Jeff Levack:

Welcome back to the Arena Football One podcast. I'm your host, Jeff Levesque, and I am excited to share with you all the amazing action from week one. But Jeff, we already played a week. How is this week one? Because of week zero, okay? You gotta do all those things now in the world of sports. You can't just number them easily and make them easy to understand. No one likes that. You gotta have a zero, then a one. And here we are in week one. We've got three great games for you to break down. The Powers may be establishing themselves pretty early this season in the world of Arena Football 1. You'll be the judge after I lay them down for you.

Hopefully you got to see all this great action at evergreennow.tv, evergreennow, or even on our friend Vice. Three games. We'll start with the Oregon Lightning as they host the Billings Outlaws. Oregon Lightning quarterback Dalton Cole, he threw for a league-leading single-game total of 236 yards. Some of you guys are listening and going, 236 yards? You gotta throw for 300, 400, 500. That's a 100-yard field. This was a 50-yard field. And Dude threw for 236 yards, three passing touchdowns. But sadly for him… he was playing against the outlaws and the outlaws picked right up where they left off. This is the reigning arena football champions and Brayden Wingle threw for four touchdowns. The outlaws threw for six passing touchdowns. Total. Those four touchdowns were enough to get this done. But man, why stop there? When you've got a punishing fullback, we've got Sean McFarland out there. He caught two touchdowns. He caught two touchdowns. He had those, but more importantly, if you watched him, that dude was behind his pads all night. Big old 13 was rumbling, fumbling, stumbling down the field, 67 rushing yards, three rushing touchdowns, giving him a total of five TDs. This guy is big, he's mean, he's menacing, and when you look at the way the world of you know, football works. You have that high motion. Most teams use that for a wide receiver. You give him that big horseshoe. He hits the line of scrimmage. He's going full speed. You know what Billings did? They got McFarland moving.

Now you've got this big, bad fullback and he's got a full head of steam at the snap. It was amazing to watch. It was fun. unless you were a lightning fan, 73 36 absolute domination from Billings as they take on the lightning, moving on to game number two, the Salina Liberty. We're looking to kind of spoil the Triton's home opener. Of course, Corpus Christi getting things underway in the AF one. weren't having a baby dominating on defense. And there was a goat sighting. Number six, Darius Prince, who is one of the best wide receivers you will ever see in the arena football game. Did his thang six catches 86 yards and a TD defense plus scoring equals a 40 to 12 Corpus Christi win as they get their opener underway in style. So out of Liberty, going back to the drawing board with only 12 points. We're even able to complete their extra point kicks in this one. You could just kind of see the trains were ready to host this party and they were playing tough. Final game of the weekend. We wrap up on vice TV, AF one week, one, the wolf pack host, the storm, The bright spot for the Wolfpack in this one had to be quarterback Adam Cruz. He threw for four touchdowns to four different receivers, adding a rushing touchdown. That's five total for him. But the storm defense was firing, man. I tell you that we talk about passing. We talk about points, but when you can run the rock and when your defense can get you six turnovers. It is very, very tough to beat you. Jalen Morton quarterback for the storm kept doing what he's been doing this season. I mean, he's just wowing fans, six touchdowns. That's three in the air, three on the ground, all from mr. Morton. It's mr. Morton's neighborhood. The Southwest Kansas storm are now two and Oh, that's right. We're in week one. They're two and Oh, we're playing checkers. They're playing chess. It's insane. It's so much fun. But the 63 33 win over the Wolfpack in Washington was just an absolute beat down. And now of course, we'll wait. Everybody who loves watching on evergreen. Now that'll be coming up very, very soon for you.

