De Laura leads Knight Hawks to 4th win in last 6 contests

From ending a two-game losing streak to counteracting it with a two-game win streak has the Vegas Knight Hawks soaring in an upward trajectory.

Vegas thrashed Northern Arizona, 63-43, Saturday, June 7 from the Findlay Toyota Center in a Week 12 meeting. After two meetings against the Wranglers this season, the Knight Hawks have claimed both.

“We’ve kind of nullified [playoff conversations],” head coach Mike Davis said. “We’ve just kind of worried about the ball in front of us right now.”

Now, Vegas sits with a 6-4 overall record which is still good for a tie for third place in the Western Conference with San Diego. Bay Area (7-2) and Arizona (7-3) currently sit as the top two teams in the conference.

Up next, the Knight Hawks will have their first meeting of the season against the West’s top team, the Panthers. Bay Area will host that meeting Saturday, June 14 with kickoff slated for 6 p.m.

“We’ve just got to take care of business,” Davis said. “Take care of business and good things happen. We’ve let a couple of games slip out early in the year but we can’t dwell on that, we can only worry about what’s in front of us.”

Fresh off an IFL Special Teams Player of the Week, running back Antonio Wimbush pumped out another monster performance.

Wimbush got things going right away with a touchdown run on the team’s first possession of the game. Just before halftime he added another touchdown to his resume, this time through the air.

The next two touchdowns for Wimbush came in the third quarter where he’d add another rushing and receiving touchdown. He ended the night with 88 all-purpose yards on 14 touches to go along with four touchdowns.

“That’s part of it,” Davis said. “When you lead by example, it’s easy to follow you. We've got one of the best o-lines in the game.”

There was a kick return touchdown in the win but it was from offensive lineman Desmond Bland on an onside kick attempt from Northern Arizona late in regulation.

Quarterback Jayden De Laura got his second straight start and tossed a pair of first quarter touchdowns to receivers CJ Windham and Quentin Randolph. The latter one to Randolph opened the floodgates and the rout was on.

De Laura would help lead five straight scoring drives in a game where the Knight Hawks led by as many as 36 points. In the win, he racked up 140 passing yards on 11-for-14 with three passing touchdowns and a rushing score.

Now backup Ja’Rome Johnson enters the game in the fourth quarter and threw an interception on his second play from scrimmage. That’d be his only throw in the win while rushing for two yards on two carries.

The five straight scoring possessions that changed the course of the game came because the Vegas defense forced four straight stops. The first two of those stops came via turnovers on downs while the next two were ended by interceptions by defensive backs Rome Weber and James Ceasar.

When the Wranglers scored with less than five minutes left in the third quarter, it was the home team’s first touchdown since 4:06 to go in the first quarter.