Rattlers open IFL season with championship in mind
There are no preseason games in the Indoor Football League. No experimenting with players, lineups. So the Rattlers need to make sure there aren’t too many missteps Saturday when they open the season at Footprint Center.
They open at 6:05 p.m., against the Duke City Gladiators, of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Gladiators lost to the Rattlers 58-55 in last year’s semifinal in Phoenix, despite six touchdown passes from Nate Davis.
The Rattlers needed a missed 26-yard field goal try with no time left to get to the United Bowl, which they lost the following week in overtime to the Massachusetts Pirates on a 31-yard field goal by Garrett Hartley.
Rattlers coach Kevin Guy knows this is a tough way to open.
“As long as they’ve got Nate, he’s surgical with the ball,” Guy said. “We had great coverage in the semifinal game. He fitted it in some six-inch windows. He’s a very good, very accurate quarterback. They’ve got a great receiving corps. Their defense got better as the year went on last year.
“I’m sure they’re feeling confident they can come in and get after us. We’re not overlooking anybody.”
But Guy isn’t making Week 1 the endall.
He realizes it takes a few games before all the pieces begin to fit the way he wants to make another run at a title.
Since winning the United Boal in their first season in the IFL in 2017, the Rattlers have fallen just short in the last three seasons (there was no 2020 season due to COVID-19 canceling it before the Rattlers played a game).
The Rattlers lost to the Iowa Barnstormers by a point in the 2018 semifinals, when Drew Powell, now in his third season as the Rattlers quarterback, was leading the Barnstormers. In 2019, they lost a 10-point second half lead and their only game of the season to the Sioux Falls Storm in the United Bowl, 56-53.
Then, there was last year’s loss to the Pirates in the title game.
“You’re not going to win a championship in Week 1 of the season,” Guy said. “It’s about the process. It’s about the journey that we’re working towards to get to that last game. Right now we’re just focused on the day-to-day process of getting ourselves ready to put ourselves in that position.
“A lot of things happen during the season. We have to make sure we’re dialed in our techniques and fundamentals.”
The Rattlers have much of the same nucleus from the last two United Bowls:
Powell, the league MVP last season, is back at quarterback. Lamar Mady is back to anchor the offensive line. Dillion Winfrey leads a young secondary after intercepting 11 passes and being the IFL Defensive Player of the Year. Wide receiver Jamal Miles returns. And Chris McAlister is back at defensive end to help a pass rush that got dinged with AllIFL Nikolaus D’Avanzo leaving for the Canadian Football League .
“We have to come in and play Rattler football, pay attention to the details and have fun,” Winfrey said. “There’s really no blue print. We come and we dominate. If we play Rattler football, we’ll walk out with a win.”
Mady announced his retirement after last year’s United Bowl loss. But he decided to come back so that his mom could have a chance to see him play. His brother died last year, and Mady’s mom wasn’t able to come out from Kansas for a game, he said.
“She asked me if I could play one more year for her, and I told her I would, put it on for her and have her see some games,” Mady said.
Mady is hoping for a better finish. He started on the 2017 team that won the IFL championship, winning at Souix Falls 50-41. “We’ve got a lot more leaders this year,” Mady said. “For the most part, the team is jelling well. I’m excited about this year.”