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.

Indoor Football Weekly #21: What a 'Creaming Shame.

Well this week has been . . . I can't say entertaining as much as I feel it's sad and disgraceful at what's happened. Usually there is something hilarious in these moments and that we can get some humor out of. This really isn't one of those times, peoples lives and businesses have been effected without the care of ownership. Now this is a story of course you've heard a thousand times over and over but this move could play the death in an entire league. Is this the death bell for indoor football? I hope not, I hope the Grim Reaper continues to stay away.

Credit: Indoor Football League

The IFL's Week 10 was extremely eventful, not only did a good amount of upsets occur but as well major news broke about Project Fanchise and it's two clubs (the Colorado Crush and Salt Lake Screaming Eagles). Normally at IFW we would recap the games then bring you the news. Due to the amount of news that broke and when it happened we're going to start out with Thursday. On Thursday April 20th the Wall Street Journal broke a story about Project Fanchise. In that story it was stated that the ownership group, Project Fanchise, had informed the Indoor Football League earlier in the week that they planned to start their own league in 2018. That league would be called the Interactive Football League and feature 8 teams playing out of just a single venue and be streamed exclusively on Twitch, which the Screaming Eagles are already using instead of YouTube as all 9 other IFL teams do. That article was later updated to state that Project Fanchise had reached a deal with the IFL to finish the 2017 season for the Screaming Eagles. That still left in question the other team they own, the Colorado Crush and whether or not they would finish the season let alone play next year. The next night on Friday the Crush would host Wichita Falls and in a THRILLING game worthy of Game of the Year (across all leagues) the Crush would beat the Nighthawks 77-73 in a game that came down to the final play. On Saturday morning more news broke about the Screaming Eagles and Crush in which it was said that originally Project Fanchise wanted to fold both the Screaming Eagles and Crush immediately, this would have been the first time since 2010 when the Alaska Wild only played 10 games in the 14 game season, that a team wouldn't have completed a full season in the IFL. Along with the news of Project Fanchise attempting to fold both teams to save money, it was also reported that players and coaches in Colorado have not been paid in a month (players have since been paid including back pay that was owed), and that both the arena and hotel have not been paid at all. The IFL has also fined the ownership group for moving the Salt Lake vs Colorado game to Twitch and breaking the contract the IFL has with YouTube. With these reports out a reporter for a Salt Lake area sports talk station retweeted a link of the news being broken, which both the Screaming Eagles and Project Fanchise twitter accounts blasted him for which you can see here. After Fiasco Friday, Saturday saw four more games being played kicking off with a rematch between Sioux Falls and Green Bay. The Blizzard kicked out to an early 17-0 lead but the Storm came back to edge out the Blizzard 56-49. Next up was the 2017 Iowa Bowl as the Cedar Rapids Titans hosted the Iowa Barnstormers. The Barnstormers had the lead the entire game but in the fourth quarter they tried their hardest to give the Titans the win, but Iowa came out on top 31-25 in a very undeserved win. Last up for the 7:05 starts was the Nebraska Danger hosting the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles. The Danger would control the game the entire night and would win 49-30. Wrapping up the night was the IFL Game of the Week between the Arizona Rattlers and Spokane Empire. This is the first of 3 meetings between the clubs and the first since 2015 in the AFL. The Rattlers would fight hard all night but a late field goal by the Empire gave them a 9 point lead and put the game out of reach for Arizona, The Empire would win 60-51 and stay in the top spot in the Intense Conference.
The new week started off again breaking some news, and again bad news coming from the Project Fanchise camp. Late on Sunday night the news broke that Colorado Crush head coach Jose Jefferson had been fired as head coach due to "cost cutting measures" and as of posting of this article a new head coach has not yet been named. This marks the second time this year that Project Fanchise has fired a head coach immediately after winning a game. A request for comment by the Colorado Crush, Salt Lake Screaming Eagles, and  or the ownership group Project Fanchise has not been responded too. All the news brings us to the IFL Week 11 kicking off on Friday night when the Nebraska Danger (5-4) host the Cedar Rapids Titans (1-8) at 7:05 PM CT. Saturday night features three games kicking off with the Iowa Barnstormers (6-2) hosting the Colorado Crush (2-6) at 7:05 PM CT, with the recent developments out of Loveland we'll let you know if anything changes with the game. Also at 7:05 PM CT sees the Wichita Falls Nighthawks (7-2) hosting the Sioux Falls Storm (8-0). Wrapping up the games on Saturday is the Arizona Rattlers (4-4) hosting the Green Bay Blizzard (2-7) in the first ever meeting between the teams. Wrapping up the weekend is a Sunday showdown when the Spokane Empire (6-2) host the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles (1-7) at 5 PM CT.

