Saturday’s arena football game between the Quad City Steamwheelers and the Jacksonville Sharks ended with a bang. A badly missed field goal resulted in a walk-off “kick-six” that featured at least four missed tackles.
It wasn’t quite as exciting as Auburn’s legendary return against Alabama in the Iron Bowl, but it will undoubtedly scratch your football itch in late July!
(To be completely honest, I did not remember that there are more than one arena football league that plays during the same portion of the calendar year. The Arena Football League, which concluded with a championship game played inside of a literal shopping mall on Friday, is different from the Indoor Football League. I can’t imagine that I am the only one who didn’t know that, so… you’re welcome.)
Anyway, Jacksonville hosted Quad City (out of Moline, Illinois) for the final game of the regular season on Saturday night.
The Steamwheelers had the ball at their own 15-yard-line (arena football fields are only 50 yards long) with a chance to win the game on a field goal. The score was tied at 37.
Kicker Kyle Kaplan, the (former?) pride of Notre Dame College in Cleveland, missed wide right— and short. His attempt was not particularly close and the kick landed in the back of the end zone.
Sharks running back Tyler King, who played at Marshall University, was back to return the miss. He took it up the middle, cut back to the left to avoid one would-be tackler, split another trio of defenders and turned on the jets. An offensive lineman also whiffed on his attempt to make a tackle.
King went 50+ yards for the game-winning touchdown and Duval went wild!
THIS LEAGUE IS UNBELIEVABLE #TheIndoorWar https://t.co/D1RmsItOKY pic.twitter.com/ED7CpZZljq
— Off The Wall (@OffTheWallFB) July 21, 2024
Jacksonville was not very good this year but they closed things out with an electric high to finish 5-11. They also dropped Quad City to 8-8 with the victory, which promptly eliminated them from the playoffs. It was a brutal way to miss out on the postseason!