Post by Monika on Oct 28, 2021 17:15:57 GMT -8
Overview
The following is the 2022 schedule for the Duke City Gladiators.
This Year will mark the 13th complete season of the Indoor Football League. It follows a successful 2021 campaign in which the IFL navigated through a global pandemic, a shooting near at a hotel near to where the away team was staying and the termination of the Louisville Xtreme after five games due to that team not meeting financial obligations. The season saw several bright spots with playoff semifinals appearances from two teams moving over from other leagues; the Massachusetts Pirates from the National Arena League and the Duke City Gladiators from Champions Indoor Football. The season also saw the return of indoor football to Spokane, which came back as the Shock. Two expansion teams debuted in 2021; the Frisco Fighters and Northern Arizona Wranglers.
Twelve teams began the season last year before the Xtreme were dismissed from the league. Eight teams made the playoffs as 10 of the 11 remaining teams didn't find out their playoff destinies until the final week. The Pirates, Gladiators, Fighters and Arizona Rattlers advanced to the semifinals. A pair of hard-fought games resulted in the Pirates and Rattlers punching their respective tickets to the United Bowl. The championship game was a back-and-forth affair, ending with the Pirates winning their first championship on a 31-yard field goal in overtime.
Four teams sat out the season due to concerns and meeting state mandates due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Cedar Rapids River Kings, Quad City Steamwheelers and San Diego Strike Force last played in 2019 and will make their returns this season. The Bay Area Panthers (formerly Oakland Panthers) were set to make their expansion debut in 2020 prior to the league cancelling the season because of the pandemic. The Panthers will enter 2022 as their expansion season. Two true expansion teams -- the Columbus Wild Dogs and Vegas Knight Hawks will also debut this season.
The IFL schedule will span 19 weeks with each team playing 16 games (eight home and eight away). The season opens with the Frisco Fighters visiting the Massachusetts Pirates on March 12. Eight teams from two conferences will reach the playoffs in a standard bracket format. The conference alignment appears below.
The Gladiators were largely successful in their first season in the IFL after moving over from Champions Indoor Football. They were one of the teams which was set to take the field before the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing them to make their debut in 2021. Duke City led the IFL in scoring per game during the regular season and quarterback Nate Davis tossed a league-high 79 touchdowns. The Gladiators finished the regular season 7-7 and earned the fifth seed in the playoffs, claiming a last-minute 34-33 win over the Iowa Barnstormers in the first round. They were turned away in the semifinals, however, by the Arizona Rattlers, 58-55.
The Gladiators will once again call the Rio Rancho Events Center as home for the 2022 season. Tingley Coliseum, the primary home of the Gladiators, was unavailable in 2021 due to the arena being used as a COVID-19 vaccination site. Despite the assumption of fans that the Gladiators would return to Tingley Coliseum in 2022, the Gladiators confirmed on their Facebook page that they would be "back in 2023" and that the IFL was not allowing the Gladiators to play at Tingley as it was "not to standard."
Click for the entire IFL 2022 schedule.
All games will be broadcast locally on the radio. Most IFL games will be broadcast live on the league's official YouTube Channel. SCtoC will provide previews each game, as well as recaps of games upon their conclusions. In the schedule below. Home games are noted in bold black. Times and dates are subject to change. All times are pacific. Where applicable, click for SCtoC's original recap of the game.
Schedule
MARCH
Week 1 -- BYE
Week 2 -- Sat., March 19 - at Arizona Rattlers (L 28-50) - Recap
Week 3 -- Sat., March 26 - Frisco Fighters (L 33-60)
APRIL
Week 4 -- Sat., April 2 - Arizona Rattlers (L 21-43)
Week 5 -- Sat., April 9 - Bay Area Panthers (W 50-28) - Recap
Week 6 -- Sat., April 16 - Tucson Sugar Skulls (W 57-52) - Recap
Week 7 -- Sat., April 23 - at Frisco Fighters (L 41-42)
Week 8 -- Sat., April 30 - at Tucson Sugar Skulls (L 41-42)
MAY
Week 9 -- Sat., May 7 - at Bay Area Panthers (W 43-20) - Recap
Week 10 -- BYE
Week 11 -- Sat., May 21 - at Vegas Knight Hawks (W 47-21)
Week 12 -- Sat., May 28 - San Diego Strike Force (W 54-49) - Recap
JUNE
Week 13 -- Sat., June 4 - Massachusetts Pirates (W 51-43) - Recap
Week 14 -- Sat., June 11 - at Frisco Fighters (L 46-47) - Recap
Week 15 -- Sat., June 18 - Arizona Rattlers L 38-58) - Recap
Week 16 -- Sat., June 25 - at Northern Arizona Wranglers (L 41-49) - Recap
JULY
Week 17 -- BYE
Week 18 -- Sat., July 9 - at San Diego Strike Force (W 53-51)
Week 19 -- Sat., July 16 - Northern Arizona Wranglers (W 39-32)
PLAYOFFS
JULY
Semifinal -- Sun., July 24 - at Arizona Rattlers (L 14-53) - Recap
IFL Team Venues
Arizona Rattlers - Footprint Center; Phoenix, Arizona
Bay Area Panthers - SAP Center; San Jose, California
Bismarck Bucks - Bismarck Event Center; Bismarck, North Dakota
Duke City Gladiators - Rio Rancho Events Center; Rio Rancho, New Mexico
Frisco Fighters - Comerica Center; Frisco, Texas
Green Bay Blizzard - Resch Center; Green Bay, Wisconsin
Iowa Barnstormers- Wells Fargo Arena; Des Moines, Iowa
Massachusetts Pirates - DCU Center; Worcester, Massachusetts
Northern Arizona Wranglers - Findlay Toyota Center; Prescott Valley, Arizona
Quad City Steamwheelers - Taxslayer Center; Moline, Illinois
San Diego Strike Force - Pechanga Arena; San Diego, California
Sioux Falls Storm - Denny Sanford Premier Center; Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Tucson Sugar Skulls - Tucson Convention Center; Tucson, Arizona
Vegas Knight Hawks - Dollar Loan Center; Henderson, Nevada
IFL Team Geographical Map
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