Credit: Champions Indoor Football

Champions Indoor Football had a much less eventful week, and that was for the good. Week 9 kicked off with just a single game on Thursday night, the CIF Game of the Week which saw the Bismarck Bucks knock off the visiting Omaha Beef 59-41. Four games were on the slate for Saturday all at 7PM CT as well. In the one of the most surprising games the West Michigan Ironmen crushed the unbeaten Sioux City Bandits 76-35. Another shocker of a game saw the Battle of DFW won for the first time ever by the Dallas Marshals, as the Marshals took down the Revolution 73-58 in Mesquite. Another shootout, but still blowout occurred on the Texas Panhandle as the Amarillo Venom cruised to a 94-63 win over the CenTex Cavalry. Capping off the week was another Northern Division clash as the Kansas City Phantoms traveled to Bloomington, IL to take on the Edge. The Edge would take a fairly low scoring victory over the Phantoms with the score 38-13.
As we enter Week 10, we come into the back third of the CIF schedule this week and it features just four games on tap. With just two games on Saturday the Omaha Beef (3-3) head to Salina, KS to take on the Liberty (0-7) at 6:35 PM CT. At 7:05 PM CT a rematch from last week happens as the Sioux City Bandits (6-1) host the West Michigan Ironmen (3-4), the Bandits will sure need to respond well after the thrashing they took last week. Sunday night features two games starting at 2:05 PM CT when the Kansas City Phantoms (1-6) host the Dodge City Law (6-1). Wrapping up the weekend is a 7:05 PM CT Lone Star State showdown when the Texas Revolution (4-2) host and get a rematch against the team that took away a perfect season, the Amarillo Venom (6-0). All games are viewable LIVE on Eversport.

Credit: National Arena League

The National Arena League, the newest and smallest of the leagues has been fairly quite with only 3 games over the past two weeks. Week 6 of the NAL had two of those three games and it started on Saturday night at 6 PM CT as the Columbus Lions hosted the High Country Grizzlies. The Lions would come out with a win at home in "The Jungle" 57-44 over the Grizzlies. On Monday night the Monterrey Steel hosted the Jacksonville Sharks in the NAL Game of the Week. The Sharks would be the kings of the unbeaten with a 60-21 win over the Steel.
The NAL was also back in the news this week in an article by the Trentonian about  the Jersey Flight, an expansion team in the NAL announced to start playing in 2018. A key statement in that article comes early on when interviewing co-owner Kyna Felder-Ruiz as she stated “It was announced a year earlier solely for marketing efforts and giving us time to build our fanbase, to connect with the community, to raise the dollars that we’re going to need to successfully run a whole season. I think that the other teams before us didn’t work out mainly because of poor management.” The key part of that sentence is "to raise the dollars that we’re going to need to successfully run a whole season." That's right it's just as bad as it sounds the National Arena League, which has not even completed it's first season, has admitted a team whose ownership group doesn't have money to play a full season. There is a great quote I read about his "If you don't already have money for three seasons, then you won't last more than one." I can't think of anything more true in this sport. Again I will clearly state I do not want to see the NAL or the sport fail out east but this is absolutely not how to do this.
The NAL's Week 7 sees three games being played this week. Both games are being played at 6 PM CT. The first games has the Jacksonville Sharks (5-0) hosting the Columbus Lions (3-2) from "The Shark Tank". Up north the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (4-1) host the Corpus Christi Rage (0-4). And the final game this week is from Albany, GA as the Georgia Firebirds (1-4) take on the Wolfpack (0-3).

