosting the Sioux Falls Storm. Two games are being played at 7:05 PM CT as in the east the Green Bay Blizzard host the Wichita Falls Nighthawks and in the west the Cedar Rapids Titans host the Nebraska Danger. And last but not least the Spokane Empire host the Arizona Rattlers at 9 PM CT in a highly anticipated showdown for the Intense Conference playoffs.

Credit: Champions Indoor Football

Week 14 gave us a clearer playoff picture in the CIF Northern Division but the Southern Division looks mighty crowded. On Friday night the Bloomington Edge took on the West Michigan Ironmen and well again West Michigan came out with a little surprise for the Edge beating them 61-53. With the Edge losing the Omaha Beef secured a home playoff game for the first time since 2011. The six other games were played on Saturday night opening with Bismarck putting down Salina 30-16 and the Dodge City Law beating the Texas Revs 49-46. Sioux City would knock off the Beef 61-55, Kansas City took down Dallas 48-42. In the final two games of the night Wichita would crush CenTex 63-28 and in the CIF Game of the Week the Duke City Gladiators again kept their playoff hopes alive with a 69-46 win over the Amarillo Venom.
Week 15, the final week of the 2017 CIF season has 6 games this week. Friday night has two games with one starting at 7:00 PM CT between the Texas Revolution and Wichita Force. Just 5 minutes later the Kansas City Phantoms kick off hosting the Sioux City Bandits. Saturday night has four games all at 7:05 PM CT. Way up north the Bismarck Bucks host the Bloomington Edge in a game that could potentially have playoff seeding impacts. Two games will be played in Texas with the Amarillo Venom hosting the CenTex Cavalry and Dallas Marshals hosting the Omaha Beef. Finally wrapping up the week is the Duke City Gladiators hosting the Dodge City Law.

Credit: National Arena League

The NAL's 11th Week was well just as expected. In the only semi-close game the Columbus Lions beat the High Country Grizzlies 56-41. The Monterrey Steel didn't strike a surprising but win but rather the large one that was expected, beating the Georgia Firebirds 68-26. And wrapping up the week was the Jacksonville Sharks and Corpus Christi Rage. Well the Sharks did what they wanted too against the Rage beating them 71-6.
Week 12 features four games, with three being played at 6 PM CT on Saturday and one game on Monday night. Saturday night starts up north with the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks hosting the High Country Grizzlies in one of very few potentially playoff impacting games. Then in Georgia the Columbus Lions host the Corpus Christi Rage and finally in Florida the Jacksonville Sharks host the Wolfpack. Finally wrapping up the week on Monday night is the Monterrey Steel hosting the Georgia Firebirds.

After a very exciting week last week we have one Game of the Week in each league. The NAL Game of the Week kicks off the week at 6 PM CT with the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks hosting the High Country Grizzlies. The final CIF Game of the Week for the 2017 season sees the Duke City Gladiators hosting the Dodge City Law in a truly win or go home game for the Gladiators. The IFL Game of the Week stays in the Intense Conference with the Spokane Empire hosting the Arizona Rattlers at 9 PM CT on Saturday night.

Indoor Football Weekly #25

It's coming down to the wire for the 2017 regular season. The IFL is in a fierce playoff battle in both conferences, the CIF is narrowing down it's field, and the NAL has 5 teams fighting for 4 playoff spots.

