No matter your team, week two of the National Arena League season thrilled fans. Yes, there were a few growing pains, but overall, the games (outside of Dallas-Colorado) were a blast. There’s a lot to unpack, especially from the Punishers, the hottest expansion team in arena and indoor ball! Let’s look back at Highlights from week 2:
Table of Contents
Week 2 Game Reviews
South West Kansas 24, Louisiana 18
This wasn’t at all what the indoor football world expected out of this game. Out of the gate, technical issues caused anyone not in the stands to miss most of the first half. That frustration was only compounded by the score when it finally did go live, 12-0. No matter who you’re favoring, that score is rough. If you’re rooting for the Storm, you have to question why your offense isn’t piling it on. If you’re the Rouxgaroux, it’s yet another slow start.
The game of two halves would see a fast start, a slow start, and a defensive lockdown by both franchises heading into the fourth. In a game that saw exactly 0 points scored on special teams, but either team’s defense would ultimately win it for the Storm. Taz Wilson, who looked rusty, would throw his third and final interception to seal it at a pitiful 24-18.
Even with Struck’s two passing TDs, the ground game is ultimately what won the game for Southwest Kansas. Struck would contribute one long run, while Jaden Sutton averaged 8 yards a carry on 6 carries. It wasn’t a barn burner, but the long runs kept drives alive. The middle two (quarters) nearly sank Southwest Kansas, nearly going scoreless. The fear of an early-season upset was compounded by Taz Wilson running wild at times.
Overall, both teams have work to do. If Southwest Kansas wants to be competitive against a stacked NAL schedule, a lot, but especially the front three on offense, needs work. They showed a good bit of undisciplined habits and have to sure up that before Salina or Omaha. As for Louisiana?
We need to see a steady start in any game, and some kind of resolution on the kicking game. It wasn’t pretty, but it only gets harder for both from this point on. If they don’t find a way to come out of the gate and put a ball through the uprights and pair that with first-half touchdowns, major changes may be coming to the coaching staff in Bossier City.
Pueblo 44 vs Omaha 31
The Beef came into the matchup as the favorites at home. Fresh off a preseason win last weekend, they looked to continue their dominance and start off league play with a win in front of the home crowd. It was shortly before kickoff news spread that quarterback Demry Croft would not play, instead it was Tyler Lauenstein’s turn to lead the offense.
Unfortunately, the change did not go well at all. With help from both special teams and the defense, combining for points on the board and creating great field position, it seemed they would escape with a win. In the fourth quarter, however, when the offense was needed to hold the punishers off, they were not only unable to muster a scoring drive but turned the ball over. It was a final blow to an effort that was apparently doomed from the start without Croft in the lineup.
The Punishers came into the matchup as NAL underdogs on the road. They were coming in riding high off an opening season win against the Colorado Spartans. A defense that attacked the Spartans last week showed up again against the Beef. They seemingly lived in the offensive backfield all game, making life miserable for backup quarterback Tyler Lauenstein. Another continued trend for Pueblo was their offense moving the ball and producing points often.
While they may have started off slow, they clicked in the second half when it mattered most. The stamp on the comeback win for them was a strong fourth quarter effort with touchdowns being scored both offensively and defensively while holding the Beef scoreless. The Punishers are starting to turn heads around the league and earn the respect of a team that can contend for a championship.
The flow of the game started as most expected, with the Beef jumping out early and taking a double-digit lead into halftime. The adjustments made by Pueblo and the already lackluster first half for the Beef offense turned into an even harder second half for Omaha. While the Punishers seemed to play with urgency in all aspects and capitalized on miscues for Omaha, the Beef offense remained stagnant at best.
The true turning point in the game came in the fourth quarter when the comeback win was sealed after a 19-0 fourth quarter difference in favor of Pueblo. The final score of 44-31 doesn’t quite show the overall dominance that the game had. While it may be early in the season, remember this game, as the year goes on, it will be potentially important for the playoff seedings, as both these teams are preseason/early-season playoff team hopefuls.
We learned a good bit about both of their season outlooks. While an opening win eluded them, it is just one game, and reports are that Demry Croft shouldn’t miss significant time with the injury that held him out of this contest. The Beef take on the Salina Liberty next, a rivalry renewed, and now must win to avoid dropping to 0-2 in the standings.
As for Pueblo? An expansion team that no one expected to make waves this season, but after a 2-0 start, is now being taken more seriously. After wins over Colorado and now the Beef, they will face the Dallas Bulls in what appears to be the easiest matchup yet. Keep an eye on the game, though, for a new team who has everything rolling right now; this could turn into a possible trap game.
Sioux City 53, Amarillo 6
After the close call week one over Louisiana, we all wondered if Amarillo would be competitive or just the best of the rest. Sioux City more than gave us our answer. This one was pretty much over in the first; a quick 13-0 lead would see the bandits get up and never relinquish the lead.
It can be said that the Warbirds’ starting QB, Tyalen Shaw, went out early with a season-ending injury. Losing him may have resulted in less of a blowout, but ultimately, everyone could tell Amarillo wasn’t on the same level as Sioux City. Even before the injury, he was turning the ball over, and the defense couldn’t stop the long pass. We won’t spend a ton of time on a never close at all blowout, but it does go without saying that the Bandits are back!