After a decent set last weekend with the Game of the Week this week looks to be of about the same caliber. This week the NAL Game of the Week kicks things off as the Jacksonville Sharks (5-0) host the Columbus Lions (3-2) at 6 PM CT from the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. This will be the second meeting between these clubs, during the first in Week 1 the Sharks beat the Lions 56-41 in Columbus. Next up is the IFL Game of the Week as the Sioux Falls Storm (8-0) travel to Wichita Falls to take on the Nighthawks (7-2) from the Kay Yeager Coliseum. The teams have met one other time this season and the Storm took that game 55-21 at home in Sioux Falls. Wrapping up the weekend is the CIF Game of the Week on Sunday at 7:05 PM CT when the Texas Revolution host the Amarillo Venom from the Allen Event Center. Amarillo and Texas met just two weeks ago when the Venom beat the Revolution 70-63 in Allen. As always the IFL and NAL games can be seen on YouTube while the CIF can be seen on Eversport.

Indoor Football Weekly #20

We've just passed the midway point in the 2017 Indoor Football season. The IFL looks to have 3 of it;s playoff spots decided, the CIF playoff race continues to heat up, and the NAL looks to have 4 teams going for it's final two spots.

Credit: Indoor Football League

The IFL's Week 9 gave us great football action in more than one game. The weekend opened  up with the Wichita Falls Nighthawks hosting the Cedar Rapids Titans. The Titans held a surprising 20-14 lead after the first quarter but it all went south from their for the boys from the north. Wichita Falls would score 35 points in the 2nd quarter on the way to an 81-52 route of the Titans. Second up of the three games on Friday night was the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles hosting the Arizona Rattlers. Unfortunately, just like the last Screaming Eagles home game, it was NOT shown on YouTube like all other IFL games but rather on Twitch.tv. Yes Salt Lake, the new kids on the block, continue to do things their own way making the league look like a joke. But even with the game being streamed on Twitch.tv the Rattlers would beat Salt Lake 73-60. Friday night was capped off with the Spokane Empire hosting the Colorado Crush. After no scoring by either team in the 1st quarter, Spokane took the reigns in route to a very close 36-24 victory. Saturday night saw two more games wrapping up the weekend. Sioux Falls hosted Green Bay and Iowa hosting Nebraska in the IFL Game of the Week. After the slaughters that were committed inside the Denny the last few weeks, while Green Bay couldn't overcome the Storm, they did fight but to no avail as Sioux Falls won 55-33. Out in Des Moines was the IFL Game of the Week. The Barnstormers defense was the Stars of the night as they held the Danger to just 14 points with 6 takeaways (5 INT and 1 Fumble Recovery). Iowa's offense was potent as well and helped the Barnstormers to a 48-14 route of the Danger.
All 10 teams take the field again in Week 10 of the IFL. Opening up on Friday with just one game as the Wichita Falls Nighthawks (7-1) travel to Loveland, CO to take on the Colorado Crush (1-6) at 7 PM CT. Saturday will see four games played that night. With three games on slate for 7:05 PM CT the easternmost is a rematch of last week, as the Sioux Falls Storm (7-0) travel to the Resch Center in Green Bay (2-6) for the second half of a home and home series against the Blizzard. In the middle it's the 2017 Iowa Bowl as the Cedar Rapids Titans (1-7) host the Iowa Barnstormers (5-2). In the west the Nebraska Danger (4-4) host the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles (1-6). The weekend wraps up with a battle between former AFL rivals as the Arizona Rattlers (4-3) host the Spokane Empire (5-2) at 8 PM CT from the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, AZ. As always games are LIVE and FREE on YouTube.

