The Jacksonville Sharks’ National Arena League (NAL) Championship Game is almost here.
Jacksonville (12-1) is coming into this game with a lot of momentum after the team beat the Monterrey Steel on June 24.
They are set to face the Columbus Lions (10-3) this Saturday at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena.
LWOS’ Brandon Russell has the keys to a Jacksonville win.
Top Five reasons the Jacksonville Sharks will win the National Arena League Championship Game
Having a perfect start to the season gave Jacksonville the confidence, and the advantage going into the big game.
No. 5: New Defense, New Team
Coming off of the final week of the regular season, the Sharks signed DB Jabari Gorman, who had two key interceptions in the playoff game against Monterrey.
Kieth Bowers and Jermiah Price have returned from previous injuries.
With those three, Charlie Hunt, and Erick McIntosh on the field at the same time, the Sharks will almost be unstoppable.
Jacksonville’s defense looked to get back to where they were at the beginning of the season, so the quarterbacks for Columbus better watch out.
No. 4: Dominating Wide Receivers
The Jacksonville Sharks have had seven wide receivers this year: Darryl Thompson, Emughedi Umodu, Thyron Lewis, Devin Wilson, Hunt, Maurice Williams, and most recently added, Joe Hills.
Hunt had always been the Linebacker, but recently got switched to WR/LB.
Jacksonville has so many talented receivers that Thompson was added to the defensive back squad after Hills made his return to Jacksonville.
With so many weapons to throw to, it is hard to envision this offense being slow.
No. 3: Prevent Turnovers on Offense; Force Them on Defense
The Sharks defense is doing a great job on intercepting the ball and forcing fumbles. Gorman in his first game back with the Sharks recorded two interceptions like mentioned earlier.
“As long as we’re disciplined, we can always win the game.” Gorman said after his first game back. “…and [we have to] move forward.”
On the offensive side, things aren’t looking as pretty. But if the Sharks can stick to what they have planned and focus on what they need to do, they will be able to easily win this game.
Most of the turnovers on the offensive side have been simple mistakes, whether it is a bad snap or botching the snap, and interceptions that could be easily fixed.
No. 2: Control the Third Quarter
The Sharks this year have been able to control the game in the third quarter all season. It may be their least scoring quarter, but it is also the quarter where they waste as much time as they possible can.
How is that possible?
The Sharks get the ball, whether it is first thing in the quarter or whether it is the second drive of the quarter.
When they get the ball, they kill a lot of the clock, controlling the game heading into the fourth quarter.
If/when the opponent has the ball in the third quarter, the Sharks always find a way to force a turnover and get the ball back, or they allow a quick score so they get the ball back and waste more time.
The perfect player to help the Sharks in that department would be Derrick Ross.
Ross averages about nine carries a game for 43.4 yards on the season.
When the Sharks feed him the ball, why even try to stop him?
The only way to bring him down is to go low, but when the players go low, he will hurdle over them.
So now how do they really bring him down? The defense has to work as a team.
The Lions really have to look out for the Sharks in the third quarter in this game.
No. 1: Home Field Advantage
The Jacksonville Sharks are playing their first-ever home championship game in their eight years of being a team.
The crowd normally gets crazy during regular season games, getting to about 90-100 decibels on average and anywhere from 8,000 to 10,500 fans per game.
With these conditions, it is almost impossible to win in the Shark Tank.
The only team to do it this season was Monterrey, but that was a week before a game that had no effect on the playoffs.
The last time the Sharks lost at home, not counting Monterrey, was on June 25, 2016 against the Cleveland Gladiators when the Sharks fell short 47-48.
With it being the first championship in Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, there shouldn’t be too many empty seats and the fans should all be rowdy as always.
The game kicks off Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET. Use #ChampionshipWeekend to discuss the game with other indoor football fans on twitter, as part of LWOS’ special events leading up to the game.
