Last week, it was all about the new guys. Although this week, Barnstormer fans saw a couple of familiar faces step up in the second half to give the team a 38-28 win over the defending champions.
Brady Roland and Bryce Enyard specifically earned two touchdowns and two interceptions respectively, helping Iowa to a 2-0 start.
Roland and Enyard’s Second Half Heroics lead Barnstormers to upset Win
In the first half, Dixie Wooten and the Barnstormers ran with a designed, blocking full back rather than having Donovan Williams line up in the backfield to run the ball.
“What Arizona does real well is play an Arena 1 defense, so we wanted to match them with an Arena 1 defense,” coach Dixie Wooten said. “We stopped their pressure up the middle, an[d it gave] us a greater chance to play football.”
The Arena 1 refers to the style of the top tier of the Arena Football League when they featured two linebackers, with one always blitzing.
“The mack linebacker will always blitz and try to penetrate A gap and get pressure when he’s going against a running back,” Wooten said. “We put a lineman in so he had to go against a lineman.”
It resulted Sheldon Augustine and Drew Powell being the only offensive players on the stat sheet for Iowa in the first half.
That includes both Roland and Ryan Balentine being held to zero receptions for the entirety of the first 30 minutes.
Although, the second half was a different story.
There was a different energy in the building and the Barnstormers’ offense started to gel together. Something had clicked.
Powell found Roland three times on the first drive of the half, the final time finding him in the end zone for his first score of the night.
“[I knew] Brady was gotta make it,” wide receiver Johnny Duarte said. “And of course he made a highlight catch.”
Roland would go on to earn another touchdown, dragging two defenders and diving across the goal-line.
Roland's second impressive catch of the night. #IFL10 pic.twitter.com/gVKrx2LtTs
— Connor Ferguson (@cfchangs9) March 11, 2018
The offense certainly piggybacked off of his momentum on Saturday, although the defense had a star of its own.
Former Northwest Missouri State Bearcat Bryce Enyard caught not one, but two interceptions to help Iowa to the win.
“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to the linebacker and defensive line to put the pressure on the quarterback and make it easy on me,” Enyard said.
Enyard now leads the IFL in interceptions with three.
Both players were named the F.A.N. Show player of the game, an award given out by host Richard Tieman who travels to indoor games all across the nation.
Brady Roland (@Broland232) and Bryce Enyard (@Mr_Iroy_29) being named co-players of the game by the @FANShowOfficial yesterday. pic.twitter.com/wmBUT1ejtA
— Connor Ferguson (@cfchangs9) March 11, 2018
Other impressive performances included Cody Barber, who stayed perfect on extra point attempts, and a team-leading seven tackles from Zach Allen, who is replacing Javicz Jones.
Iowa will return to the field on Sunday when they take on the Sioux Falls Storm in a rematch of last year’s United Conference Championship game. It will kick off at 3:00 p.m. from the Well.