Credit: Indoor Football League

Week 14 gave us a full slate of football in the IFL and it all kicked off with a Thursday night game between the Spokane Empire and Colorado Crush. The game was exactly the opposite of what was expected as the Crush came out with a 45-36 win, handing the Empire their third straight loss. Spokane is in a dogfight for the Intense Conference playoff spots and they'll desperately need to improve to get in. Saturday night brought us four more games with three kicking off at 7:05 PM CT. In the north the Sioux Falls Storm hosted the Cedar Rapids Titans in what could be the final ever matchup between these rivals. The Storm wiped the floor with Cedar Rapids by a score of 54-20. Out the Nebraska it was a battle between the hosting Danger and Green Bay Blizzard. Nebraska put down Green Bay fairly easily, 41-25, which will definitely help in the Dangers quest to go to the Intense Conference Championship. Down in Texas the Wichita Falls Nighthawks hosted the Iowa Barnstormers in the IFL Game of the Week. The game would have huge repercussions on the United Conference side of the playoffs with the winner getting an inside track to the United Conference Championship. In what was a back and forth game for most of the night it came down to the final minute with a battle of kickers. First up was the Barnstormers kicker Kenton Chun, who is statistically the worst kicker in the IFL. Chun would make the FG giving Iowa a 3 point lead setting up Wichita Falls with just seconds left to send out the best kicker in the IFL Rockne Belmonte. The FG missed and Iowa away a tight 50-47 win. Wrapping up the weekend was the Arizona Rattlers and Salt Lake Screaming Eagles. Salt Lake stood no chance against Kevin Guy and Co. as the Rattlers cruised to a 63-33 win over Salt Lake.

Week 15 again will give us a full slate of 5 games on the dock. 2 games on Friday starting out with the Iowa Barnstormers hosting the Green Bay Blizzard at 7:05 PM CT. Then at 9 PM CT the Spokane Empire look for revenge as they take on the Colorado Crush. Saturday has just one game with the Sioux Falls Storm hosting the Wichita Falls Nighthawks at 7:05 PM CT in a game that again has major repercussions with it. Sunday night again has another major game this time in the Intense Conference as Arizona hosts Nebraska at 5 PM CT. It caps off on Monday night when the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles host the Cedar Rapids Titans at 8 PM CT.

Credit: Champions Indoor Football

Champions Indoor Football had a huge Week 13 with every game having some sort of playoff implications. Friday night saw two games being played. Opening up the weekend was the CIF Game of the Week between Duke City and the Texas Revolution. The Gladiators would take the win 35-28 in Allen, TX over the Revs to keep alive their playoff hopes. Down in Belton the CenTex Cavalry hosted the Amarillo Venom. The Venom came out in a no mercy attitude, crushing the Cavalry 60-26. Saturday saw the other four game being played all starting with a matinee between the Salina Liberty and Bloomington Edge. After weeks of trials and tribulations the Liberty finally won their first game 47-34 on the road in Bloomington, IL. In Sioux City, IA the Bandits hosted the Bucks with Bismarck looking to get them a better edge over West Michigan and Sioux City looking to keep themselves in first place. The Bandits took the win by a final score of 67-49. In Ralston, NE the Omaha Beef played host to the West Michigan Ironmen. West Michigan, last years AIF runner-up, has had a very poor first season in the CIF and it continued as the Beef took down the Ironmen 42-39. The last game of the week was a Southern Division impacting game as the Dallas Marshals hosted the Wichita Force. Wichita, last years Champions Bowl winner, got the best of the Marshals winning 34-27.

Week 14, the second to last Week of the CIF regular season has all 14 teams in action over seven games again this week. It opens up on Friday night at 7:05 PM CT when the Bloomington Edge host the West Michigan Ironmen in a must win game for the Ironmen. Saturday night has the other six games being played kicking off with two at 6:35 PM CT. In the North Division the Salina Liberty host the Bismarck Bucks, while Salina is out of the playoffs they definitely want to win a second game to close out the season. In the Southern Division the Dodge City Law host the Texas Revolution in a battle that is huge for first place. The other four games all start at 7:05 PM CT and in the North is the final regular season battle between the Omaha Beef and their archrival Sioux City Bandits. An inter-divisional matchup takes place in Independence, MO when the Kansas City Phantoms host the Dallas Marshals. While the Phantoms cannot make the playoffs a win for them can definitely hurt the Marshals chances. In Wichita, KS the Force are looking to stake their claim in the playoffs as they host the CenTex Cavalry. And last but not least out west, in what is one of the most important games this week, the Duke City Gladiators host the Amarillo Venom as Duke City looks to keep their playoff hopes alive. As always all games can be viewed live on Eversport.