Credit: Champions Indoor Football

Champions Indoor Football had all 14 teams play over the course of just two days (Thursday and Saturday) in Week 8. The CIF opened with by far the biggest game with the CIF Game of the Week between unbeaten Texas hosting unbeaten Amarillo. The game would go back and forth for the first 3 quarters with no one able to gain a significant lead. That all changed in the 4th quarter when Amarillo scored 21 straight points on the way to a 70-63 win over the Texas Revolution on the road. On Saturday night the CIF had the other 6 games all at 7 PM CT. Down in Texas the Dallas Marshals took down the CenTex Cavalry 48-41 in a Lone Star State showdown. An all Kansas showdown  saw the Dodge City Law take down the Wichita Force 62-39. In North Dakota the Bismarck Bucks would beat the Kansas City Phantoms 51-35 in a battle of expansion teams. Out at the Ralston Arena the West Michigan Ironmen fought another win but just couldn't get the job done as the Omaha Beef beat the Ironmen 30-28. Out in Albuquerque the Duke City Gladiators just barely escaped the Salina Liberty with a 52-50 win. Wrapping up the week was a battle between two of the top teams in the Northern Division as Sioux City hosted Bloomington. The Bandits would escape with a close 62-56 win over the Edge.
Week 9 will feature 10 teams playing 5 games kicking off on Thursday night. The only game on Thursday night sees the the Bismarck Bucks (2-4) hosting the Omaha Beef (3-2) at 7 PM CT. Saturday night has four games all of which start at 7 PM CT. First up is a clash of teams in DFW as the Dallas Marshals (3-3) host the Texas Revolution (4-1) from the Mesquite Arena in Mesquite, TX. At the US Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington, the Edge (4-3) host the expansion Kansas City Phantoms (1-5). Then another Lone Star State clash happens as the Amarillo Venom (5-0) host the CenTex Cavalry (0-6). Wrapping up the night and the weekend is the from Muskegon, MI as the West Michigan Ironmen (2-4) host the Sioux City Bandits (6-0). All games can be viewed on Eversport.

Credit: National Arena League

The National Arena League only had one game being played in Week 5 and that by default was the NAL Game of the Week. Lehigh Valley would take the game at home inside the PPL Center by a score of 56-31 over the Georgia Firebirds.
Week 6 sees two games being played in the NAL. The first game is at 5 PM CT on Saturday when the Columbus Lions (2-2) host the High Country Grizzlies (2-2). The weekend is capped off on Monday night at 8 PM CT when the Monterrey Steel (3-0) host the also unbeaten Jacksonville Sharks (4-0).

Last week the CIF Game of the Week was definitely the ONE to watch this week let's hope we have three great games. This week the games start on Friday night with the CIF Game of the Week. The CIF game will see the Bismarck Bucks (2-4) host the Omaha Beef (3-2) from the Bismarck Event Center in Bismarck, ND at 7 PM CT on Friday night. Saturday night features the IFL Game of the Week as a rematch between two old AFL rivals as the Spokane Empire travel to Phoenix, AZ to take on the Arizona Rattlers at 8 PM CT from the Talking Stick Resort Arena. Wrapping up the weekend is the NAL Game of the Week and Monday Night Indoor Football. A battle of the unbeatens as the Monterrey Steel (3-0) host the Jacksonville Sharks (4-0) from Arena Monterrey at 8 PM CT on Monday night. As always the IFL and NAL games can be seen on YouTube, while the CIF can be seen on Eversport.

Indoor Football Weekly #19

We are now hitting  the midway point in the 2017 season. The IFL is pretty much spoken for, the CIF is in a dogfight, the NAL well let's not get into that just yet.

