We are one week closer to the inaugural season of the National Arena League (NAL) Playoffs as another interesting game will occur. Let’s take a look as High Country Grizzlies seek final word versus Lehigh Valley Steelhawks

High Country Grizzlies Seek Final Word Versus Lehigh Valley Steelhawks

After the High Country Grizzlies couldn’t pull off a victory at home against the Columbus Lions, their playoff chances are dwindling down, but they are not out of the picture. The Grizzlies fall down to 3-5 on the season and still hold onto that number five spot, just two games behind the (5-3) Monterrey Steel and just one game ahead of the (2-6) Georgia Firebirds.

On the other hand, Lehigh Valley came off of a bye week. Their last game was against the High Country Grizzlies in Boone, NC, where they rallied up and won 56-28 and move to 7-1. Lehigh Valley is sitting at that two-seed and it doesn’t look like they will move anywhere anytime soon. They are just one game behind the (9-0) Jacksonville Sharks and one game ahead of the (6-3) Columbus Lions.

Keys For High Country:

1. Run the ball.

As crazy as it may sound in the NAL, High Country needs to run the ball a lot to throw Lehigh Valley off-guard. The Grizzlies rank first in the most rushing attempts and the second best in rushing yards.

2. Pass Defense

The Grizzlies defense this season so far leave quarterbacks just above 50 percent per game and just below 100 QBR per game. With a defense like this, there should be more interceptions and turnovers than touchdowns allowed. This is a tough group against the pass, so watch out.

3. Offensive Line

What drives defenses crazy? Lots of time for the Quarterback to throw the ball. If this Grizzlies offense can protect Stephen Panasuk, this Grizzlies offense will get going early and there will be no stopping him at this point.

4. Defensive Line

Another thing that drives a team crazy is the offensive linemen dropping like fillies. If High Country can get their defensive line going, lots of mistakes will be made, forcing Lehigh Valley to make mistakes. The Grizzlies aren’t the best or the close to being the best on forced fumbles, but if their defensive line wakes up, they will have a huge impact on that stat in the league.

Keys For Lehigh Valley:

1. Offensive Scoring

This Steelhawks team is leading the league in the amount of points scored offensively. If they can get score in the air and on the ground, they will be one tough team to beat.

2. Kickoff Returns

To get your offense to score, you have to have great kickoff returns. The Steelhawks can travel 45-yards to score a touchdown, but that takes way too much time, which is bad if it is a close game and if they’re behind. Typically the ones who return the kickoffs for a good amount of yards turn that into a quick score, forcing more points to go on the board.

3. Defense

The Steelhawks are right behind Jacksonville in scoring defense. Lehigh Valley doesn’t allow much scoring because their defense knows exactly what to do and can pretty much predict what the play is going to be before it happens. Get this going this week and the defense will have very minimal points going against them.

4. Home Field Advantage

In a game like this and High Country playing for a playoff spot, home field advantage will help tremendously in this game. Lehigh Valley is unstoppable at home. Their arena gets super loud and throws teams off. High Country normally doesn’t get as many people as Lehigh Valley, so this could spark problems for High Country heading into this game.