Indoor Football Weekly #16

Credit: Our Sports Central

We're through five weeks of indoor football now and coming up on week six. This week we have the most games played so far this year. 15 games, 5 in the IFL, 4 in the NAL, and 6 in the CIF, make up this weeks games.

Last week we saw what 2004 offered us, this week our trip through the history brings us into 2005. With 2005 saw the most leagues playing up to this point with four. Both the APFL and NIFL would return from 2004 while the Intense Football League would take 2005 off as it would be on a one year hiatus. Two new leagues we're also formed, United Indoor Football a league based mostly in the Midwest, along with the Atlantic Indoor Football League, a league based in the Eastern US formed by five expansion teams and one former NIFL club (Johnstown formerly Greeneville in the NIFL) for it's inaugural six teams.
The APFL who had four clubs in 2004 lost the Texas Thunder, who only lasted one season, but did add the Kansas Storm, Nebraska Bears, and Wichita Aviators too compete with six teams in 2005. The NIFL had 26 teams in 2004 lost 10 clubs (mostly to the new UIF and one to the new AIFL) to new leagues, 7 teams (Atlantic City, Colorado, Houma, Lake Charles, Tri-City, Utah, and Wichita Falls) that folded. That meant that only 9 teams returned to the league for the 2005 season, 13 new teams were added to give a total of 24 teams for 2005. The newly formed Atlantic Indoor Football League had six teams, with 5 expansion teams and from the NIFL the RiverHawks who moved from Greenville, SC to Johnstown, PA. In United Indoor Football it was made up EXCLUSIVELY of existing franchises. 9 of the 11 moved from the NIFL while Peoria (formerly the Pirates now the Rough Riders) and Tennessee Valley (formerly the Vipers now the Raptors) moved from arenafootball2.
The APFL's third season would see the Kansas Koyotes take on the Iowa Blackhawks, who had beat Wichita in the Semi-Final, for the APFL Championship. The Koyotes would reign supreme again barely edging out Iowa 26-24 at the Landon Arena to go 9-0 for a third straight season. While in the AIFL the playoffs looked a little different for a six team league as all six teams would qualify for the playoffs. After 2 rounds of playoffs the number one and two seeds, Richmond and Erie would play for the 2005 AIFL Championship. The Bandits would come out on top with a 56-30 road win over the Erie Freeze. The National Indoor Football League, even with all it's turmoil, saw this biggest amount of playoff teams at 16, just like the year before. With Indoor Bowl V being played at Three Rivers Coliseum in Kennewick, WA. With a sellout crowd seeing the expansion Fever taking on the Rome (GA) Renegades, Tri-Cities took the Championship 47-31. In the first year United Indoor Football 8 teams (of the leagues 11) would go into it's inaugural playoffs. UIF United Bowl I would be held at the Gateway Arena at Tyson Event Center in Sioux City, IA. The hometown Bandits would fall in a tough game 40-38 to their arch rival, the Sioux Falls Storm. United Bowl I was the Storm's first ever league Championship and set off the pace for the team that would win 10 titles in 12 seasons.

Credit: Indoor Football League

With the IFL's Week 5 in the books it was well not what we had expected at all. Kicking off the week was Colorado hosting Spokane. The Empire would put the Crush down in an avalanche by a score of 70-37. With no games on Saturday the next one was a Sunday matinee in Cedar Rapids, between the Titans and Blizzard. After a very close game and leading the entire time, the Titans would drop the game in the final minute to the Blizzard 34-28. To wrap up the IFL was a Monday Night clash between the Sioux Falls Storm and Iowa Barnstormers in our IFL Game of the Week. The game would be exactly the opposite of what was expected. Iowa made mistakes, everything from penalties to turnovers to bad snaps, and everything else you can think of all night long. The Storm would take those and use them to the fullest extent and absolutely massacre Iowa 70-13.
Week 6 has all ten teams playing once again this weekend. The weeks kicks off on Friday at 9PM (CT) with Spokane vs Salt Lake. It's followed up on Saturday with two games at 7:05PM (CT) with Wichita Falls visiting Sioux Falls and the Nebraska Danger hosting the Colorado Crush. Sunday finishes the week with two games, Iowa hosts Cedar Rapids in the Barnstormers home opener at 3:05PM (CT). While the Arizona Rattlers travel to Green Bay to take on the Blizzard also at 3:05PM (CT) from the Resch Center. As always the games are LIVE and FREE on YouTube.

