Photo of current Iowa Barnstormers QB Kyle King playing at UMHB during the 2022 season by Russell Marwitz/russellmarwitz.com
DES MOINES, Iowa-With the Iowa Barnstormers off to an 0-3 start and struggling on offense, head coach Dave Mogensen turned to UMHB alum Kyle King in Saturday night’s Week 4 home opener against the Arizona Rattlers.
King, making his first career start in the Indoor Football League, turned in a quality performance at quarterback, stepping up over the final two quarters. Iowa fell, 49-47, but King demonstrated tremendous poise as he led the Barnstormers in a fourth-quarter comeback, with 20 points in the final 30 minutes.
He was named the Barnstormers’ Player of the Game after leading the team in passing and rushing, tallying 171 yards through the air and 46 on the ground. The Milano, Texas native was 13-of-30 passing and tossed four touchdown passes along with two rushing scores.
King opened the contest with an 11-yard rushing gain for a first down, and two plays later, found Quian Williams in stride for a 23-yard touchdown, tying the score at 7-7.
The next three possessions saw Iowa minimally move the ball upfield, as a turnover on downs and consecutive missed field goals gave Arizona time to take a 28-7 lead.
But King led the Barnstormers on an eight-play, 46-second drive just before halftime, completing three passes to Williams, with the last going for a touchdown from three yards out. He added his third passing touchdown of the contest on Iowa’s first drive of the third quarter, with a 16-yard strike to Tre Long, as the Barnstormers came within seven points of tying the score.
The Rattler offense was on point, however, and scored on both of its third-quarter drives. Iowa did the same, and then followed similarly in the fourth. The Barnstormer defense stepped up, holding Arizona to just seven fourth-quarter points, and King and the offense took charge. Iowa scored on all five of its second-half possessions, as King found Darren Wilson from 30 yards out with 12:51 left, and then crossed the goal line himself twice, with fourth-quarter rushing scores of eight and five yards, respectively.
The Crusader alum averaged 13.2 yards per completion and his 171 passing yards significantly surpassed the Barnstormers’ 113.6 yards/game average entering the matchup.
In his first IFL season, King is 16-of-34 passing with five touchdowns and one interception. He also has 66 rushing yards on 13 attempts over the last two games and three rushing touchdowns.
UMHB alum Jefferson Fritz finished Saturday’s game with three solo tackles and leads the IFL in that category, with 28. Fritz is averaging 8.0 tackles per game.