Credit: Indoor Football League

Just like Week 7, Week 8 was again filled with close games yet again. The IFL kicked off on Friday night with the IFL Game of the Week as Nebraska hosted Arizona. In the Rattlers first ever trip to Grand Island they would be looking to come back with a W. With both teams scoring back and forth all night the largest lead of the game was just 7 points, held twice by Arizona in the first half. The game only got closer as Nebraska scored twice to take a 6 point lead. It wouldn't hold up as the Rattlers would score to take a 21-20 lead but the Danger scored just before the half to take a 26-21 lead into halftime. The Rattler defense would get two points on a safety early in the 3rd quarter. Late in the 3rd quarter the Danger would score the final touchdown of the game to take a 33-30 lead, but that wasn't the end of scoring as both teams alternated field goals the rest of the night. It capped off with Arizona kicking a game winning field goal with little time remaining on the clock to take a 36-33 road win. Saturday night saw three games being played starting with Cedar Rapids hosting Sioux Falls. After being held to just field goals early in the game and a delay due to issues with the boards, the Storm came out on top with a 46-21 win over the Titans. Down in Texas, Wichita Falls hosted Salt Lake. The Screaming Eagles would hold a close game to the Nighthawks all night but ultimately fall 39-33 to the Nighthawks. Wrapping up the week was a clash between former af2 franchises as Green Bay visited the Iowa Barnstormers. In a back and forth game that both defenses showed themselves tough to beat all night, the Barnstormers came out with a 27-26 win thanks to a late touchdown and interception on the following drive.
Week 9 will see all 10 teams playing 5 games over just two days. That's right no stupid Thursday, Sunday, or Monday night games!! Three games are played on Friday night starting off with the Wichita Falls Nighthawks (6-1) hosting the Cedar Rapids Titans (1-6) at 7:05 PM CT. The middle game Friday is an Intense Conference matchup as Arizona (3-3) travels to Salt Lake (1-5). While this is the first time the Rattlers play the Screaming Eagles this isn't their first trip to the Maverik Center. The Rattlers previously played in the building back in 2010 when they beat the now defunct Utah Blaze 83-58 on May 28th in the first year of the reborn AFL. Wrapping up the Friday trifecta is Spokane Empire (4-2) hosting the Colorado Crush (1-5) at 9 PM CT. Saturday has just two games on deck with an Inter-Conference matchup between Iowa (4-2) and Nebraska (4-3). Out in South Dakota the Sioux Falls Storm (6-0) host Green Bay (2-5). And of course all IFL Games can be seen LIVE and FREE on YouTube.

Credit: Champions Indoor Football

Champions Indoor Football had just 5 games last weekend it kicked off with Du
ke City and CenTex. The Cavalry was no match for the Gladiators as Duke City came off the field with a 79-29 road victory. Saturday saw four games get played and the first one was an upset as the West Michigan Ironmen beat the Bloomington Edge 56-34, this comes as a shock as the Edge pounded them earlier this year 64-20 in Bloomington, IL. Next up was the CIF Game of the Week, a battle of the unbeatens as the Texas Revolution hosted the Dodge City Law from the Allen Event Center. All night long there was no clear outcome and it came down to the final seconds when Chris Dixon hooked up with Clinton Solomon from 13 yards out, followed up by a successful 2 point conversion sealed the game for the Revs. Out in Wichita the Force took down the Phantoms 48-31 in a clash of Kansas and Misssouri, while wrapping up the night was Dallas and Salina. The Marshals would make a statement at the Mesquite Arena (that statement being they aren't the worst team in the CIF) with a 36-19 win over the Liberty.
Week 8 kicks off with the second straight battle of the unbeatens on Thursday night as the Texas Revolution (4-0) host the Amarillo Venom (4-0) from the Allen Event Center at 7PM CT. The rest of the league plays on Saturday night with all games at 7PM CT. Those games are CenTex Cavalry vs Dallas Marshals, Dodge City Law vs Wichita Force, Omaha Beef vs West Michigan Ironmen, Duke City Gladiators vs Salina Liberty, and Sioux City Bandits vs Bloomington Edge. And as always games can be seen LIVE on Eversport.

