Green Bay edges Vegas in National Championship rematch to open new season

Nothing gets the blood pumping like a National Championship rematch to kick off a new season of football.

More than 200 days after the IFL’s title game, Green Bay got some revenge against Vegas, 37-35, Monday, March 16 from Wisconsin. The Knight Hawks return to action looking for a repeat with six returners from last year’s championship-winning team.

“Our guys were just ready to play,” head coach Mike Davis said. “You would’ve thought they won the Super Bowl after this game – and good for them, right. They probably needed it more than we did.

“But at the end of the day you still want to win them all.”

The annual IFL Hall-of-Fame Game was postponed a day as a blizzard raged through the northeast portion of the State of Wisconsin. As a result, the Week 1 meeting was contested without fans in attendance.

“It throws off your routine,” Davis said. “But our guys battled well, the problem is you kind of get stuck in the hotel and you go stir crazy and things like that. But none of that had an effect on us losing the game.

Despite being the league’s reigning and defending champions, Davis’ Knight Hawks won’t play their first home game for several more weeks as a bye week lies ahead before another road game.

That road game will be a date with the Tucson Sugar Skulls Sunday, March 29 from Arizona.

“Being the Vegas Knight Hawks, you’re going to get everybody’s best game,” Davis said. “When you add being the champs on that, that’s an extra added charge and it just is what it is.”

Vegas newcomer Josh Tomas was the reason the team had a chance to take its first lead of the game about five minutes into the fourth quarter. Last year’s Offensive Player of the Year returned a missed Green Bay kick 42 yards to the Blizzards’ eight-yard line.

Following an unnecessary roughness penalty, Tomas found the end zone from two yards out to take a, 35-30, lead.

While a penalty helped set up the score that saw the Knight Hawks take their first lead of the game, it was a penalty on the team’s defense while facing a 4th and 2 that gave their opponent a new set of downs.

Green Bay tossed the go-ahead touchdown pass on the very next play.

“We’ve got to do better,” Davis said. “We’ve got some guys that made some uncharacteristic plays and for us as coaches, we’ve got to get them better prepared. This one is totally on us.”

With a chance to climb back on top, Tomas went from potentially saving the day in his first showing with his new team to having a crucial mistake that led to the opposite outcome. On the team’s final offensive possession of the game, he fumbled the ball away at the opponent’s three-yard line as part of what looked to be a promising drive.

That mistake proved to be the second lost fumble of the night for Tomas as part of his 21-touch night with 120 yards and two touchdowns to show for it.

“He’s a pro,” Davis said. “You don’t have to say anything to him. He came back, head up, ready to rock.”

After being stopped at the goal line on the final play of the year last season, Green Bay beefed up its front on both offense and defense. Aside from one drive that ended in a turnover, the home team scored on four of its first five possessions of the game.

During that time, the Blizzard went up by 13 on two separate occasions while quarterback Liam Thompson went 11-for-16 with 157 total yards and four touchdowns.

“We missed three stops on defense,” Davis said. “We had them 3rd and long, 4th and 7, missed a sack and they scored a touchdown and fumbled twice inside the red zone.”

Green Bay added a field goal to go up, 23-7, with 31 seconds left on the first half clock. On the ensuing possession, Vegas would get to the one-yard line but would have time expire as it ran the offense without a timeout in tow.

Davis was livid as the clock struck zero citing the belief his team had time to execute one more play before the horn blew.

“We got tackled with nine seconds left on the clock,” Davis said. “And the side judge, instead of hustling, walks the ball into the play and then tosses it to the back judge who’s in the back of the end zone who then walks it up and we don’t get a play off.

“As an official, you’ve got to hustle. We’re telling our guys to hustle, you’ve got to hustle too.”

Despite that earlier forced fumble and fumble recovery, the Knight Hawks faced that 16-point deficit at halftime. They’re led by second-year quarterback Jayden De Laura, who excelled in this one in spite of the loss.

De Laura went 17-for-22 passing with 184 total yards accounted for to go along with three touchdowns. His leading receiver was Phoenix Sproles who caught seven balls for 60 yards and a touchdown.

Vegas’s first touchdown of the year went to the franchise’s leading receiver Quentin Randolph, who turned four opening week catches into 36 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for a touchdown in the third quarter as part of back-to-back scores for the visitors.

At the time, the once 16-point deficit was trimmed to just two.

As the Knight Hawks made their comeback, the Blizzard were limited to just 14 points in the second half or a touchdown in each quarter after halftime.