You can enjoy that all over the place because evergreen now has games. They have all the action and what we don't have yet. We're going to have shortly because that's just how we get down. here we are after two weeks of play week one, we've got a two and O Southwest Kansas storm team that appears to be the team to beat right now. Even though, as I mentioned, their defense is getting it done. Their running is getting it done. I'm a little nervous about bellies. When you see McFarland out there, big old 13, get behind his pads. He gets that secondary. None of these defenders want to touch him. It is so much fun. It is so crazy. And there's so many points scored. As a matter of fact, I think it's very, very important to remind you guys, the deuce finally came into effect. That is right. Because we had not one, but two deuces getting the season underway. For those of you who don't remember, the deuces pointed through the uprights on the kickoff. Let's see the NFL do that. They can't, the AF one can though. We had two deuces for Bailey Giffen of the Billings outlaws. So again, this is running, this is passing, and this is scoring points on the kickoff. This is what AF one is all about. One of my favorite cliches in the world of football is it's a quarterback driven league. You got to have a great quarterback. If you're going to have an opportunity to win a football game. Well, that's extremely true in the AF one. You think about it. It's a shorter field. It's a more narrow field. There is a lot more room for the defense to kind of get in there and take away the passing lanes, or should I say a lot less room for them to get in there and take away the passing lanes? And that's why, when you see what Jalen Morton is already doing this season for the Southwest Kansas storm, you see a recipe for success. They do have that extra game. They did play in week zero, but he's got 338 passing yards already. The next closest is Dalton Cole, the lightning who had 236 in one game. pretty amazing still. However, that three 38 shows consistency for Morton, 77 rushing yards. Jalen Morton quarterback of the storm leads the AF one in rushing right now. Sean McFarland with 67 out of the fullback position for Billings. He's right behind him. But what we're seeing right now is Jalen Morton become comfortable and become a real dual threat weapon for the storm. Now you can't be a dual threat weapon unless you have receivers too. He's already hooking up with Shiloh Flanagan and Daquan Bailey Brown for well over a hundred yards each. 121 for Bailey Brown, 136 for Flanagan. This shows that kind of relationship that makes it even more dangerous. I've always believed as long as you had that great quarterback, like in my experience, I've been able to sit on the sideline and watch Tommy Grady win championships here in Albany, Sam Castronova, Jake Medlock, as long as you have that quarterback, that field general and a number one receiver. Darius Prince. So many great receivers have come through the capital region, but Darius, the most recent, then you're going to win. You're going to win a lot of football games. You're going to score a ton of points and you're going to win a lot of football games. If the storm could keep this up where you're not sure which of the two threats to keep an eye on, that is going to be extremely dangerous for the rest of the league. I will tell you this, I'm very intrigued to see what will happen this week coming up when the storm traveled to Albany. Sam Castronova has Darian Townsend, who is one of the best, maybe the most underrated wide receiver in the arena football game. And of course, Isaac Scott and so many people. It is going to be a great battle. We're going to see which team has the better quarterback, which team has the better receivers. Sam Castronova likes to run. He models his game after his hometown hero, Josh Allen. I'm telling you, this is the game where you're gonna see quarterback versus quarterback, both running and throwing the ball, and those wide receiver cores are gonna have to show out to show you just how a perfect offensive game can be achieved here in the world of Arena Football 1. Now, to give you a little more insight as to what the AF1 is all about, Evergreen now is live at the AF1 Combine, spoke to a number of great people, and we're going to get you caught up with them throughout the season. But this week, we're going to jump right to the conclusion of our talk with the president of football operations for the AF1, Gary Compton.

Gary Compton: And you know it as an athlete, and I do too, if we still have hope and a dream, We can achieve that hope and dream somehow, some way. And so, you know, we want to give them that opportunity. And I think the more that we're able to open up and do a lot of things just like this event here, you know, like I said, our league in general, kids need film. You get film, you can showcase that. We all know about that. If you don't have film, you're not, you can't get anywhere. So I think that's important.

Interviewer: Yeah, I think one of the closing questions is a really big question and it's basically what is the longevity of AF1?