Credit: National Arena League

On to the newest of the bunch, the National Arena League. This league has been going through issues this season and not just normal first year league issues. There have been multiple reports that the Corpus Christi Rage have been taken over by the league. Then on gameday reports came in that Corpus Christi was having transportation issues both getting to and leaving the game in Albany. Unfortunately this isn't a surprise knowing the attendance problems they've had. The Rage, along with the Georgia Firebirds and Dayton Wolfpack have been in our death pool for NAL teams since they were announced. Don't expect to see any of these teams back next season and that would be for the best.
Last week featured 3 games played in the National Arena League starting off on Saturday with the delayed Georgia vs Corpus Christi game. The Firebirds wasted no time putting down the Rage and went on to win 76-26. Sunday saw two more games including the NAL Game of the Week between the Jacksonville Sharks and High Country Grizzlies. The Sharks held down the Grizzlies having a 41-0 shutout going by halftime. In the second half they let off the gas (just a bit) and cruised to a 68-21 win. Wrapping up the week was a showdown between two of the East's longest running franchises, as Lehigh Valley hosted Columbus at the PPL Center in Allentown, PA. The Steelhawks proved to be to much for the Lions to catch with a 60-54 win.
Week 5 features just one game this week originally there was two scheduled however with the Wolfpack now being a travel only team their home game vs Corpus Christi that was scheduled for Sunday the 16th was cancelled. But the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (3-1) host the Georgia Firebirds (2-2) on Saturday at 6 PM CT.

 

With two great games and one beat down last week, this week looks to be about the same with the Game of the Week. The weekend opens on Thursday night from the Allen Event Center in Allen, TX with the CIF Game of the Week. Two unbeaten teams, the Texas Revolution (4-0) and Amarillo Venom (4-0), face off at 7 PM CT to determine whose on top in the South Division. The action continues on Saturday night with the NAL Game of the Week. At 6 PM CT the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (3-1) host the Georgia Firebirds (2-2) from the PPL Center in Allentown, PA. Finishing off the week is the IFL Game of the Week when the Iowa Barnstormes (4-2) host the Nebraska Danger (4-3) from the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, IA. Both the NAL and IFL games can be seen LIVE and FREE on YouTube, while the CIF can be seen LIVE on Eversport.

Indoor Football Weekly #18

Seven weeks down now in indoor football, with both the IFL and CIF coming up on the halfway mark the NAL is coming up on a third of the way through the season. While the CIF playoff race is heating up the IFL seems almost decided and the NAL is just getting to the point of fighting for the playoffs.

Courtesy: Josh Resignalo 

Last week for 5 Questions we interviewed Wichita Falls head coach Billy Back, for this week we had the opportunity to interview Josh Resignalo, the Head Coach of the High Country Grizzlies of the National Arena League.

Q1 Ashle Norling: You are coaching a first year team (High Country Grizzlies) in a first year league (the NAL). Does that make this year any different from any other year?

Josh Resignalo: I don't think that it does. It's really like any other year for me. Even though the Grizzlies are a 1st year team, the roster is not. Quite a few veterans on our team. Yes we have a couple rookies, but most of these rookies have pro experience in the CFL or NFL. As far as the new league, I am excited to be in the NAL. 1st year league but the NAL has some really great teams.

Q2 AN: With the NAL playing Arena style and not traditional indoor football, is there a challenge to adjust to the style?

JR: Not at all every year that I have coached and played has been arena style rules. Have never been involved with the indoor rules like the IFL or CIF, I enjoy the Arena style.

Q3 AN: You have the highest scoring team in the NAL and just showed that against the Wolfpack. How do you continue that success throughout the year?