Credit: National Arena League

Week 10 in the National Arena League was well exactly what we expected and we even saw the first shutout of the season and NAL history, a rarity in this sport. The shutout happened when the Columbus Lions massacred the Wolfpack 77-0 in Columbus, GA. In the NAL Game of the Week the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks took down the High Country Grizzlies 56-28. And wrapping up the week was the usual Jacksonville beatdown as the Sharks took down the Monterrey Steel 42-13 in Jacksonville.

The most exciting events of the week happened actually in between games. The first of which was relatively minor news as the Jersey Flight, who will be lucky to play a game next season, named Jake Grande as head coach. It's good to name a head coach this early especially to get a head start into the off-season but it doesn't matter when your ownership says they need to raise funds to play. The biggest news of the week came from Jacksonville as they relieved Mark Stoute of his head coaching duties and named Siaha Burley as head coach. That's right the 8-0 Sharks who have just crushed the rest of the NAL made what is by far the stupidest move of the season by firing their head coach. Welcome to AIF 2.0 people.

Week 11 in the NAL will see three games being played, none of which should be a challenge. The first two games are at 6 PM CT as the High Country Grizzlies host the Columbus Lions and the Georgia Firebirds host the Monterrey Steel. Then on Sunday at 7 PM CT the Corpus Christi Rage host the Jacksonville Sharks.

Our Game of the Week is getting a bit of a revamp this week. As always we'll have the CIF Game of the Week but no NAL Game of the Week as instead there will be 2 IFL Co-Games of the Week. Saturday night will see two games, both at 7:05 PM as the CIF Game of the Week is between the Duke City Gladiators and Amarillo Venom. Both teams want and need to win as it will help keep Duke City's playoff hopes alive while a win for the Venom helps them to try and move to first place in the Southern Division. The first of two in the IFL Game of the Week sees the Sioux Falls Storm hosting the Wichita Falls Nighthawks. A very angry Nighthawks team will be coming into Sioux Falls needing a win to maintain a decent shot at the playoffs while Sioux Falls is facing the only team they've lost too this season and still have a chance at not making the playoffs, look for this to be a dogfight. Last but not least is the second IFL Game of the Week on Sunday at 5 PM as the Intense Conference leading Arizona Rattlers host the second place Nebraska Danger. The Danger need a win to push themselves into the playoffs for yet another year while Arizona wants to hold onto the first place spot in the Intense Conference.

Indoor Football Weekly #24

Credit: Houston Chronicle

The 2017 indoor football season is in it's closing stages and all three leagues are now in their respective playoff races.

