The Aviators will look to protect history this weekend.

The stakes might not seem high, but the 2 p.m. matchup at Great Park Championship Stadium holds a lot of baggage. With a 2-9 record, Los Angeles is at risk of finishing last in its division for the first time in franchise history. 

If the Aviators hope to avoid this fate, they must beat the Vegas Bighorns this weekend and the Houston Havoc must also lose to the Carolina Flyers. The Havoc and Aviators currently hold the same record, but Houston holds the tiebreaker over Los Angeles.

The Aviators will have the easier test of the two, facing off against the only winless UFA team in the 0-11 Bighorns. The growing pains have been immense for Las Vegas in its first year in the UFA, whose two leading scorers are both rookies in Brad Ellis and Porter Stobbe. 

LA similarly plays with a lot of rookies — Jonathan Lyle has been a star all year and leads the team in scoring — but is also buoyed by star veterans like Mitchell Steiner, Garrett Santi and Andrew Padula, a luxury the Bighorns do not possess.

Houston, comparatively, has to face the Carolina Flyers, a team it lost to by 14 earlier in the season. While it might seem like Los Angeles needs help to protect its storied history, the Aviators have a good shot at just needing a win over the Bighorns to finish fifth in the South Division. Since the Houston-Carolina matchup is on Saturday, LA will know exactly where it stands heading into its Sunday game with Las Vegas.

With a complete focus on the game at hand rather than scoreboard watching, the Aviators can put all of their attention on the Bighorns.

Las Vegas sits at the bottom of the UFA in nearly every major statistical category except huck attempts and blocks. 

The Bighorns do, however, sit at last in huck completion, meaning Los Angeles will need to expect the huck and play solid downfield defense to prevent many completions. The Aviators allow huck completions at 66.0% clip, which is the sixth-worst mark in the league, making it imperative the D-line players keep their heads on a swivel.

The blocking aspect of Las Vegas’ game poses a much more threatening reality. 

Despite tying for the fifth-least blocks in the UFA, the Aviators allow their opponents to record the sixth-most blocks against them. This trend was on point this past weekend when LA had 25 turnovers against Austin, 15 of them coming from Sol blocks.

This is not to say the Aviators should be overly scared of their opponents. Of Las Vegas’ 11 losses, the Bighorns have lost by fewer than 10 goals only three times. Two of those “close” games came at home — a one-point loss to Oregon and a seven-point loss to San Diego — and the third was a four-point loss to the Steel, a team whom the Aviators beat on the road by one.

It’s not necessarily a “gimme” win for the Aviators, especially since the Bighorns have put up close games against the two teams’ common opponents. Still, if the Aviators play their game, a win is certainly possible.

With his importance on display this past weekend, Lyle will be a key player to try and achieve LA’s third victory. The rookie had eight scores in the game against Houston and the offense held at a 63% clip, but he did not play in the Austin game and the O-line’s hold rate dropped to 41%. While Austin posed a much stiffer opponent than Houston in general, Lyle’s absence certainly did not help.

Lyle and fellow rookie Max Combs get the chance to submit their final bids to earn a spot on one of the All-UFA Rookie Teams, and the duo have the chance to be the first Aviators players to make one of those teams since Lukas Ambrose did it in 2023.

Los Angeles has a chance to salvage its season and avoid a last-place finish while Lyle and Combs look to make history this Sunday. First pull is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Great Park Championship Stadium and fans can buy tickets here.