JR: I feel that we can keep the success going forward because it has been a total team effort. Our scoring has come from both sides of the ball. This is a QB league, and we have a great one in Stephen Panasuk. He is a great leader and the players give their all for him and that is why we are great on offense. Defensively we are lead by a great Coach in Damian Daniels. His experience has the defense playing great. We have one of the best defensive fronts in the league and that has really put the offense in some great scoring opportunities.

Q4 AN: As we enter the fourth week of the NAL who would you say have been your impact players thus far?

JR: We are really coming together as a team and that is really exciting to see. As of now offensively QB Stephen Panasuk leads the league in most categories offensively which he would definitely thank all his teammates for putting him in that position. WR Malachi Jones has emerged as an explosive play maker for us and excited to see his future unfold. Defensively we are lead by our defensive front, we rotate 5 guys that absolutely get it. They are DL Brandon Sutton, DL Larry Ford, DL Ethan Farmer, DL DeMarkus Berry, and LB Chase Blackburn.

Q5 AN: You have your first meeting of the season against a former AFL team, the unbeaten Jacksonville Sharks. What will you do to give the Sharks their first loss of the season?

JR: The best thing for us to do is to do what we do. Don't change anything and keep playing our game. We went into camp to be the best team that we can be, the only team that can beat us is ourselves. With that mentality anything can happen on any given night. Jacksonville is a great city, great organization, and a great team. (They) Have some of the best front office personnel and coaching staff in the game. Jacksonville will be a great test for us to see where we actually are as a team. Lehigh gave them a game, so I don't see anything less then a great game from both sides. Which that will be great for the fans.
I want to say thank you to Grizzlies head coach Josh Resignalo for giving me the opportunity to interview him and good luck the rest of the season coach!

Credit: Indoor Football League

Before we get into covering last weeks games, the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles and Project FANCHISE made another desperate attempt for publicity last week. The team gave the fans the opportunity to vote whether or not to sign Greg Hardy. Whether or not he was interested in actually signing doesn't matter at this point. Greg Hardy, was back in 2014 convicted of assaulting his ex-girlfriend. Everything this team has been doing has been making the club and the league look like a complete joke.

The Indoor Football League's Week 7 was absolutely filled with close games. As normal the week started off on Friday night with a single game as Colorado faced Salt Lake in round 2 of the FANCHISE Bowl. That game however, while archived on YouTube now, was ONLY available on Twitch.tv. The IFL who has stated that all games will be available FREE on YouTube was not on there. I'm not sure how the league is taking this but I would be upset about that stunt. But anyway the Crush managed their first win of the season, with a 52-49 road win over Salt Lake. The next three games were all on Saturday night. Opening with Green Bay hosting Cedar Rapids. The Titans would be the second team of the week to get their first win with a 41-37 upset win on the road against the Blizzard. In the second game of the night Arizona faced off with the Wichita Falls Nighthawks. The Nighthawks prevailed. In the IFL Game of the Week, the Spokane Empire played host to the Nebraska Danger. In yet another thrilling upset this week the Danger knocked off the Empire on the road to tie for first in the Intense Conference.

Week 8 kicks off with a bang on Friday night when the Arizona Rattlers head to Grand Island to take on the Danger at 7:05PM CT. Saturday night is a busy night with three games at 7:05PM CT as Cedar Rapids hosts Sioux Falls. On top of that game Iowa hosts Green Bay and Wichita Falls hosts Salt Lake. And of course all the games will be LIVE and FREE on YouTube.