Gary Compton: Absolutely. You know, as anything else, when you start up a league, everybody's got questions, right? As I spoke to you, everybody's got naysayers. You know, we have a great foundation of owners in our league and a great foundation of leadership in our league office. And I think that's where it starts. If you have that and everything else, you're gonna grow. How fast do you want to grow? As we've seen beforehand, you grow too fast. You have speed bumps, right? You've got to grow at the right pace so you don't have those speed bumps. So I think that's important for when we grow each year. Like I said, we added three new teams this year, which would be important. There is talk about expansions, okay, in other cities and all of that. So, you know, we continue to grow the league. We want everybody to come join the league. And at one point in time, you know, we'd love, I want to see the league get back to where it was on NBC at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoons in prime time. That was the heyday, and that's what we strive for each and every day.

Interviewer: Yeah, well, thank you so much, Gary, for your time, man. You do an absolute exceptional job around the league, man. You're definitely on point with all the things that you're doing, but we're glad to have you here.

Gary Compton: I appreciate it. Hey, I'm just a little piece of this puzzle, all right? Everybody's got a piece of the puzzle, and at the end of the day, we paint the Monet.

Jeff Levack: going to keep giving you interviews around the league as the season goes on here on the arena football one podcast. My name is Jeff Levesque. I'm happy to be here with you, but here's the deal. I told you how important and how much fun the past week was. Well, this week is a week I'm extremely familiar with because for those of you who don't know me, My name is Jeff Levesque, and I represent the Albany Firebirds. I'm team president of the Albany franchise. And listen, I love the league as a whole. I'm here to tell you the greatness of the AF1, but each and every day I get to see 25 guys at practice that I know are going to be bulldozers in this league. Why do I say that? Well, because I've seen them and because I've learned about them. And those of you who know these guys, who've learned the talent throughout the league, you know the names, Isaiah Hardy, Sam Castronova, you know about the big dogs and you're gonna see them this week coming up. The Friday night game, which will be featured on Vice and then we'll make its way over to Evergreen for you in a short order, is going to be the undefeated, Southwest Kansas storm with Jalen Morgan at quarterback, a defense prone to turnovers. They are going to be here in the great capital of New York, Albany at the MVP arena, taking on the Albany Firebirds. The Firebirds have not played yet. We haven't seen any action from the, the Albany team. This is the thing, they're waiting, they're chomping at the bit. Can they be the ones to hand the first loss to the Southwest Kansas Storm? Of course, head coach Damon Ware and the rest of that squad believe that they will, but… Nobody wants to lose to Albany. Albany is that team. It's everyone versus Albany. So you're going to see an even bigger effort from a 2-0 Southwest Kansas Storm team. That is going to be a game that should never be missed and watched and watched over and over again. It's not the only game of the weekend though. The Oregon Lightning and the Washington Wolfpack. These two teams had it handed to them in week one. What are they going to do in week two? This is for all the marbles. This is to get it back. And by it, I mean respect. I mean, they want to show what they learned in week one and what they didn't bring to the table. And you're going to see that all in Washington as the Oregon Lightning take on the Wolfpack. This is an Oregon team that, look, The score didn't show it, 73-36, losing to Billings last week. But if you watch the game, you saw they brought a real effort. They brought real, real, just gumption, to use a word my grandfather would be proud of me putting out there for you. Meanwhile, the Wolfpack, we told you, Adam Cruz comes in for Joseph Hess. He throws for four touchdowns to four different guys. He runs in a touchdown. He also threw four picks. Are they going to start with Cruz? Does Hess get another go? Does Hess get another go? This is what we're going to find out together as we watch that game. So, you've got the game one of the week, Storm, Firebirds. That's Friday, 7 p.m. MVP Arena on Vice TV. You've got the next game of the week, Saturday, 9 p.m. right here on Evergreen