Two Weeks ago we looked at 2006, this week we'll be moving forward to 2007. All six leagues from 2006 came back with the AIFL now being renamed the AIFA and the GLIFL being renamed the Continental Indoor Football League. These six would be joined by the new World Indoor Football League.
In the American Professional Football League, who had a controversial finish to it's 2006 season, which saw the Wichita Aviators stripped of home APFL Championship Game in favor of the Kansas Koyotes hosting it which led the Aviators to not play the Championship and leave the APFL. The league also lost the Nebraska Wildcats while the Conroe Storm, Springfield WolfPack, and Texas Regulators would be added to the league to bring the APFL back to six teams. The newly renamed AIFA, who had lost the Carolina Ghostriders and Syracuse Soldiers during the 2006 season lost a few more teams in the offseason. The Chattahoochee Valley Vipers, Richmond Bandits folded, the Steubenville Stampede would move to the CIFL, the Augusta Spartans, Daytona Beach Thunder, Raleigh Rebels and Rome Renegades had set to move to the WIFL but both Raleigh and Rome folded before the season started. The AIFA was brought back up to 14 teams as the Baltimore Blackirds, Carolina Speed, Danville Demolition, Pittsburgh RiverRats, Mississippi MudCats, and the Tallahassee Titans were added as expansion clubs while the Lakeland ThudnerBolts and Montgomery Maulers, now renamed the Bears, moved in from the NIFL. After 2006 the Great Lakes Indoor Football League was renamed the Continental Indoor Football League, with that name change came a massive (for the league) addition of franchises. Of the six GLIFL teams in 2006 only the Battle Creek Crunch did not return. At the same time nine teams, the Chesapeake Tide, Chicago Slaughter, Kalamazoo Xplosion, Miami Valley Silverbacks, Muskegon Thunder, New England Surge, Springfield Stallions, and Summit County Rumble were added as expansion teams while the Steubenville Stampede moved in from the AIFL. The Intense Football League, like the CIFL, saw 5 of it's 6 teams return with only the Laredo Lobos failing to return. The IFL would welcome three expansion teams, the Frisco Thunder, Katy Ruff Riders, and the first ever professional football team in Alaska the Alaska Wild, to setup an 8 team league for 2007. After a mess of a 2006 season in the National Indoor Football League 2007 managed to get even worse. With almost every well run team (nay for a few exceptions) bailing on the NIFL for other leagues and the addition of a plethora of league owned teams making up it's 24 team roster it looked great from the outset. We'll continue the rest shortly. United Indoor Football for the most part stayed level with a few changes such as the Fort Wayne Freedom suspending operations for one season while the af2 Fort Wayne Fusion played in town and the Peoria Rough Riders also suspending operations before rejoining the af2 in 2008. To get the league back up to 11 teams the RiverCity Rage and Billings Outlaws joined from the NIFL and the Colorado Ice were added as an expansion team. Finally last but not least was the new World Indoor Football League. The WIFL did not look good from the start as they had as many as 9 different teams planned to join the WIFL but only four the Augusta Spartans and Daytona Beach Thunder from the NIFL and the expansion Columbus Lions and Osceola Ghostriders actually played in the WIFL.
In the APFL the Regulators couldn't manage to find a home building and only played one road game, but that didn't stop the league from completing it's season. Kansas would finish first in the regular season with a record of 8-2. The Iowa Blackhawks would win the Semi-Final on the road against the Conroe Storm before dropping the APFL Championship 39-15 to Kansas. Heading east to the AIFA all the teams completed their season (including the road only Gulf Coast Raiders who only had three games scheduled. The top four teams from each division qualified for the playoffs. It wasn't an ultra competitive playoffs as the 1 seeds each cruised through the first two rounds. The AIFA Championship would be held in conjunction with an All Star Game in Florence, SC. The Lakeland ThunderBolts would take home the championship with a 54-59 win over the North Division Champion Reading Express. As well in the CIFL all of it's member teams completed their 12 game season. The playoff format was a bit odd as 6 teams qualified from the Great Lakes Division (made up of 8 teams) and just 4 made it in from the Atlantic Division (that only had 6 teams in it). And just like the AIFA it didn't matter too much as both number one seeds made it to the Championship. It was however a little odd as with the horrid attendance in Port Huron the Pirates 12-0 renamed themselves the Michigan Pirates before the playoffs and announce they would play all playoff games in Flint, MI. The Pirates declined to host the Championship game and a raucous crowd in Rochester saw the hometown Raiders down the Pirates 37-27 to win the CIFL Championship and hand the Pirates their first ever loss. The Intense Football League would again have a stable regular season, even with adding a team in Alaska. The Wild would finish dead last in the 8 team league that saw 4 teams compete in the playoffs. After Louisiana edged Odessa and Corpus Christi took down Frisco the two teams would meet for Intense Bowl III. The Sudduth Coliseum would be no place for the road team as the Louisiana Swashbucklers demolished the Corpus Christi Hammerheads. The National Indoor Football League however was nowhere near as lucky as the other leagues. Just a few games into the season 10 teams either defected or were kicked out of the league and would play the rest of the season as independents. The NIFL season concluded with the San Diego Shockwave being declared league champion while the Fayetteville Guard hosted and defeated the Wyoming Cavalry 48-34 in the Indoor Football Championship. United Indoor Football would have a much more successful 2007 season as they saw the league consolidate into 2 divisions with 4 making the playoffs from each one. The Sioux Falls Storm were unable to be matched and went 15-0 in the regular season before winning the Quarter-Final and Semi-Final. The Storm capped off a playoff run with a 62-59 win at home in United Bowl III against the Lexington Horsemen to win their third straight championship and finishing with an unblemished 18-0 record. Last was the four team World Indoor Football League which played a 14 game season. Even though the WIFL had only four teams, three qualified for the playoffs which saw Augusta defeat Osceola in the Semi-Final before defeating the top seeded Columbus Lions 63-60 to win what would be the only World Indoor Bowl.

