Southwest Kansas Storm Head West to Face the Washington Wolfpack in Week 1

The Southwest Kansas Storm are coming off of a dominant defensive performance that ultimately ended with 7 turnovers forced. Five interceptions and two fumbles later, the Storm emerged as the victors by a 14 point deficit. While the offensive unit for the Nashville Kats certainly left a lot to be desired, their defense played well, especially near the goal line and prevented the Storm from completing what could have been a blowout victory.

The Storm Can Only Get Better From Here

The scary part for opposing teams coming out of week 1 is that the Storm will only get better as the season goes on. While many teams are constructed using arena football veterans across the board to lead the way, the Storm stand apart from the pack. On their roster are just a few players who can be considered indoor or arena football veterans, including multiple players in a secondary that had a dominant performance and looked prepared in week 0.

On offense there are only a handful of players that have played indoors in the past, and none of them have played together in the past. Gathered from across the landscape of football, this team has players at key positions still learning the arena game as they go. Including starters Jalen Morton, Caleb Schaffer, Sama Paama, Marje Smith, Robert Cooper, Joe Golden, David Faccone, and Matt Fries.

Many fans forget, while most of these players have played football since they were in grade school, typically that background came in 11 man, outdoor football. They are essentially asked to learn a new game in under three weeks leading up to what sometimes amounts to their first professional playing experience.

With no preseason games to knock off the rust, each game makes these players more and more comfortable. With that in mind, the Storm may hold an inherent advantage over the Wolfpack in week 1 having been one of only two teams to suit up and play last week.

Looking Back to 2024

If we were to simply judge Washington from their 2024 season, on the surface this would look like something of a mismatch on paper. The thing is that paper may as well be crumpled up and thrown in the trash when it comes to kick off time Sunday. Last season the 2-7 Washington Wolfpack found one of their victories versus the Storm in a 47-46 shootout on the road no less.

This is not the same Storm team, but the Wolfpack can say the same thing with changes at some of the most important positions on the field. As teams have folded, their rosters have been picked clean of their best players available, and in this game, these moves could have a rather large impact on the outcome.

Twin-Towers in Washington?

With the news that the Arizona Bandits have gone dormant for the 2025 season, one of the biggest names on their roster to move on to another AF1 team was Aakiel Greer. This gives the Wolfpack a pair of 6’2 plus wideouts that the Storm defense has to contend with. While the Storm may have the perfect secondary to oppose these players at wideout.

With Brian Hughes, and Dontra Mathews at defensive back, height should not be an insurmountable mismatch. However, these will provide some match-ups to watch in this game on Sunday.

from Orlando to Washington

On either side of this game there are players who once stood as teammates in Orlando, and ironically, there could hypothetically be a scenario in which they end up lining up across from each other in this game. Cayden Burger, the 6’4 300 pound offensive lineman found his way onto the Wolfpack after the unfortunate news about Orlando.

On the flip side, the Storm have signed 6’4 250 pound pass rusher Nick Evans. While Burger may have the advantage of a few more practices with his team, Evans is a very athletic pass rusher that could prove to be a problem for the Washington offensive line, especially when couple with the prowess of Marje Smith on the opposite side of the defensive line. Both players also have the ability to play linebacker, which could provide some additional ways of pressuring the quarterback in week 1.

Dueling Signal Callers

Joseph Hess is an arena football veteran who finds himself in another new city for the 2025 season. Getting his start with the Orlando Predators who were playing in the National Arena League back in 2023, Hess bounced around in 2024 seeing time with the Salina Liberty, and West Texas Desert Hawks. While his time in West Texas ended as a back-up to a legend in Jonathan Bane, who has since stepped into the coaching ranks, he projects as the starter for Washington in 2025.

Opposite him is Jalen Morton. Their professional careers could not be more different. While Hess had try-outs with NFL teams without them ending in contract offers, Morton has spent time on NFL, CFL, and USFL rosters during his professional career. This time has culminated in Morton being a pro’s pro with Coach Thomas saying, “Jalen has read the playbook cover to cover and committed it to memory”. Morton had never played arena or indoor football prior to his start in week zero.

This fact showed itself early in the game when Morton took a little bit to get comfortable, but he ended strong. Finishing the game with 217 yards and 4 touchdowns total, Morton heads into his second game with the Storm looking to keep his win/loss record unblemished.

Mutual Respect Amongst Coaches

While this game will not lack fireworks on the field with two high-flying offenses, there is no lack of respect between the two head coaches on these teams. After week 0 concluded, JR Wells, Washington’s Head Coach, sent out a congratulatory message for Coach Thomas. A classy move from a coach most people can’t help but respect his high-energy demeanor, and infectious positivity.

While there is a growing rivalry between these two teams, there is not likely to be much if any animosity between the two staffs in this game. For what it’s worth several media outlets have picked the Storm to win this game, and all but written off the Wolfpack as “the worst” team in the league. While Coach Thomas has seen these rankings, he argues that he anticipates this game being closer than most expect, although he hopes to avenge last season’s loss to the Wolfpack.

Where to Watch

The Storm were a part of the first AF1 game to be broadcast on Evergreen Now, and in a mid-week decision will now be a part of the first Vice TV broadcast for the league. Vice TV can be found on multiple streaming platforms including Hulu, Sling TV, Apple TV, Direct TV Stream, Frndly TV, Philo, YouTube TV, Roku, Samsung TV Plus, and Tubi TV. This will be one of the biggest stages the Storm have ever competed on.

To my understanding the game will be available via Evergreen NOW after the initial broadcast on Vice TV. The broadcast begins at 6 pm Central Time, and 4 pm Pacific Time. Announced earlier this week was a veritable All-Star broadcast team. In the booth will be Ari Wolfe, and Sed Bonner, while Sofia Gutierrez will serve as the sideline reporter.

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Broadcast Team for 2025

Ari Wolfe is as experienced as it comes for arena football play by play. His career with arena football began nearly 30 years ago when he served as the voice of the Albany Firebirds before moving on to the Philadelphia Soul. He would later work for CBS Sports Network, ESPN, and NFL Network among others on their arena football broadcasts.

Sherdrick Bonner will serve next to Wolfe this season and also boasts a robust resume of arena football experience that includes playing, and coaching. In fact, Bonner was named the Assistant Coach of the Year in 2024 as the Offensive Coordinator of the Arena Bowl XXXIII Champion Billings Outlaws.

A former quarterback during his playing career, Bonner resides in the AFL Hall of Fame for his accomplishments on the field which included winning two Arena Bowls with the Arizona Rattlers. He remains respected for his exploits as a coach, and broadcaster since then even winning an Emmy Award in 2015.

Sofia Gutierrez is another very accomplished on-air host. Having covered at least two Super Bowls, she has a portfolio full of interviews with athletes within many different sports. Her career does not strictly focus on sports as she has also been a part of Hubwav news where she covered a little bit of everything, as well as her own YouTube channel where she has created music, travel and lifestyle dedicated content. She should be a great addition to the broadcast team, whose background in athlete interviews should shine through on Sunday.

Tune in on Sunday to Support your Southwest Kansas Storm as they look to extend their record to 2-0 in 2025.