Don’t let last season fool you, Coach Erb has Sioux City in good form before heading into their Bandits’ toughest stretch. The defense looked like it was already in mid-season form, especially Laronji Vason-McCoy, who ended the night with 4 INTs .Not to mention the offense, and Lorenzo Brown, both looked like they could be dangerous against anyone in the NAL. Five, yes Five passing TDs on just 12 attempts (almost half of his Throws went for 6). Sioux City looks like what we are used to; you won’t get a 3-6 record this season
Overall, it wasn’t a great game that ultimately ended in the worst league vs league blowout we have seen this far. As for Amarillo? It seems like this might be a season of growing rather than winning. They lost a lot on both sides of the ball to injury, and it makes you question who they could really beat outside of the bottom two from here on out.
Colorado 42 Dallas 12
Watching Dallas play anyone that they don’t call “Tea Mexico” in AI-generated graphics is painful. They will serve as a league-counted warm-up for every single team they play, and they simply weren’t prepared when they took the field. Everything from on-field product to facilities feels like leftovers from someone else.
Despite not being a super mobile QB, Lynch managed to run it across the goal line twice. Though it was ultimately a blowout, the first quarter ended at only 8-0. If you go back and watch, most of the positive plays that went the Bulls’ way were dumb decisions by Lynch. After the defacto onside kick, it was all Colorado until a couple of “trash time” scores by Dallas.
Overall, it wasn’t a great game, but it did give us some insights into the rest of the season. As for the Bulls, outside of Amarillo and Louisiana, this will be the norm. As for Colorado? The ground game needs work if they plan on making it through the season with 5-6 games with a rough schedule ahead. The luxury of having 8-10 seconds to throw the ball and open running lanes for the QB is something you won’t see against the former CIF teams. We cover below how the Bulls look and the many questions we have.
Drawbacks & Highlights Week 2
Streaming Issues
We are in no way blaming the NAL directly for the issues we saw this weekend. It can’t be entirely confirmed, but we are under the impression that both the Louisiana and Dallas issues are on the teams. If you didn’t catch it, we missed the majority of the first half of the Louisiana game on Friday. That was followed up by a choppy stream from Dallas that ultimately shifted to YouTube on Saturday.
The NAL is working hard behind the scenes to end these kinds of issues, but the league itself can only do so much. Yes, you can levy fines, you can put pressure, but if those teams aren’t going to hold themselves to a higher standard, you’re at their mercy.
Louisiana, as far as we can tell, with Steve Walters at GM, is steadily trying to stabilize and grow. The hiccups are not in any way excusable, but we will see better out of them as the season progresses. Dallas, on the other hand, we aren’t really sure. Not a ton of information comes out of that camp.
Was Dallas Ready for the NAL?
This isn’t a slight, more of an honest observation. If you watch Dallas closely, they aren’t up to the standard the National Arena League is pushing to bring itself to. Yes, there are other teams in the league that could use some work, but the overall Bulls product, even outside of facilities, is less than the rest. A couple of issues, like the endzone walls and midfield logo, have been resolved, but it left us with the biggest issue: fans.
They simply don’t have any; the overall attendance this season doesn’t seem to have totaled over 200 fans across two games. Several Bulls fans admittedly ( on social media) only showed up to the Colorado game for a chance to meet the former first round draft pick, Paxton Lynch. Lesser, but still very important to player safety, was the wall system. Several wall tackles near the left endzone (if you’re watching on the stream) saw the walls completely understand, as players crashed into them, it may be the system they have, or it may be not care at all from management.
Overall, the facilities, streaming setup, on-field product, professionalism, and marketing are lacking in ways that could see Dallas finish at 0-10 and never return. We are rooting for them to do great, find fans, and build up, but it looks grim. You can’t just hop into the arguably second-highest level of this sport and offer a tier four level of effort. We aren’t entirely sure that the Ohio Legends, an AAL2 team, won’t have a better setup this season, and that’s damning all on it’s on.
Omaha Fans, it’s only Week 2
Omaha fans are harder on their team than Kevin Guy is on the Refs. As mentioned above, they absolutely collapsed in the second half. The good news? It’s only week one of the Beef season. Calm down, yes, some issues need to be resolved, but Croft should be back at QB this coming week, and your special teams and defense are top of the league. Stop acting like it’s 2015 again. Don’t become the Alabama or Patriots fans of indoor ball.
Salina gets creative
Although the Salina Liberty is still 0-0, we did get a glimpse at something extremely unique during their preseason game. As pictured below, they took what was round bound nets, and went bare bones into an indoor style “floating goal post”. Why spend more on post when you can just rework what you have!? We at Shady Sports all thought it was genius!
After a week of preseason games and two weeks of regular season games, this is already shaping up to be a roller coaster! When was the last time Omaha had a losing streak to expansion teams?! How well do the Kansas teams fare in the new-look NAL? Well, only time can tell, and it’s all the more reason to keep watching! Keep your eyes on the Punishers; they look like they could be the next expansion to champion for the NAL. As always, check in every Saturday morning at 7 AM Central Time to listen to Around the Indoor Football world for all the news on the NAL, and every indoor and arena league!
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