Credit: Indoor Football League

Week 13 of the IFL saw almost a full slate of games as eight teams took the field to play four games. The week opened up with two games on Friday starting with the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles hosting the Colorado Crush. The (hopefully) final ever matchup between these teams owned by the ill-fated Project Fanchise saw Salt Lake take the win 38-37 over Colorado. Out West was the second game of the night as the Spokane Empire hosted the Arizona Rattlers in the IFL Game of the Week. In true Rattler fashion the visiting Arizona team did everything they could and pulled out a nice 49-35 win over the Empire. Saturday saw two more games played with the Iowa Barnstormers hosting the in-state rival Cedar Rapids Titans for what could be a final time. The Titans kept it close all night but the Barnstormers took a 56-54 win off a Dee Maggitt Jr. pick six, the second straight home game he has done this. In Green Bay where the Blizzard played host to the Storm from Sioux Falls it was a different scenario. Once the Storm got going they never stopped and took a huge 44-24 win over Green Bay. It's now a three team playoff race in each division in the IFL with Nebraska, Arizona, and Spokane battling for the Intense Conferences spots and Iowa, Wichita Falls, and Sioux Falls duking it out in the United Conference.
Week 14 will feature a full slate of games opening up on Thursday night as the Colorado Crush host the Spokane Empire at 6PM CT. Saturday has the other four games with three being played at 7:05 PM CT. In the north the Sioux Falls Storm will host the Cedar Rapids Titans. Down south just a bit sees the Nebraska Danger hosting the Green Bay Blizzard. And in the Lone Star State the Wichita Falls Nighthawks host the Iowa Barnstormers, the winner takes the #2 spot in the United Conference and takes the edge for that second playoff spot. Finally wrapping up the week is the Arizona Rattlers hosting the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles at 8 PM CT.

Credit: Champions Indoor Football

Champions Indoor Football gave us another good set of games playing 6 games over three days.  The week opened on Friday night  with the Wichita Force beating the Salina Liberty 36-17. Saturday night saw four of the six being played. Omaha would survive a scare in Muskegon beating the West Michigan Ironmen 44-41 and clinching a playoff spot. Dodge City, KS got to play host to the CIF Game of the Week as the Law hosted the Duke City Gladiators. In a back and forth game the Law would overcome the Gladiators 65-62. In Independence, MO the Kansas City Phantoms hosted the Bismarck Bucks. The hometown Phantoms had just enough stealth to hunt down the Bucks taking a 42-39 victory in the process. Last but not least on Saturday was the Amarillo Venom hosting the Texas Revolution. However during the game a fan fell ill and players from both squads helped out the EMT. The Venom just couldn't overcome the Revs and Texas pulled out a 68-61 win. Last but not least was the Dallas Marshals traveling to Belton, TX to play the CenTex Cavalry. The Cavalry came out charging like never before but the Marshals would take a 58-52 win back to Mesquite.
Week 13 of Champions Indoor Football gives us another six games starting out on Friday night at 7PM CT with two games. Both games are in Texas and feature the CenTex Cavalry hosting the Amarillo Venom in Belton, TX and up in Allen, TX the Texas Revolution host the Duke City Gladiators. Saturday features the other four games on the CIF slate opening at 11AM CT when the Bloomington Edge host the Salina Liberty. At 7PM CT the other three games will be played with a Northern Division clash between the hosting Sioux City Bandits and Bismarck Bucks. In Ralston, NE the Omaha Beef host the West Michigan Ironmen. Finally it wraps up in Texas with the Dallas Marshals hosting the Wichita Force. All games can of course be seen on Eversport.

