The Iowa Barnstormers are going to the United Bowl.
In fact, the team will be hosting the famed Indoor Football League’s (IFL) championship game on Saturday, July 7.
Iowa punched their ticket by beating the Nebraska Danger on Friday night, after earning the top overall seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Iowa Barnstormers punch United Bowl Ticket
Though it wasn’t easy.
After Iowa deferred the toss, Nebraska received and scored on its first possession. That’s before they held the Barnstormers to a turnover-on-downs and nearly took a two-possession lead in the first quarter.
However, Iowa battled adversity like they have all season.
The Barnstormers took advantage of a missed field goal by Nebraska and drove down the field as Drew Powell completed a touchdown pass to Ryan Balentine for the touchdown.
Shortly after, as the game progressively got more chippy as the night went on, Bryce Enyard was taken out of the game with a leg injury.
There has not been any updates as to whether Enyard will be back with the team for the championship game.
Iowa went on to score twice more before the first half ended, and ultimately sealed the win in the third quarter.
The Barnstormers will face the winner of Saturday night’s 2-3 seed game between the Arizona Rattlers and Sioux Falls Storm.
Iowa faced each team three times in the regular season.
Against Arizona, the team thrived in the spotlight, and walked away with the season sweep, beating the Rattlers three times. Since Arizona joined the IFL, Iowa has not lost a game to them.
As for Sioux Falls, Iowa dropped two out of the three meetings in the regular season, including a blown 18-point, 4th-quarter lead. Though the Barnstormers looked like the better team, there is still concern as to if they can finish against Sioux Falls.
The United Bowl will be played in Des Moines, IA at Wells Fargo Arena on Saturday, July 7 at 7:00 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcasted on Mediacom Connections channel 22 (Larry Morgan and Ben Bruns) as well as YouTube, and heard live on WHO 1040 AM radio (Joe Stasi and Larry Cotlar).
