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It took head coach Mike Davis and last year’s Vegas Knight Hawks until mid-May to pick up their third win of the season. This year’s group has rattled off three straight victories to open the new campaign.
“It’s a different group,” Davis said. “It means a lot to them and that’s kind of what we did for recruiting purposes. When they care in the locker room, it shows a lot on the field.”
Vegas scored a season-high 66 points to beat San Antonio by 22 Friday, April 12 from the newly renamed Lee’s Family Forum to stay undefeated on the year. The team came into play following its first bye week of the season before capping off the two-game homestand with a win.
Now, the Knight Hawks are 3-0 on the year as the franchise’s historic start to the season continues. Currently, the team sits atop the Western Conference while being tied with the Massachusetts Pirates for the best record in the Indoor Football League.
A rematch from the team’s season opener is on the horizon as it prepares to travel to Jacksonville for a date with the Sharks. That game is scheduled for Saturday, April 20 with kickoff slated for 5 p.m. PST.
“It’s how you handle success,” Davis said. “The fortunate thing about us is we didn’t play a perfect game. There’s a lot we can correct, there’s a lot of mistakes that we can look at on film when we break it down tomorrow so that’ll keep guys grounded.”
Defensive back Rodrick Chapman went down a little more than midway through the second quarter after he had his leg rolled over a San Antonio offensive player. He’d leave the game and not return.
On the drive he was injured, his team managed to stop the Gunslingers on a 4th and 1 which counted as the first stop of the game for either side.
“We knew our defense was going to get a stop eventually,” quarterback Ja’Rome Johnson said. “The game is indoors so it's hard to get a stop. But once you get a stop, the game is pretty much over.”
That stop sparked a stretch of dominance for the defense that saw San Antonio go scoreless for more than 15 minutes of IFL game action. When the visitors scored about five minutes into the second half, it counted as the team’s first points since the 11:05-mark in the second quarter.
Overall, 44 total points were scored in the first 19:38 of the game.
“It feels good – we worked all week,” Johnson said. “Even on a bad week, we worked, prepared and did what we needed to do when we got on the field.”
Johnson was at the heart of the Vegas offense once again, scoring time-and-time again in different ways. On the game’s first drive, he scored from 19 yards out on a designed run to take a 7-0 lead.
Two weeks ago, the two-year pro left the game after tweaking his hamstring but put all worries to bed on the team’s first drive.
On the next drive for Vegas, Johnson accounted for all yards accumulated on the way to the end zone in the form of back-to-back 10-yard runs and then a five-yard scamper to paydirt. As a team, the Knight Hawks rushed for 111 total yards.
“We need to be able to keep the quarterback upright,” Davis said. “You need to have a situation where if we need to lean on them, we can lean on them and we were able to lean on them tonight.”
Johnson scored three touchdowns on the ground. At one point after a score, center Kevin Toote danced in the end zone with his award-winning quarterback.
“It starts with them,” Johnson said. “Without them, there’s no us. They protect everybody: Me, the running backs and the receivers can’t get the ball if they don’t block. We’ve got the best line in the IFL.”
In addition to the three rushing touchdowns, Johnson added four more scores through the air. For a third straight game, he found receiver Caleb Holley in the end zone for points.
However, the star of the receiving core was receiver CJ Windham, who struck for two scores on his only two catches of the night to go along with 48 yards.
“He told me he was going to come back to me,” Windham said of Johnson. “And he did just that so I really can’t complain about it.”
Johnson has scored three or more total touchdowns in nine of his 12 career starts and has posted at least five in six of those games.
“I watch Lamar Jackson,” Johnson said. “And [former Carolina Panther] Cam Newton is my favorite quarterback of all-time so I watch a lot of film in my free time. And God gave me two legs so I’m going to use them.”