Credit: National Arena League

The National Arena League had just one game with the Corpus Christi Rage taking on the Monterrey Steel. Monterrey would barely beat a bad Corpus Christi Rage by a score of 33-30.
Week 10 has three games scheduled for NAL play while originally being scheduled for  four games. Well earlier this week the NAL cancelled the game between the Georgia Firebirds and league run Corpus Christi Rage. Per the Rage the Firebirds didn't want to travel and canceled the game but both teams have horrid attendance and will be lucky to make it to 2018. All three games are scheduled for Saturday night at 6 PM CT. The High Country Grizzlies host the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks in Boone, NC. Down in Jacksonville the Sharks will host the Monterrey Steel and lastly the Columbus Lions host the Wolfpack.

Last week we had some tight ones in for the Game of the Week and this week the IFL and CIF co-open the Game of the Week. Starting with the CIF we'll see the Duke City Gladiators try and pull off a playoff helping win over the red hot Texas Revolution. The IFL Game of the Week is also playoff implicating as well with a United Conference battle between the Wichita Falls Nighthawks and Iowa Barnstormers. Finishing it all off is the NAL Game of the Week as the High Country Grizzlies host the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks. The IFL and NAL can be seen on YouTube while the CIF can be seen on Eversport.

Indoor Football Weekly #23

Last week was one of the most exciting weeks of indoor football this season. With a lot of close games and a few upsets across all three leagues. Let's hope more of that comes this week.

Credit: Indoor Football League

The Indoor Football League's Week 12 gave us some expected and some unexpected scores. On Friday night the Cedar Rapids Titans hosted the Arizona Rattlers to kick off the week. The game that was expected to be a beat down was the exact opposite as the Rattlers just edged out the Titans 34-32.  In the second game on Friday night the Wichita Falls Nighthawks hosted the Nebraska Danger. Wichita Falls came out on top over the Danger by a final score of 57-40. Saturday night had three games that started with the Green Bay Blizzard hosting the Iowa Barnstormers. In a close game that Iowa controlled most of the night, the Barnstormers came out on top with a 41-34 win over Green Bay. The wrap up game on Saturday night was the IFL Game of the Week between the Sioux Falls Storm and Spokane Empire. The Storm came out hot and just never gave the lead up finishing with a 62-32 thrashing of the Intense Conference leading Empire. Ending the week was an IFL Edition of Monday Night Football between Project FANchise's two teams the Colorado Crush and Salt Lake Screaming Eagles. In a game that had stream issues (shocking regarding these teams right?) the Screaming Eagles beat the Crush 64-41.
Week 13 once again kicks off on a Friday night starting with the final ever battle within Project FANchise as the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles (2-8) host the Colorado Crush (2-8) at 8:00 PM CT. At 9:00 PM CT on Friday night has the Spokane Empire (7-3) hosting the Arizona Rattlers (6-4), expect this game to be a fight to the finish just like the first one this season. Saturday night has two games, both at 7:05 PM CT. In the east the Iowa Barnstormers (8-2) host the Cedar Rapids Titans (1-10) in what could be the final ever game between these two teams. In the west the Sioux Falls Storm (9-1) host the Green Bay Blizzard (2-9), the two times these teams have met the Blizzard gave the Storm a fight so look for more of the same. You can catch Spokane-Arizona, Iowa-Cedar Rapids, and Sioux Falls-Green Bay LIVE and FREE on YouTube, Salt Lake-Colorado who the hell knows but expect it on Twitch.