Credit: Champions Indoor Football

In the CIF, Week 4 saw all 14 teams play 7 games for the first time this season. The opening game saw the Sioux City Bandits defeat the Bismarck Bucks 30-16 with the only game on Friday night. Saturday saw the other six games played. The defending league champion Wichita Force dropped their second game of the season 40-38 on the road against the Duke City Gladiators. Next up was another matchup between expansion teams as Kansas City traveled to Muskegon, MI. The Phantoms just edged out the Ironmen 50-47 to win their first game in franchise history, the Ironmen, who are last year's AIF Runner-Up, is still winless in the CIF. For the third straight week we had an all-Kansas showdown as Salina hosted Dodge City. The Law would edge the Liberty 34-32 putting Dodge City to 3-0 and Salina to 0-3. The Omaha Beef knocked off the Bloomington Edge in another close on 55-50. While in Amarillo the Venom hosted the Marshals and would take that game at home 59-32. The final game was our CIF Game of the Week between the Texas Revolution and CenTex Cavalry. And while yes it was the beatdown you expected with the Revs taking down CenTex 69-21, it featured the return of one of the sports greatest, Chris Dixon, who made his debut at Revs QB. Dixon looked as sharp as ever in that game.
The CIF's Week 5 will have six games, kicking off on Thursday when the Texas Revolution host the Dallas Marshals at 7PM (CT). Saturday features the other five games this week starting with yet another all-Kansas clash when Salina heads to Dodge City to play the Law at 6:30PM (CT). At 7PM (CT) Wichita will host Amarillo, Duke City hosts CenTex, the Bismarck Bucks travel to Bloomington to face the Edge, and Kansas City heads north to take on the Bandits in Sioux City. All games can be viewed of course on Eversport.

Credit: National Arena League

The National Arena League finally kicked off it's inaugural season this past weekend and it opened up with the NAL Game of the Week on Friday at 6PM. "The Jungle" the Columbus Civic Center with 2,456 fans inside the building the hometown, and two time consecutive (2015 PIFL and 2016 AIF) Champion, Lions hosted the former AFL club the Jacksonville Sharks. The game would NOT start very pretty and saw the Sharks storm out to an early lead and by halftime the game was 40-20. With a 20 point lead in hand the Sharks cruised out to a 56-41 victory to win the inaugural game in NAL history. With one game being played each night over the weekend Saturday saw the Georgia Firebirds host the High Country Grizzlies from the Albany Civic Center in Albany, GA. High Country would take this game by a score of 62-29 beating a team that just was terrible in the AIF in 2016. Sunday saw the Atlanta based Wolfpack travel up to the PPL Center in Allentown, PA to play the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks. Lehigh Valley would crush the Wolfpack with a final of 66-25. The final game of the week, which wasn't even shown live like promised by the NAL, was Monterrey hosting Corpus Christi. The Steel we're the much better team and held a shutout much of the night winning 55-12 over the Rage.
Now something that was very interesting is during the Lehigh Valley-"Dayton" game the Steelhawks owner stated that there would be four expansion teams coming in for the 2018 season. A league that hadn't even completed it's first week of play touting expansion teams. Plus add the fact that "Dayton" is based out of Atlanta and is not really known what will happen to them after this year. The NAL is sounder more and more like the winner that the AIF was. Well on Monday the NAL announced the first of the expansion teams for 2018, the Jersey Flight. This team will be based out of Trenton, NJ Sun National Bank Center. This market is one of the most well known for being terrible for all sports, multiple indoor football, hockey, and basketball teams have failed just inside that building.
For Week 2 of the NAL's first season the games start on Saturday with two being played at 6PM (CT). Jacksonville will host Georgia in the Sharks 2017 home opener. The other game on Saturday has High Country hosting Lehigh Valley in the Grizzlies first ever home game. Sunday at 7PM (CT) has the Corpus Christi Rage facing the Columbus Lions. This will be the Rage's first ever game at the American Bank Center as they replace the former Corpus Christi Fury who played there from 2004-06 and 2010-16. The final game of the week is on Monday night at 9PM (CT) when Monterrey hosts the Wolfpack. And per the NAL, and just like the IFL, all games are LIVE and FREE on YouTube.

Now that all three leagues are playing as of last week there will be three (one from each league) Games of the Week until the playoffs start. This weekend all three will be played on Saturday night and they start with the NAL Game of the Week. This week sees the High Country Grizzlies (1-0) host the Lehigh Valley Steelahwks (1-0). This will be the Grizzlies first ever home game in franchise history as they kickoff at 6PM (CT) from the George M. Holmes Convocation Center in Boone, NC. High Country vs Lehigh Valley is LIVE and FREE on YouTube. Next up is the CIF Game of the Week is a rematch from last years Champions Bowl II in the same building, the INTRUST Bank Arena as the Wichita Force (1-2) host the Amarillo Venom (2-0) in a South Division clash at 7PM (CT). The CIF Game of the Week is available of course on Eversport. And finally now the IFL Game of the Week, this has got to be the most exciting of all the games this week. A battle of the United Conference unbeatens is the game. At 7PM (CT) the Sioux Falls Storm (4-0) with the leagues toughest defense takes on the Wichita Falls Nighthawks (4-0) with the leagues highest scoring offense. If you only can watch one game the IFL Game of the Week is definitely the one to go towards.

Indoor Football Weekly #9 Preseason 2017, Part 1: Indoor Football League

Credit: Honolulu Star-Bulletin

Ohhhhhhh yes it's that time again, the preseason is upon us! That's right it's football time once again and the 2017 season is looking like it could be the best in years! We have 3 good leagues this season in the IFL, CIF, and NAL. Without American Indoor Football it looks like 2017 will be clean but who knows in this sport.

