The playoffs are the only part of the season in which its final; there’s no way to rebound. You can’t work on what you missed the previous week, you just have to regroup and wait a full offseason to do it again. The thrill of your entire season coming down to just a single play is absolute madness. We got a front-row seat to literal no-time-on-the-clock wins, and Cinderella runs crushed, nothing could have prepared Pueblo fans for that kind of heart break! We cover all of this and the upcoming Championship all in this week’s NAL Review.
Salina 43 Pueblo 41
What a show, sometimes if you blink, or the cameraman loses focus, the entire game will change on a dime. This game was, for all intents and purposes, the single best game we have seen in this year’s NAL playoffs. The Pure, heart-stopping insanity is something to behold, and the way it ended? Well, if you are Pueblo, it broke you, simple as that.
If you’re Salina? It was the most insane way we could imagine to snag a victory, especially one as important as this one, from the jaws of defeat. We never had a clear winner, at least not until the very last play. As it feels like we say every single week, Tracey Brooks had himself a game. Despite only averaging 3 YPC, he would manage a 63-yard day. He, along with Ed Smith Jr’s 2 TD day, was what held the Liberty offense together for much of the first half.
The first half was almost all Salina; it felt like they could command the pace of the game, simply having a yard-by-yard drive that ended in six. While the Liberty was busy with downhill running, the Punishers seemed to do everything they could to keep pace. Hollins and Jo-el Shaw seemed to be putting it all on the line, and it seemed to be a line that was about to snap heading into the second half.
After matching score for score on that first drive, they would go on to be outscored 20-7, resulting in the 27-13 score. The second half came, and as far as we could all tell, the Liberty were going to slowly grind the life out of the Punishers and head to Dodge City…. We couldn’t have been more wrong. The third started rough for Pueblo; a deep, promising drive ended on a poorly thrown ball, only for Salina to return the favor. For the entire quarter, in fact, as no one would score in the third.
We wouldn’t get another score until 11:50 in the third, following a four-down stand, ending in a Reed field goal dead center of the goal post, giving Salina a 16-point fourth quarter lead. This was followed by a soul-crushing turnover at the hands of Dion Kuinlan, who, to that point, had a fairly uneventful game. At this point, you could hear the energy change; the game day announcers began the typical “anything can happen” speech, obviously doubting the home team.
At just under eight to go, we finally saw the offense get the break it needed. The break? Well, a sweep to the right from the four resulted in a Jo-El Shaw touchdown; little did we know this was far from the end of the scoring. After a failed 2 point conversion, the lead was drawn down to just ten. Though it was promising, the Liberty would go on an 8+ play drive, eating clock before a Sloan jump-and-catch to the back of the endzone would add six, and establish their lead at 17.
This is where things began to turn, in a hurry-up style drive marked with quick passes and an unwavering Pueblo OL. Hollins would punch it in on a down-the-boards dash. The 2 point conversion succeeded, and suddenly the lead was back below double digits. The Ensuing Liberty drive would die in four downs on a poorly executed run by Adams inside their own 20. The short field set up Hollins and the Punishers offense, as Hollins hit Shaw underneath, on basically a RB Screen, for a catch-and-sprint TD, drawing the once 17-point lead… all the way down to THREE.
The ensuing Onside (though those of us at home missed most of it) would be bobbled, mishandled and kicked around all the way back to the Liberty 20 before being snagged by Pueblo. Setting up the opportunity for them to drive, score, and win it! They would go on a 4+ play drive, draining the clock all the way down to a daunting thirteen seconds. One play later? Hollins to Brooks for the 41-37 lead! The remaining crowd erupted, the announcers playing out what a SWK-Pueblo matchup looks like, and just one play left to end Salinas’ title hopes!
7 Seconds is all the clock reads. The ball snapped, thrown…. And Incomplete! Ball Game! Well, no… an illegal defense? Yes! The Penalty gave Salina one more chance… the Punishers only rushed one… everyone deep… Adams Scrambles… heaves it to the endzone….
And TOUCHDOWN, Ed Smith Jr would snag it out of the air, basically uncovered, to walk it off in dramatic fashion… at 43-41. It was a heartbreaking loss after a 27-point explosion in just 8-minutes of play. An insane comeback and overall great inaugural season for the Punishers. You have to give the Brooks-Solomon combo credit, through it all. With no time on the clock, they left it all on the field. As for Salina.. They go on to face a very familiar opponent just up the road in Dodge City.