Credit: Champions Indoor Football

Champions Indoor Football, like usual gave us another fantastic week of football, full of nail biters and upsets. All CIF games were played just on Saturday but the week opened up in the east with the West Michigan Ironmen hosting the Bloomington Edge. The Edge would barely take down the hosting Ironmen winning 68-67. Next up was the Texas Revolution and the Salina Liberty. While Salina had not won a game coming into Week 11 they have been playing good football as of late. However good just wasn't enough on Saturday night in Allen, TX as the Revs took a close W 46-42. In Amarillo the CIF Game of the Week was happening with the Venom hosting the Duke City Gladiators, these teams have faced each other twice this season with the games being decided by a combined four points. This game was no different in result or tightness as Amarillo overcame Duke City 30-28. In Kansas the Wichita Force played host to the Dodge City Law. Wichita came and came to play like we haven't seen before and took down the Law 91-51. Up in Bismarck the Bucks played host to the Sioux City Bandits and that game went down to the last second literally. The Bismarck Bucks would beat Sioux City 63-61 on a last second field goal. In Ralston, NE the Omaha Beef took a close 37-29 win over the Kansas City Phantoms. Rounding out the week was the Dallas Marshals hosting the CenTex Cavalry and as expected the Marshals pounded the Cavalry 72-47.
Week 12 kicks the playoff run into overdrive as all teams have now played either 8 or 9 games this season. Friday night sees one game with the Wichita Force (4-4) hosting the Salina Liberty (0-9) at 7:05 PM CT. Saturday night has four games, all at 7:05 PM CT. The Amarillo Venom (7-1) host the Texas Revolution (6-2). In Muskegon, MI the West Michigan Ironmen (3-6) host the Omaha Beef (5-3) in a game where West Michigan needs a win to help them in the playoff race. Dodge City, KS will see the Dodge City Law (7-2) host the Duke City Gladiators (4-4). The Gladiators have been extremely good and are just mere points away from having a 7-1 record but instead their looking up from the bottom trying to salvage their way into the CIF Playoffs. And finally on Saturday the Bismarck Bucks (4-4) host the Kansas City Phantoms (1-8). The Bucks need a win to make sure they stay ahead for the fourth spot in the North while the Phantoms are looking too get a win and show that they are better than a 1-8 team. Sunday comes to us with just one game at 5:05 PM CT as the CenTex Cavalry (0-8) host the Dallas Marshals (5-3) from the Bell County Expo Center. The Marshals have massacred the Cavalry every time they've faced off don't expect that to change. All CIF games can be seen on Eversport.

Credit: National Arena League

The National Arena League entered it's eight week of the NAL's inaugural season. The NAL had all eight teams play over four games. With three games on Saturday at 6 PM CT each game was a blowout of the highest proportions. Opening up the Columbus Lions took down the Monterrey Steel 48-18 in Columbus, GA. In Jacksonville, FL the Sharks would stay unbeaten with a 71-6 win over the Corpus Christi Rage. And finally up in Allentown, PA the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks beat the Wolfpack 68-8. Finally the week ended with the High Country Grizzlies hosting the Georgia Firebirds. The Grizzlies would take the win 47-31.
Week 9 of the NAL will only have a single game as the Corpus Christi Rage (0-6) host the Monterrey Steel (3-2) from the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, TX on Monday May 15th at 7:00 PM CT.

Last week's saw two beatdowns in the Games of the Week, let's hope for it to be better this week. The IFL Game of the Week kicks things off on Friday night as the Spokane Empire host the Arizona Rattlers at 9 PM CT. These teams have met once earlier this year with Spokane just edging out the Rattlers for the win. The CIF Game of the Week sees the Dodge City Law host the Duke City Gladiators at 7:05 PM CT. And wrapping up the week is the NAL Game of the Week on Monday when the Corpus Christi Rage host the Monterrey Steel. The IFL and NAL games can bee seen on YouTube while the CIF can be seen on Eversport.

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.