Credit: http://www.markthompson.us/gameballs/IPFL/

To start off 2017 is a special year in the sport as it marks the 20th anniversary of the Indoor (not Arena) game being played. That first league was the original Professional Indoor Football League founded and playing only the 1998 Season. 1998 was not a year without it's difficulties as the Minnesota Monsters (coached by Ron Simmons) would fold after just 5 league games, the Texas Bullets would fold after 10 games, and the Utah Catzz forfeited their final game to the Madison Mad Dogs. In the championship game the Louisiana Bayou Beast defeated the Madison Mad Dogs 42-41 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, LA. After 1998 the PIFL folded and splintered into 2 leagues, the IPFL and original IFL but that is a story for another time. There are no clubs remaining from the original PIFL in the 1998 season and only 3 markets still have clubs. Green Bay (the Bombers) now have the Green Bay Blizzard who have played in the Resch Center (not the old Brown County Veterans Memorial Coliseum) since 2003. Belton, TX (Texas Bullets) will have the CenTex Cavalry playing out of their old stomping grounds, the Bell County Expo Center. And finally the Greater Salt Lake area (Utah Catzz in Orem, UT) will also have an expansion team the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles playing at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, UT. This history section will be a recurring feature this year in Indoor Football Weekly.

Now onto the real stuff! Let's start with the first league kicking off the Indoor Football League! The IFL players reported for training camp already and started on January 30th. Now let's start off with some previews.

Intense Conference

The Intense Conference has some familiar clubs returning such as the Nebraska Danger and Colorado Crush along with last years Intense Conference Champion Spokane Empire. They'll be joined by two new clubs the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles and perennial AFL stalwart the Arizona Rattlers. Salt Lake and "Project Fanchise" do NOT look impressive right now and there slotted at #5 in the Intense. On the other hand Colorado finished 2016 in 4th place at 4-12. While they don't look impressive they do look like they will give Nebraska, who is defiantly in a rebuilding phase, a run for their money for third place. And that is where the problem lies, last season with 6 clubs (3 in each conference) making the playoffs the end of the season was exciting! Colorado and the now folded Tri-Cities Fever weren't out until later and Nebraska and the now folded Billings Wolves fought to the end for the First Round home game! This will not be the case as the IFL has gone back to just 4 teams (2 from each conference) making the playoffs.  And THAT fact brings us to our last 2 clubs the Spokane Empire and Arizona Rattlers. Last years Intense Conference Champion Spokane led by longtime Indoor coach Adam Shackleford will be a force to be reckoned with. On the other side Kevin Guy and the Arizona Rattlers will also be a force even as a de facto expansion club. Picks for the IFL Intense Conference has Arizona facing Spokane in the Conference Championship, winner to close to pick at this moment.

United Conference

Unlike the changes in the Intense Conference the United Conference brings back all 5 clubs from 2016. While last season Green Bay and Iowa were in the cellar, Wichita Falls and Cedar Rapids fought until the end for the home playoff game.. That will not happen this season, Cedar Rapids was truly unimpressive this offseason and they look to be in 5th Place. Green Bay has been a young team in development for a while and they don't look to be playoff material don't count them out as they could surprise us. Wichita Falls continues to look well (which is the opposite of their attendance) and Iowa really is looking to have built a playoff capable team after finishing with a franchise worst finish in 2016. But that doesn't matter in the United Conference unless someone knocks out the King, the Sioux Falls Storm. Sioux Falls is looking to dominate again in 2017 and just added 3 years to Kurtiss Riggs so expect some more championships. Pick for IFL United Conference Sioux Falls beats who cares at this point.

Games to Watch

Well there are a few of these this year, and thank god the IFL will now be free on YouTube for the 2017 season. The first game to watch has a good shot at Game of the Year as the Kings of Indoor Football, the 10 time Indoor Champion Sioux Falls Storm, face off against the Kings of Arena Football, the 5 time ArenaBowl Champion and IFL newcomer, the Arizona Rattlers. The game is set for Week 1 on Friday February 17th inside the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, SD.

The next is the series between Arizona and Spokane, both clubs left the AFL for the IFL in the last two seasons and will be fighting for the Intense Conference Championship. Arizona plays host to Spokane on Saturday April 22nd, while Spokane hosts the games on Friday May 12th and Saturday June 3rd. The final game to watch (at this point) is when a rematch of the 2016 United Bowl when Spokane visits the Sioux Falls Storm on Saturday May 6th in Sioux Falls, SD.

As we wrap things up the Indoor Football League has just two preseason games. One of those is this weekend with the traditional "Home Opener" for the Cedar Rapids Titans as they face the Iowa Barnstormers at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids. The other preseason game will be played on Saturday February 11th when the SIF's travel only Cap City Bulls head to the Kay Yeager Coliseum to take on the Wichita Falls Nighthawks. This is just part one of three as we'll cover both the CIF and NAL closer to their seasons start dates.