Knight Hawks rattle off 8th straight win in rare May home game

A +24 second half for the Vegas Knight Hawks which included 23 straight points at one point led to an eight straight win for the reigning national champions.

Entering this week as the first IFL Cup Champion in league history put on a show on Kid’s Day with a, 61-28, win over the Quad City Steamwheelers Sunday, May 31 from Lee’s Family Forum. It’s the franchise’s third win in four games against Eastern Conference teams this season.

“I don’t want to think that [this team is a second half team],” head coach Mike Davis said. “Obviously, we make good halftime adjustments and we come out when its time. But we would like to start faster and play better in the first half.”

Vegas played in its first home game since May 3rd while increasing its league-long eight-game win streak. As a result, the club is 8-1 this year now after entering Sunday a game up on San Diego (6-2) and two games up on Arizona (7-3).

With June on the horizon, the Knight Hawks will now turn their attention to a road contest against the Northern Arizona Wranglers. That game is scheduled for Sunday, June 7 with kickoff slated for 4:30 p.m.

“We’re still making mistakes,” Davis said. “We’ve still got to clean things up. And when we do, we’re going to be really tough.”

Receiver Deshon Stoudemire had his best game with Vegas, stepping up in a big way for the offense. He found the end zone on the team’s second drive of the game after the first ended via a turnover on downs.

Stoudemire racked up 135 yards and four touchdowns on 11 catches. Of those 11 catches, he pulled off a variety of hauls including a touchdown grab while completely shielded in the end zone and another while making a leaping, twisting grab near the goal line before reaching paydirt.

“I’d have to go with the fade ball man,” Stoudemire said of his favorite catch of the night. “In the end zone too, for sure.”

Those big plays may have been needed with franchise-leading receiver Quentin Randolph appearing unlike himself for most of the game. Various times during the win, he could be seen getting into verbal spats with officials regarding penalties.

“I was telling Q to just keep playing man,” Stoudemire said. “‘You’re going to shine.’ Nobody can stop 4’s shine, he’s going to shine regardless so I just told him to keep his head down, keep playing man. It’s going to come.”

Randolph made his frustrations best-known when he trucked a defender at the goal line as part of a touchdown reception. He ultimately tallied 36 yards on three total touches.

Running back Josh Tomas did the same thing at the goal line of a very physical game. In total, he accumulated 101 yards and two touchdowns on 13 total touches.

Defensive lineman Maurice Jackson made his return to Vegas this week after spending the first half of the season as a member of New Mexico.

“It was super easy [coming back],” he said. “It’s very welcoming, everybody welcomed me back with open arms [...] I didn’t get No. 0 back, sorry guys but No. 36 will work for now.”

On his first play from scrimmage, Jackson burst through the line for what was nearly a tackle-for-loss but he’d lose former Knight Hawk quarterback Daquan Neal.

“Really I was so excited to make my first big play back [in Vegas],” Jackson said. “I had him around the neck and I tried to re-grip and he just slipped out. I was like, ‘Damn.’”

After settling down, Jackson eventually came up with two sacks in the win and even capped the first one with a celebration that featured the choreography from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.”

“After watching the Michael Jackson movie I really wanted to hit that move,” he said. “I was a huge Michael Jackson fan as a kid – of course having the same last name. I was really excited to hit that and to see [Davis] hit it with me was the icing on the cake.”

The celebration was so good, it appeared Davis was fighting the urge to join in on the festivities.

“I don’t even know what I was doing,” he said. “I was just sitting there laughing with the kid to be honest with you. I love to see them all having fun right? The better the celebration, the funnier it is for me. 

“For us, it’s part of our identity. If these guys aren’t having fun, we’re in trouble.”

Defensive back Bryce Hampton played in his first game since May 3rd and recorded an interception as part of the win. That put the offense at the four-yard line of Quad City.

In the fourth quarter, the aforementioned Neal fumbled and it was recovered by defensive back Clifton Duck. It was his first fumble recovery of the season after posting five turnovers forced including three interceptions.

“We’re so efficient in the second half that it allows our defense to take more chances,” Davis said. “When you can take more chances, you can make more plays.”

Following that Duck fumble recovery, quarterback Jayden De Laura put forth a magical play that saw him shake a defensive lineman in the backfield before scrambling to his right near the sideline. Just before reaching the out of bounds mark, he lofted the ball just over the pursuing defense to Stoudemire for the pair’s final touchdown of the night.

“My favorite part was that Stoudemire actually went upfield and didn’t block the guy,” De Laura said. “I’ve been working on that a lot in practice, trying to get them to just go up field – I see you so I was happy he did that.”

De Laura threw for 227 yards and six touchdowns in the win on 18-for-25 through the air. Those six touchdowns tied a season-high for the Knight Hawks’ signal caller.

Backup quarterback Avaun Rucker got some action toward the end of the game and would find former UNLV receiver Senika McKie for a touchdown of his own.