Now, when the Oregon Lightning travel to Washington to take on the Wolfpack. Two big games, week three, Well, week two, but it's week three. You know what I mean? It's all going on right here in AF1. I'm Jeff Levesque, and of course, I would love if you'd go ahead and communicate with me on X, at the Jeff Levesque on X, and I gotta read to you what came out of last week on X. Adam Snow. came to us and said, Hey, look, Lavack, good host. Appreciate that. I'm thank you very much. Are we really, are we really seeing the deuce and the Rouge and Adam? You got a good nose, man. You sniffed it out. You sniffed out what was going on. The deuce is back, baby. Two points on that big kick. That is real. That is on the kickoffs. You can get two points on every kickoff. However, The Rouge, I was called, there was a meeting, I wasn't in it. Turns out the Rouge is no longer here. So you can still get the two points on the kickoff, but not the one point, which is basically like the equivalency of an NFL safety. So I will do my homework greater. I appreciate you, Adam, for having that done. Please make sure that you give me all of your questions and everything you're looking for, everything you need to know. Just hit me up, at thejefflevac, that's T-H-E-J-E-F-F-L-E-V-A-C-K, right there on X. I'll do my best to answer each and every one of them. If you're like Adam and you sniff me out when I make a mistake, I'll tip the cap, I'll say you're right, and then I'll do my best to never be wrong again. A little rule for you right now. I was actually watching this at practice today. Now, you guys have seen them. The walls are real. The dasher pads, yeah, sure, there's some cushioning there. But these are the same boards that you're seeing at, like, hockey games, right? So it's like a velvet glove on a sledgehammer. These guys running these things full speed. So how do they factor into a completed catch or the end of a play? If you put the ball up over the wall, that's the end. It's a clock out. The play's dead. But you can actually complete a catch going over the wall. That's right. If you happen to jump up in the air while you're catching the ball, secure the catch on the way to the ground on the other side of the wall, as long as you have it, and it's proven that you have possession of it all the way to the ground and you maintain possession. That is still a catch. So you will see guys making catches in the first row, in the field suites, wherever it is, you can see a guy jump over the wall. When they're hitting that wall, you'll notice all the refs converge and they converge fast because they need to see if he has completed that catch. You can score a touchdown going over the back wall of an end zone. I mean, you got to squeeze between the nets and the wall, but it can be done. That's how physical, that's how aggressive, that's how fun arena football is. The AF1 is physical, aggressive, and fun. And it's right here on evergreennow.tv. Evergreen Now, you can get it everywhere you get your watching. Everywhere you go, the fire stick, the… You know, everywhere you go, go get yourself some Evergreen. You're not going to want to miss out. The kids over there are watching Tugger. It's a whole thing about Jeeps. Meanwhile, I'm in the other room. I'm watching AF1. It's all right here at evergreennow.tv. The AF1 podcast, just getting started. We appreciate you being here each and every week. Again, make sure you download Evergreen Now, make sure you're checking out AF1 Action, and make sure you're joining all of our great sponsors here on the league. Better Edge, you can go ahead and wager against yourself, your friends, everybody else, and of course, Real American Beer, thanks to our buddy Hulk Hogan. What you gonna do when the AF1 runs wild on you? Have a great week, we're back again with a recap of week three, and we're getting into week four for you. Coming up next Friday, right here on evergreennow.tv. Don't forget, if you're looking to get ahold of me, you want to ask some questions, you want to get answered, it's at the Jeff Levack at T H E J E F F L E V A C K on X. I'll do my best to get back to each and every one of you because, hey, we're a community. We're all fans. We're all having fun. Thanks again for checking out the arena football one podcast.

SPEAKER_00: Season Pass, the AF1 podcast, is an Evergreen Podcast production. I'm the producer, Bill Huffman, and special thanks to executive producer, Dave Douglas, and our audio engineer, Nate Corson. Find all of our content on evergreenpodcast.com and stream every game of the Arena Football League One season on evergreennow.tv. We appreciate you listening.