‘Resilient’ Knight Hawks ready for 1st IFL playoff appearance

The Vegas Knight Hawks wouldn’t want their season to go any other way.

It’s been a run of imperfection, featuring a fast start as well as multiple losing streaks. It’s still resulted in more success than the Knight Hawks have ever experienced through their three seasons in the Indoor Football League.

All those lessons along the way have resulted in the first playoff berth in franchise history. The Knight Hawks (10-5) clinched their spot following a 55-45 win over the Northern Arizona Wranglers on July 13.

The team’s final regular-season game before the playoffs is against the Tucson Sugar Skulls (2-13) at 6 p.m. Saturday at Lee’s Family Forum.

“I’m proud of the guys, proud of the coaching staff,” general manager and coach Mike Davis said. “They worked their butts off.”

Davis was realistic from the start.

He knew building the kind of culture he wanted was going to take time.

The Knight Hawks were 6-10 their first season and 5-10 their second. They dealt with the constant roster churn of the IFL, with players seeking opportunities with other franchises or tryouts with the NFL or Canadian Football League.

Davis felt the Knight Hawks had stability for the first time this season. It led to a blazing 7-0 start.

That’s when the team needed to learn resilience.

The Knight Hawks dropped three straight after their perfect start, though it wasn’t like the team fell apart. It lost those three games by a combined 13 points.

The Knight Hawks rallied to win two in a row before suffering a two-game losing streak. This time, the losses were by a combined three points.

The setbacks caused the team to flirt with the playoff cutline — the top four teams in the eight-team Western Conference make the postseason — for a while. The Knight Hawks then clinched their spot against Northern Arizona to avoid having their playoff lives be at stake Saturday.

“The guys are resilient,” Davis said. “We had a little skid, and everybody hits a skid with injuries and things like that. We had to battle through it.”

Saturday will be another test for the Knight Hawks, who can still earn the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.

They need a win and a San Diego loss to the top-seeded Bay Area Panthers, the defending IFL champions. The Knight Hawks could fall to the fourth seed if they lose and Arizona defeats San Antonio. That would result in a first-round matchup with the Panthers.

“I like that we have lost the way we have, because in a sense, it’s humbled us as a team,” receiver CJ Windham said. “Being able to understand that we are not invincible and that we can lose if we come out there and have a bad showing.”

The Knights Hawks’ offense gives them reason to be confident no matter who their playoff opponent is.

The team is scoring 52.1 points per game, the third-most in the IFL. Quarterback Ja’Rome Johnson has thrown for 38 touchdowns and rushed for a league-high 35 to put himself in the MVP conversation.

His receiving corps, known as the “Flight Squad,” has played a huge role in the Knight Hawks’ success as well. Windham is tied for the sixth-most touchdown receptions in the IFL with 15. Caleb Holley and Quentin Randolph are also important parts of the team’s aerial attack.

That group is one reason why the Knight Hawks can dream of reaching the IFL title game Aug. 17 at Lee’s Family Forum. They’d like nothing more than to compete for a championship in their home building.

“We’ve already created a bit of history getting into the playoffs,” Windham said. “Now it’s even more a fire in our heart to be able to go and finish this job, to make sure we’re doing it right for all the people watching us.”

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.