Southwest Kansas Storm Playbook: 2-0

The Southwest Kansas Storm have cruised to a 2-0 record. After a week 0 win over the Nashville Kats at home, they turned around and took it to the Washington Wolfpack on the road in Week 1. 

southwest kansas storm 63 - washington wolfpack 33 

The Storm’s victory over the Wolfpack in Week 1 was by 30 points, but the game didn’t feel that close. The Storm came out of the gates firing after a slow start in Week 0. Their first drive was nearly flawless, resulting in a Jalen Morton touchdown run. The Storm never looked back from that point. 

Head Coach Gary Thomas said the Storm felt like they had a good shot to win this game, but they’d also felt that way last year when they played the Wolfpack and lost. A big emphasis this week was “don’t let these guys hang around” something Thomas’s team took to heart. The Storm heard the excuses made for why Nashville lost last week and wanted to make a statement to the league about who they are. I’d say the statement has been delivered. 

The Storm faced a lot of adversity in starting this new league, from switching opponents on short notice in Week 0 to going from a scheduled bye to being on the road in Washington this past week. That led to travel issues, and the Storm didn’t check into their hotel until 4 a.m. on game day. Like a storm, they were on the ground for less than 24 hours and did plenty of damage. Coach Thomas still thinks the Storm haven’t reached their potential just yet. 

quick turnaround 

The next piece of adversity after playing Sunday night in Washington state, they traveled home to Kansas before heading out to Albany, New York to play on Friday night. The Storm will have traveled over 5,000 miles in six days just to play this game, and not including traveling back home. 

For the third straight week the Storm will play a team who’s playing their first game of the season. That comes with both advantages and disadvantages. The Firebirds have two game films on the Storm and Southwest Kansas didn’t escape getting banged up at Washington. Of course, they also have two games of on-the-field work and true game experience on the Firebirds. 

The Storm are prepared to go to battle with the Firebirds, who made the arena championship game last year. Tune in live to VICETV for this game of the week Friday night at 7:00 p.m. ET.