Credit: Champions Indoor Football

Champions Indoor Football has now played 6 of it's 15 week season. Week 6 gave us plenty of both good and bad football. Kicking off with a single game on Friday it was the CIF Game of the Week. A fight to the finish saw the game go to overtime with Sioux City beating Omaha 63-56 at the Ralston Arena. Saturday gave us 5 games to watch starting with Dodge City crushing the Dallas Marshals 56-19. Next up was an All-Kansas clash between the Salina Liberty and Wichita Force. In a tight game from the Tony's Pizza Events Center the Force defeated the Liberty 34-28. In Belton, TX at the Bell County Expo Center the Texas Revs would manhandle the CenTex Cavalry 83-35. Out in Bloomington at the same time the Edge faced off with the Kansas City Phantoms. Bloomington edged out the Phantoms by a score of 55-43. Finishing off the games on Saturday was a matchup of two expansion teams as West Michigan traveled to Bismarck to take on the Bucks. The Ironmen prevaled in Bismarck winning 64-57 and the Ironmen's first ever win in the CIF. Sunday night saw the weekend end with Amarillo hosting Duke City. The Gladiators weren't able to overcome the Venom as Amarillo took a 62-59 win.

As with last week, this week also starts off with some big news on the coaching front. This time the CenTex Cavalry announced that Adrian Perez will be assuming the role as head coach. Now this comes as a very late announcement as Perez has already coached two games as Cavalry head coach.

Week 7 kicks off on Friday night when CenTex hosts Duke City at 7PM CT. Saturday has four games being played starting with West Michigan hosting Bloomington at 6PM CT. Three games will be played at 7PM CT with a battle of the unbeatens as Texas hosts Dodge City, Wichita hosts Kansas City, and Salina travels to Mesquite to play the Dallas Marshals. All games are viewable on Eversport.

Credit: National Arena League

On the National Arena League front all 8 teams saw action in Week 3 over the course of four games. On Saturday the NAL would start the week out fast with the NAL Game of the Week as Jacksonville hosted Lehigh Valley. The Sharks would take down a determined Lehigh Valley Steelhawks team by a final score of 57-43. The other game on Saturday saw the High Country Grizzlies host the Wolfpack. High Country would dominate the Wolfpack and almost get a shutout by a final score of 94-6. On Sunday afternoon the Columbus Lions hosted the Georgia Firebirds from the Columbus Civic Center. Even though the Firebirds were coming in with an 0-2 record they fought the Lions all game long but would fall to Columbus 63-50 as the Lions pulled away late in the game. The NAL's Monday Night Football game would be played as the Monterrey Steel hosted the Corpus Christi Rage for the second time in 3 weeks. The Rage again proved to be no match for the Steel as Monterrey won 57-28. 

Week 4 sees just 6 teams playing 3 games. Originally all teams were scheduled to play however the Dayton vs Monterrey game was cancelled when Dayton was replaced with the travel only Atlanta based Wolfpack. On Saturday night at 6PM CT the Georgia Firebirds host the Corpus Christi Rage from the Albany Civic Center in Albany, GA. On Sunday afternoon at 2:30 PM CT the Jacksonville Sharks take on the High Country Grizzlies in Boone, NC. Wrapping up the week on Sunday at 4PM CT is a well known matchup as Lehigh Valley hosts Columbus from the PPL Center in Allentown, PA. This week all games are viewable LIVE and FREE on YouTube.

Last week the Games of the Week brought another great set of games yet again. This week looks to be just as good. It all starts on Friday night with the IFL Game of the Week. From the Eihusen Arena in Grand Island the Nebraska Danger (4-2) host the Arizona Rattlers (2-3). This game is a great showdown between teams competing for a playoff spot in the IFL's Intense Conference. The action continues with the CIF Game of the Week on Saturday night at 7PM CT. A battle of unbeaten clubs will see the Texas Revolution (3-0) host the Dodge City Law (5-0) from the Allen Event Center in Allen, TX. It all finishes it out with the NAL Game of the Week on Sunday at 2:30 PM CT. The leagues highest scoring team the High Country Grizzlies (2-1) take on the former AFL club, the Jacksonville Sharks (3-0). Both the IFL and NAL games can be viewed LIVE and FREE on YouTube while the CIF can be viewed on Eversport.