Photo: 13 Nick Watson threw six touchdown passes last week in the win over the Rattlers
After a huge upset win over the Arizona Rattlers last week, the Northern Arizona Wranglers are ready for their next road playoff challenge, the Bay Area Panthers. The Wranglers split with the Panthers in the regular season. Both teams won at home, with Bay Area winning convincingly 47-13 on April 23, and the Wranglers squeaked out a 35-34 victory in Prescott Valley on May 13.
The Wranglers came up big beating the Rattlers 62-53 in Phoenix, and will have to duplicate their efforts in order to reach the championship game for a second consecutive year. One thing that NAZ will need to do is not have a long lapse of productivity. Last week the Wranglers built a 42-14 lead, but gave up five straight touchdowns to trail 47-42, before coming back to life, and finishing what they had started. Still, even with the empty possessions, NAZ scored a season high 62 points.
A big factor in the success of the offense last week was the return of wide receiver Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman. He and quarterback Nick Watson teamed up for five touchdowns.
Bay Area (11-5), finished in second place behind the Arizona Rattlers in the Western Conference. The Wranglers, the number four team, evened their record last week at (8-8). The winner will go to the IFL Championship game in Henderson, Nevada, the following Saturday, August 5.
Is another road win in the cards? If the defense of Northern Arizona can be as effective as they were last week against the Rattler QB Drew Powell, and the offense can be a little more consistent, then Wrangler fans should be able to pack their bags again for Vegas.
Three Wranglers made the IFL All-Rookie team this week. They are wide receiver Ryan Wisniewski with 40 receptions for 653 yards and 13 touchdowns. Defensive back Kishawn Walker has 53 tackles, 8 interceptions, and two fumble recoveries and kicker Conor Mangan, who has scored some bonus points with his drop-kicks, along with some very effective kickoffs. Any drop-kick is awarded an additional point. Look for some more of those in tonight’s contest.
The game can be seen on the IFL YouTube channel. Kickoff from San Jose is at 6:05 pm.
