Week Six was what college football fans call a cupcake week. We had an extra two teams on bye, and the football outside the Scripps Sports Networks game of the week was fairly uncompetitive. While it wasn’t a bad weekend of National Arena League football, it wasn’t filled with instant classics like we have seen for the majority of the season. However we did get three games, and one of the most jaw-dropping special teams stats you’ll see from any league all year.
Table of Contents
NAL Game Reviews
SWK 41 Sioux City 38
The SWK Storm entered the game with a 3-0 record in the young season, facing their toughest opponent yet in the Bandits. Against a formattable defense Matt Struck wouldn’t play perfectly, but he would chew up Sioux City with over 300 yards passing and 4 total touchdowns on the day. His favorite target, Demarius Washington, would haul in 8 receptions for 139 yards and a touchdown in the victory.
For the offense it was a good game, while they did fall behind in the second half it was a 20-point fourth quarter that capped off the comeback win. For the second week in a row the defense left room for improvement, giving up the second-most points allowed this season. Still, this year’s team has shown improvement from last season just based on their early resume. Last year close games plagued the Storm, however, this team thrives in tight games and last-minute heroics. Most importantly, the SWK Storm are now atop the NAL standings at a perfect 4-0 and are realistically only a few wins away from clinching a playoff berth.
In a game that was there for the taking, the Sioux City Bandits would fall just short. In a game where the offenses were humming, the Bandits were aided by a few standout performances. Jeff Mack II would score two rushing touchdowns, lead the team with 139 all-purpose yards, and add a kickoff return touchdown. The aerial attack was helped in large part to Damond Powell, gaining 90 yards and scoring two touchdowns off 8 receptions. The defense would slow down the SWK for the majority of the game until the 4th quarter.
They would force multiple mistakes and turnovers throughout, with interceptions by Laronji Vason-McCoy and Juan Moore, but the final period would see the bottom fall out. The biggest play allowed came at the end when they allowed a 43-yard play to set up the game-deciding touchdown against them. The game went down to the wire proving that while their record isn’t the best, they do have what it takes to go toe to toe with the best in the league.
This game had a little bit of everything from points scored, turnovers forced, scoring runs to sway momentum, and a last-second touchdown to decide it. The first half was a back-and-forth showing with a one-point margin being the difference going into halftime. The Bandits jumped all over SWK to open up the second half which included a 15-0 scoring run that would see the Storms’ high-powered offense shut out in the 3rd quarter.
Ultimately, the Storm would answer with a run of their own. SWK would wake up in the final period and end the game with a last-second touchdown to win and cap off a 20-3 4th quarter. While Matt Struck made mistakes, his overall game showcased the variables he brings to the offense. On the other side, the Bandits are left scratching their heads as to what could have been if that field goal at the very end had been good.
SWK Outlook
They are 4-0, leading the NAL standings, and their next game is against Amarillo. It’s looking great for SWK right now, but their next true test is in two weeks when they travel to Salina in what should be the game to watch. It will be interesting to see their approach for Amarillo with the possibility of looking ahead, as it does have the makings for a classic trap game.
Sioux City Outlook
At 2-2 the Bandits are exactly what their record says… middle of the road. Against the two worst teams in the league they won by multiple scores and versus two of the top teams in the league they lost close games. While there is still time for improvement the road doesn’t get any easier as they will face the other two best teams in as many weeks. This three-game stretch, that’s already started with a loss, can determine their season early if they aren’t able to win at least one of them.
Written By: TJ Bartholomew
Pueblo 55 Louisiana 38
No one who follows the NAL expected this to be close. They were right, but the way this one played out was down right frustrating for Louisiana. If you completely remove special teams this game goes the other way, but Louisiana’s inability to keep the ball away from Kenttwon Brown absolutely killed any chance of an upset, he set an NAL record with FOUR Kick return TDs. If the ball came off of Ashton Henry’s foot and went near Brown it was going for six, including the very first kick of the game.
If you look at the other two parts of the game it paints an entirely different picture, yet a very distorted picture. The offense at a glance for the Punishers seemed to have an off day, but in reality, they barely got onto the field considering we had 8 of the game’s kick-offs go back-to-back. Hollins didn’t play, and it was obvious that the hole left by not having their shifty go-to player maker forced the Punishers to rely more on the ground game. Brandon Kyles had a serviceable game, but seemed ( like any backup would be) a little out of sync with his receiving core.
