Week Two was a light week for AF1 action with only two games on the docket. The shortage of Arena activity is largely due to league instability leading up to Week Zero.
Arena Football One, as it is formally known, was founded with 14 teams. That number was reduced to just Eight by opening kickoff on March 8th. This included the loss of both the Orlando Predators and the Arizona Bandits less than a week before the opener.
The lack of games didn’t prevent the four teams that did suit up from delivering some fantastic indoor football.
Let’s dive into the highlights.
Firebirds Dominate Storm in AF1 Debut
Friday night the Albany Firebirds announced their arrival in the AF1 with authority. The Firebirds demolished the SW Kansas Storm 78-20 with a dual attack of a wildly efficient offense and a ruthless defense.
The Soaring Firebirds
The Firebirds ran the Storm defense ragged with a classic arena football offense. They move fast. They air it out. They repeat. Unfortunately for the Storm, they repeated this with a huge amount of success.
Firebirds Quarterback Sam Castronova, defending IFL Offensive Player of the Year, set an early season high for touchdown passes with seven. He also ran one in.
Castronova was 15 for 22 and threw for 220 yards. He connected with four different receivers for scores, including three times with receiver Duane Brown who ended the day with four touchdowns of his own.
The Firebirds defense contributed heartily to the win as well. They notched four sacks, caused one fumble, forced four turnovers on downs and grabbed three picks, two of which they returned for scores.
Firebirds kicker Henry Nell even scored two deuces. To those of you who are new to Arena Football, a deuce is when the Kicker kicks the ball through the uprights on a kickoff. Teams are awarded two points. Nell hit his first one with the opening kick of the game.
The Stumbling Storm
Despite coming into the game 2-0, the Storm’s offense struggled to accomplish much of anything when starting QB Jaylen Morten wasn’t making big plays. Morten rushed for two of the Storm’s three scores, which brings his rushing touchdown total to six on the season.
Morten was far from perfect against the Firebirds. He threw his first three interceptions of the season and had one fumble.
The Storm’s defense, a real strength for the team in their first two wins, was a non-entity. Castronova picked them apart like old bread.
One reason for the Storm’s sloppiness might be the team’s incredible workload. With Friday’s game, the Storm became the first AF1 team to have played three games. They accomplished this feat in just 13 days. Let’s hope they get some rest before next Sunday.
This is the Firebirds and the Storm’s only scheduled matchup this season. So, if the Storm are hungry for vengeance they’ll have to wait for the playoffs.
Next week, the Firebirds will look to continue their dominance Saturday, the 29th against the 0-1 Nashville Kats, in Nashville.
The Storm will strive to return to their winning ways when they host the 0-2 Oregon Lightning for the game of the week on Sunday.
Wolfpack Feast on Struggling Lightning
In a classic tale of two halves, the Oregon Lightning and the Washington Wolfpack both entered Saturday night’s game 0-1. The Lightning were trounced by the Billings Outlaws in Week One, while the Wolfpack dropped their opener to the Storm.
Oregon started the game with a great deal of confidence. The Lightning scored early and often in the first half. They left Everett, Washington however, with nothing but disappointment and their second loss of the season.
The Ferocious Wolfpack
The story of this game for Washington is the arrival of a new Alpha to their pack: Quarterback Ed Crouch.
For the first six quarters of the season, Washington operated with uncertainty at QB. Former Orlando Predator standout Joseph Hess got the start in their season opener but suffered an injury to his non-throwing arm in the first half.
Wolfpack backup Adam Kruse had a solid outing. He went 14-28 and threw four touchdowns. He also threw three interceptions and the Wolfpack dropped their opener to the Storm 63-33.
After that game, Coach JR Wells revealed that Kruse was playing with a fracture in his throwing hand that made it difficult to grip the ball.
In the six days between their loss to the Storm and their game with the Lightning, the Wolfpack signed Ed Crouch away from the IFL’s San Antonio Gunslingers.
Coach Wells, perhaps hoping continuity would carry the day, allowed Kruse to start Saturday against the Lightning. By the time Kruse was replaced by Crouch in the second quarter, the Wolfpack had two fumbles, two turnovers on downs and were losing 22-0.
Two and a half minutes and five plays into the second half, Crouch hit a wide open “LD” McCallister in the endzone to finally put the Wolfpack on the board.
A bad snap by the Lightning less than 30 seconds later was recovered by the Washington defense in the endzone. Cutting the deficit to 10.
The momentum had firmly shifted to the Wolfpack in just three minutes. They never gave it back.
By the end of the third quarter, Crouch and company had taken a 29-22 lead.
On his way to leading the Wolfpack to a 35-28 win, Crouch had zero turnovers and threw four touchdowns, including two to McCallister, one to Deshon Williams and one to 6’8” 300 lb offensive lineman Dom “Zilla” Moore.
If Crouch keeps this up, this could be the beginning of a very exciting time for the Washington offense. Welcome to Washington Ed Crouch. I’m sure your teammates and the people of Everett are happy to have you.
The not so Flashy Lightning
After just two weeks of football, we can officially announce that the Lightning are a mess. Between penalties and turnovers, it’s difficult to point out any one source of the problem.
One issue Coach Chuck Jones needs to fix immediately however, is the complete lack of chemistry and communication between QB1 Dalton Cole and his center. Bad snaps have been a consistent issue for the Lightning in both of their outings this season.
I tried to keep up with the various nuances of the Lightning’s snapping issues myself. There’s no official stat for it on the AF1 site.
Saturday night Cole had three bobbled snaps. He had two fumbles that were turned over. He wasn’t ready for one snap and it bounced off of his facemask before being caught by Marquis Sampson. Cole had to jump for at least three snaps, which is really something when you consider he’s 6’3”.
his inefficiency and lack of communication at center leads to countless other issues. Cole was sacked twice. He threw one interception and the Lightning offense racked up offsides penalties like they were going out of style.
The wide receiver corps had five; with four of those being called on the High Man in Motion.
The High Man in Motion is an indoor football distinction for a positional player that is permitted to run at the line of scrimmage as the ball is being snapped. If the timing of the snap is off, as it was four times on Saturday night for the Lightning, that receiver is called for a false start and the play is whistled dead.
The Lightning have until next Sunday to work on their communication issues. If they don’t, they could be in store for another long night.
Washington and Oregon will meet again on April 26th.
This week, the Wolfpack have a bye, which will give them and their new QB more time to prep for their matchup with the defending AFL champions the Billings Outlaws on April 3, in Washington.
The Lightning will travel to Dodge City, Kansas to take on the SW Kansas Storm on March 30th.
That’s all for Week Two. Don’t fret though, Friday will be here before you know it. There are three games on the schedule for Week Three, including a rematch between Central Division rivals the Corpus Cristi Tritons and the Salina Liberty.
