The Champions Indoor Football (CIF) playoffs are almost underway. The Wichita Force (4-8) travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico to take on the number one Duke City Gladiators (10-2) on Saturday, June 16 at 7:00 pm (Central Time). This week’s CIF matchup Wichita Force @ Duke City Gladiators will determine who goes to the championship game.
CIF Playoffs: Wichita Force @ Duke City Gladiators
The Gladiators have the home field advantage, better record, average more points per game, and just about dominate the Force in every statistic possible on the leaderboard.
The Gladiators have won six more games, average 55.7 points per game, which is second in the entire league, and average more yards per game than the Force do with a 56.3 to 31.3 yards per game comparison.
On the offense, the top receiver for the Gladiators is Julian Walker with 56 receptions for 695 yards and 12 touchdowns, averaging 53 yards and one touchdown per game.
For the Force, Brett Soft leads the team in receptions with 66 receptions for 718 yards and 17 touchdowns, averaging 59.8 and just over one touchdown per game. If the Force want to win this game, Soft will need to find ways to get open and have a huge game.
On the defensive side for Duke City, Defensive Back Jayson Serda leads the league in tackles with a total of 111 tackles, averaging just over 10 per game. He also forced two fumbles, recovered four fumbles, five sacks, three interceptions, and two pass breakups. Kiaree Daniels for Wichita records a total of 85 tackles, one fumble recovery, and six pass breakups.
As a team, the Gladiators averaged 255.2 yards per game while the Force averaged 183.6 yards per game. In the air, the Gladiators 198.9 yards per game and the Force throw for 152.3 yards per game.
The prediction
Overall, the Force look to have a rough game ahead of them. They can’t be counted out until the clock strikes all zeroes in the fourth quarter. Wichita will have to force Duke City to make multiple mistakes and capitalize on those mistakes if they want to win. This game will not be easy, but they can definitely do it.
The Gladiators will have to rely on their defense in this game if they want to hold the Force to as little points as possible. The league’s leading tackler will be a huge help. In this game, the Gladiators are likely to win by three scores or more, especially with how well they move the ball and stop the opposing defense.
Duke City and Wichita will battle it out on Saturday, kicking off at 7:00 p.m. CT. The game can be watched for free online at Pluto.tv and we will have live updates on LWOS_IndoorFB on twitter.
