New Mexico no match for Vegas as Knight Hawks claim 4th straight win

Spicy words from head coach Mike Davis were backed up in a big way in his team’s latest win to pick up a fourth straight win.

While hosting a series of familiar faces Vegas dumped New Mexico, 48-12, Saturday, April 25 from Lee’s Family Forum. That runs the current streak to four straight wins for the reigning indoor football league champions.

“I learned at a young age to be authentic through and through and the rest will take care of itself,” head coach Mike Davis said. “That locker room, they police themselves and that’s the best part about it.”

As a team, the Knight Hawks are 4-1 this year after dropping their season opener to the Green Bay Blizzard. Presently, the team is tied atop the Western Conference with the Arizona Rattlers.

Saturday marked the first of three straight home games for Vegas with Arizona lined up as the team’s next opponent. That game is expected to be played Sunday, May 3 from Lee’s Family Forum.

“It’s going to be a tough, hard-nose battle,” Davis said. “For us, it’s just another one, right? Obviously, it’s Arizona, it’s always a little more animosity because it’s the two big guys, the big guns but you know people forget it’s three big guns in the West. Us, Arizona and San Diego.”

Former Knight Hawks quarterback Ja’Rome Johnson made his return to Lee’s Family Forum where he claimed league MVP two years ago and an elusive championship last season.

As expected, emotions ran high at moments including some post play talk between Johnson and Vegas defensive back Clifton Duck early in the second quarter.

“Everybody is a professional,” defensive back Terry Roberts said. “It’s going to be a chippy game. The most calm team wins, you just have to keep your composure and don’t let the other team get to you.”

Doing the work pre-snap garnered the best results for the Knight Hawks’ defense, forcing the opponents into several pre-snap penalties. Even when the snap was successful, the defensive pressure forced several turnovers.

“We knew their o-line was the weak link of that team,” Davis said. “We thought we could exploit and we did. Those guys were screaming off the ball and had Ja’Rome running for his life and that’s what we wanted.”

In total, Vegas forced its former signal caller into four turnovers on the night. Of those four turnovers, Johnson fumbled the ball away twice and was intercepted twice.

“He don’t like to take hits and he don’t like to get hit,” Davis said. “So we were trying to make him run around and take those unnecessary hits that he don’t want to take. You saw a couple of balls rolling around on the ground and he didn’t want any part of it.”

Both of those interceptions were snagged out of the air by Roberts. The second of those picks was a singular left-hand grab near the goal line.

“Initially, [I was shocked],” he said. “I saw the ball and I was like, ‘It’s behind me, I’ll just put my left hand out and see what we can do.’ It came into my hand and I was like, ‘Alright, we just gone roll with it.’”

After an initial touchdown by New Mexico on the game’s first drive, it went without points for about 25 minutes. That includes several missed extra points and field goals by former Vegas kicker Ben Derby.

On the other hand, the Knight Hawks’ current quarterback Jayden De Laura shined with 87 yards and three touchdowns on 8-of-14 passing. Even with the sustained success, he did throw his first interception of the year a few weeks removed from admitting his season goal was to not throw an interception all season long.

“I know he’s probably upset,” receiver Quentin Randolph said. “My boy [Deshon Stoudemire] owes everybody’s lunch or dinner because we were trying to go consecutive games, scoring touchdowns on every drive and I just thought he missed, they tried to make a move too fast. 

“He hurt Jayden so he’s gotta pay for that.”

The receiver duo of Randolph and Deshon Stoudemire combined to haul in seven receptions for 85 yards and all three of De Laura’s touchdown passes. One of Randolph’s touchdowns culminated with a “Duck, Duck, Goose” celebration.

Randolph also added a touchdown run to his stat line.

“I apologize to the fans – it was kind of weak,” Randolph said. “I didn’t have a lot of touchdown celebrations – my Amazon package did not get in in enough time. Next week against Arizona, I’m bringing the flavor.”

With the big lead, backup quarterback Avaun Rucker got valuable reps in his first season as a Knight Hawk. In his limited time, he accounted for 33 yards on three completions and 28 yards and a rushing score on five carries.

“Shout out to my guy Ruck,” Randolph said. “He’s been down in camp consistently building as a rookie quarterback in this league. It’s hard getting adjusted but he’s getting it down. I’m super proud of him, it’s always good to see a rookie quarterback get in the end zone.”

As a team, Vegas scored four rushing touchdowns on the night including two by running back Josh Tomas, who has scored at least one touchdown in every game this season. Through the first five games of the season, last year’s Offensive Player of the Year is up to eight rushing touchdowns this year.