Storm Defeat Kats 40-26 in Inaugural Arena Football One Game

The Southwest Kansas Storm won the inaugural Arena Football One game 40-26 over the Nashville Kats. The league officially kicked off on Saturday night in Dodge City, Kansas. The Storm hosted the Kats at the United Wireless Arena. Both teams put on a show for the fans in Dodge City and watching on EvergreenNOW.

feeling each other out 

The first half opened like a heavyweight bout, with each team exchanging punches, but nobody connecting right away. Both teams had opportunities in the first half but failed to reach the end zone in the first quarter. A 47-yard touchdown pass from Storm Quarterback Jalen Morton to Shiloh Flannigan would be the first touchdown in league history. 

The Kats quickly answered the Storm score with a touchdown run by Running Back Carlton Brown. After a missed extra point, the halftime score was just 7-6, with the Storm holding the lead. Arena One Commissioner Jeff Fisher joined the broadcast at halftime and predicted a much higher-scoring second half, and was he ever right about that?  

second half explosion

The Storm almost scored on the first play of the second half, with Morton just missing his wide-open receiver. It wouldn’t take long for them to get on the board and kick off a high-scoring second half. After switching back and forth at Quarterback in the first half between Kory Curtis and Jake Dunniway, the Kats decided to stick to Dunniway in the second half exclusively. 

The teams exchanged scores in the third quarter. Nashville took their first lead of the game with just over 11 minutes remaining in the game after a Jake Dunniway touchdown pass. Turnovers proved to be the backbreaker for the Kats as Michael Lawson stole the show and became the star of the game. The Kats turned the ball over seven times in the game. Lawson got three interceptions, including two pick-sixes with less than 3:30 left in the game that put the finishing touches on a Storm victory.

Catch the replay of the game here! 

MVP - Michael lawson

Michael Lawson earned player of the game in this one with those game-sealing pick-sixes down the stretch. Lawson was a star for the Southwest Kansas Storm last year in his rookie season as an arena football player. He was second in the league in interceptions with seven, and the team was happy to bring the ballhawk back this season. 

Lawson is well on his way to surpassing that seven benchmark he set for himself last season, with three in the first game of the season alone. Lawson’s back-to-back pick-sixes sealed the deal for the Storm, but he contributed a lot more to the game. 

Lawson accounted for nine tackles on the day, eight of which were solo tackles. He had a crucial pass breakup in the second quarter on a beautiful pass from Kory Curtis that looked like a sure touchdown. Curtis threw an interception to Brain Hughes just after that, which led to the Storm’s first touchdown of the game.

an arena quarterback star is born 

Welcome to Arena One Football, Jalen Morton. The Southwest Kansas Storm Quarterback’s first arena football game couldn’t have gone much better. The Storm’s quarterback looked poised and accurate. As he was dialing in his connection with his wide receivers, a few dropped passes in the first half could have easily led to three more touchdowns. 

Morton completed 13 passes for 169 yards and three touchdown passes. His beautiful 47-yard touchdown pass with go down in league history as the first ever Arena One score. More importantly for the Storm, Morton protected the ball and didn’t throw any interceptions in the game. 

His running prowess proved useful for Southwest Kansas as well. Morton rushed the ball 10 times for 48 yards and added another touchdown on the ground to bring his total to four scores. Morton’s connection with Shiloh Flanagan became very apparent in the second half. The duo connected five times for 76 yards and two scores. Daquan Bailey-Brown’s explosive playmaking abilities led to that duo connecting six times for 71 yards and a touchdown.

Nashville found their quarterback 

One big positive the Nashville Kats can take out of this game is that they seemingly found their quarterback. The plan was to play two quarterbacks tonight, and they did just that, allowing Kory Curtis to start the game and rotating him with Jake Dunniway every other series. 

Dunniway quickly stood out as the more complete quarterback, and Darren Arbet seemingly agreed with that. In the second half, it was all the Jake Dunniway show. Dunniway threw the two back-breaking pick-sixes at the end of the game, but prior to that, he had this Kats offense humming and right in the mix with just 3:30 left in the game. 

Dunniway completed 16 passes on the day that went for 171 yards and a touchdown. If he can clean up the four interceptions throw, the league had better watch out. He didn’t rush the ball many times, but in his four attempts, the big quarterback showed some flashes of Josh Allen, running defenders over. He rushed for an additional 14 yards and a touchdown.