Omaha 31 SWK 51
Unfortunately, the Cinderella run has struck midnight. In a season of two halves, the Beef looked like they were destined to go the distance until the Storm ended their hopes. In an uncharacteristic night for Vincent Espinoza, he threw three interceptions to the SWK defense. D’Nerius Antoine would lead the team with 28 rushing yards and add a touchdown in his efforts.
The defense for Omaha would keep them relatively close for most of the game, even forcing two interceptions from Trae Self, one returned for six. As the third and fourth quarters came, however, the Storm’s offense would prove to be too much to handle. Old problems resurfaced, with receivers running open in coverage and missed assignments leading to big plays throughout the game.
Southwest Kansas and Coach Thomas have finally done it: a playoff victory that also doubles as a championship birth. Coming into the game, it became known that Trae Self was not playing at 100%. Even with two interceptions, he had a solid night throwing for 193 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Running back Jaden Sutton tallied 44 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. The defense gave Omaha fits all night, forcing 3 interceptions and a return touchdown of their own. Couple that with some 4th down stands that helped cement the victory in the final period.
The Storm as a whole looked more like themselves compared to their last outing, which resulted in their only defeat of this season. The game was a matchup of two teams with very different seasons. SWK have been the favorites since mid-season and only lost a single game, while Omaha started off 0-5 and turned things around to the tune of a 6-game winning streak heading into the matchup.
A highly contested first half that didn’t see either team jump out, but would end with a Hail Mary touchdown from the Storm. It seemed as though the Beef never recovered from the lucky touchdown. In the second half, SWK would pull away and never look back. The Beef offense moved the ball but could never capitalize when they needed to. By the game’s end, the lead ballooned into 3 scores, leaving SWK celebrating on their home turf, and Omaha with more questions than answers.
By TJ Bartholomew
NAL Championship Preview
The final game, the one for the hardware, comes down to a matchup we are all too familiar with, the Kansas Classic! These two have squared off every season since 2022, through four different leagues, and three post-game scuffles. They both have very different play styles, Salina more of a run and bruise approach, and SWK more of a finesse spread-it-out game.
Heron Oneal comes in as the more experienced indoor football head coach, but Gary Thomas spent the majority of his coaching career in the college ranks, and is finishing his third season coaching indoor/arena football. We have seen this matchup twice in the regular season, and for the first time ever, the Storm swept the Liberty. It should not come as a surprise, as SWK put together one of, if not the best, rosters we have seen out of them since their inception in 2022.
Whether it be behind the arm of Struck or Self, they have found ways to get guys open, due to a serviceable job from Sutton. The defense, while good, has had moments that make you wonder if they can topple the Liberty for a third straight time. Other times, guys like Evan DiMaggio and his ability to get into the backfield really make you wonder if they won’t steamroll their way to a title banner, though he isn’t playing.
Salina on the other hand has shown to be more of a steady run, pop a pass when needed kind of offense. They, too, have gone through one above-average starting QB to another, both with fairly different play styles. It doesn’t really matter who you have behind center when you have an all-around athletes like Tracey Brooks, or Kavon Samuels who led the team in receiving yards and rushing yards throughout the regular season.
If anyone is going to shut down the Self to Washington touchdown factory, it might just be the Salina defense. If Darin Hungerford can manage to add to his league-leading 61 tackles and really slice into the defense, or Kerry Starks can get to Self, you may see one of the most fun upsets of the season.
Our Take?
Well, we could sit here and try to split hairs, but we won’t; both of their franchises have put it all on the line to get here, and it’s almost too tough to call. If we had to bet on anything, it’s a slow start by the Storm and a battle throughout the rest of the game. Fully expect Salina to keep it on the ground and steady with the short passing game, which few have stopped.
Expect SWK to push the ball down the field mostly through the air with short, consistent throws and over the top to Demarius Washington as needed. This will be a title game for the ages, and we think the edge slightly goes to the Storm, but only by 3.
Check out the graphics below for a deeper look into the game historically:
As we have said above, this is it, folks. It has been an absolute blast to cover the National Arena League this season, and we get one more game before the NAL Network subscriptions run out, the turf is rolled up, and we call it a season! Don’t forget to catch the game on Scripps Sports, and even more of a breakdown on Around the Indoor Football world Saturday morning at 7 AM Central!
Need a look at the first round too?
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