The Rouxgaroux on the other hand had its best game of the year through the air, Taz Wilson completed less than half of his passes, but still ended the day with over 200 yards in the air and two passing TDs.It was as if these two swapped offensive identities just before the game. Pueblo is getting it done on the ground with Kyle’s 61 yards and two rushing TDs. While three Louisiana receivers ended the day with 57+ yards in the air.
The defense for both came to play in the first quarter as it ended with just six offensive points per team for a 13-6 result. Pueblo would come out and make a point to start the second, a methodical drive from their own five yard line that ended in a Patrick Mcsweeney TD to grab a 20-9 lead. Louisiana would come back on their own, methodical ( much quicker ) drive to once again bring the score to a one score game at 20-15. The small deficit would last all of 10 more seconds. As one of the many return TDs would push the lead to 26-15. Points would be exchanged all the way into the half, ending it at 34-25, in a much closer game than it should have been.
The Second half wouldn’t see the same offensive firepower that gave us a combined 40 point second quarter, instead? More kick returns and most of Wilson’s Incompletions. As we neared the end Atioone would fumble heading into the Pueblo endzone, giving Louisiana a hill a bit too tall to scale. In the end, it was an ugly hard-hitting game decided by the most exciting and explosive special teams plays we have seen all year.
Louisiana Outlook:
1-3, similar to the late Pueblo lead, is a hard hill to climb. The team we are seeing battle top-level NAL teams is almost a new team compared to what we got week one, but is it enough? Taz Wilson has brought a new life to the passing game, and Atione is a constant threat on the ground, but what will it matter if you aren’t in the postseason? Luckily for the Rouxgaroux the rest of the league has been feast or famine,with Omaha at 0-4 and the Utter collapse in Amarillo they have a chance, though not much of one. The lackluster start to the season forces them to be absolutely perfect down the stretch, the path to the postseason would have to see a three-game sweep over Dallas, and a win over a retooled, new-look Omaha. The chance is slim but if you’re a fan of the perennial underdog, this is your team. If Taz can continue his magic through the air, and Blair and company can keep the sticky secondary together, we may see our first “Cinderella” story of the Indoor football season.
Pueblo Outlook:
Keep on winning! If you look at the overall picture in the NAL the Punishers could lose 3 of the next 4 and still find their way into the dance. Lisa Rohrich and company have done an absolutely fantastic job of bringing in the right people to ensure that the stands are packed and the on-field product is second to none. Many questioned the Brooks-Solomon combo as co-head coaches coming into the year but it has worked to perfection ( on the same turf that it has worked on before: look up 2023 Bay Area Panthers). The ability to bring in fairly overlooked talent and turn them into the most dominant defense in the NAL should is an accomplishment and they aren’t done yet. Take your preseason expectations of the Omaha Beef and place them here, the only thing between them are the league jumpers in Dodge City Kansas
Colorado 50 Amarillo 11
This was the absolute blowout that everyone expected it to be. Colorado came into this week in a prove it and improve spot and almost had to have a good game. That tight spot proved to be all the motivation that the Spartans would need. After a bit of a slow start they would get the ball rolling ( and spread around well) to lead 26-3 at halftime. Kilgo showed he has the ability to really get the ball down the field this game, which was especially important after a somewhat lackluster performance the previous week.
Amarillo continues on its free fall toward 1-9, a descent that could have been predicted but has only been expedited by never getting its footing at the QB position. The decision to pick up Demery Croft is one that has us all scratching our heads. The move has shown zero chance of paying off, and in our opinion has only made the offense worse since losing Shaw.
You can probably tell that we don’t spend nearly the same time on the Warbirds as we do most any other team. This short is mostly due to the fact that we, and most of the indoor football world look at this as a give me, or cupcake on most teams’ schedules. Truthfully from this point on the best we will get out of any game we see Amarillo in is a chance for better structured teams to pad stats and have alive action practice heading into whatever match-up that follows.
An excellent example of this comes from this match up. If you head over to the recap tab on the NALs website, you’ll find that two different players, Lex Rossorio and Kilgo, threw a TD while 4 other players either had defensive, rushing, or receiving TDs. This all goes without mentioning that Colorado had four different players who rushed for 10+ yards.
All this while Amarillos Croft only completed four total passes, and absolutely scrabbled all night behind an offensive line that appears to be learning the position as they go. We attempted to break down the entire game part by part but in the end, it boiled down to two quarters, the second and third. In those two Colorado managed to score 72% of all of their points, In the same vein, that is where Amarillo scored all of its meek 11 points, failing to score in any fashion in the first and fourth. Similar to what we have mentioned above, we expected a thrashing and we got one, 50-11 after the past few weeks of absolute barn burners just feels dirty.
Colorado Outlook
The Spartans seemed to have used this slot to get right, now sitting at 2-3 overall. This game was make it or break it and they broke what was already a tailspin back to earth. That record in the 2026 version of the NAL is ( as wild as this is) good for 5th, The playoff structure is without a doubt going to give a 4-6 or 5-5 team a spot, and if Omaha keeps on losing ( including in week 7) the Spartans will get the opportunity to raise a playoff banner. The schedule however doesn’t give them much wiggle room.
Even with a May 9th match-up with Dallas as a break, the next two games are pivotal to seeing the Spartans get back on their feet. Omaha followed by Pueblo is a tough run, even with Omaha being 0-4. In the end, we see Colorado as a playoff team but not the level of a team that can make a run.
Amarillo Outlook
Amarillo will end the season as the worst team in the National Arena League. The team as a whole has failed to get off the ground after barely beating Louisiana, due to a variety of reasons. Key injuries have hurt the Warbirds, but the inability to fill those holes has been fatal. Especially at the QB position, Croft has continued to prove game over game that he can’t play at this level as he has previously.
Even in the indoor version of the game you have to have some kind of down field threat. Croft only completing a third of his passes and having more interceptions than TD passes (2 INT- O TD) will never cut it. Don’t be surprised if Jermaine Blakely makes drastic changes, they have nothing to lose considering they play top four teams four out of the next five games. It wouldn’t entirely surprise us to see them lose to the Pharr Phattoms on May 23rd.
NAL Highlights and Drawbacks
3 Points of Proven Progress
We all love to speculate in the offseason on how a season will go, and since the turn of this decade, there has been much more bad than good. Many even thought that the sport was taking its last breath, not excluding the NAL. This season even at a glance has proven to be much better all around. This is how:
1.Stability. We are going into week 7 of the season, and there is not even a hint of a midseason folding up to this point. In the two previous seasons, it wasn’t a matter of if, but of when. Yes, some teams are better situated than others, but overall it seems as if we will have a start-to-finish with the same 9 we started with. Out of all the teams, even the worst seems to be better than anything we saw in 2024
2.Positive Attention. After the flush of teams out and influx of issues that came with the 2024 season good news was never out. Now? Well, the strides are becoming clear, when you have a well-produced game aired nationally every week, it’s going to turn heads. Not only that but the general excitement around the NAL is higher than it’s ever been, and with that brings an air of legitimacy that was much needed
3.Good Ball. When was the last time we saw any league have this many games come down to the wire? If you take the last ten games into account half of them have come down to less than seven points. The top five teams in the league have nearly no separation between them. Even the 0-4 Omaha Beef have made games out of two of those losses, This level of parody is unmatched this season, and we have no doubt this continues into the postseason. Don’t be surprised this weekend if you see three of the four end in wild ways, especially Sioux City and Salina.
MidSeason playoff Prediction:
Standings
This season has had all of us on the edge of our seats the entire time, from upsets to nail-bitters there has been no shortage of entertainment. The stability has lent itself to fun banter that doesn’t end in heartbreak that their favorite team is no more, and that fandom will continue to grow. This season is far from over, and the battle for sixth place is only starting to heat up between Louisiana, Dallas, and Omaha. Week seven will return to a full slate, including two matchups that shape the path to the playoffs for the bottom four. Definitely check back next week to see how those went, and as always check the guys out on Around the Indoor Football world every Saturday at 7 AM
If you need to catch up:
National Arena League (NAL): Week 5 Review
National Arena League (NAL): Week 4 Review
National Arena League: Week 3 Review
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