By Noam Gumerman

The Carolina Flyers took care of business against the Las Vegas Bighorns on Saturday, 27-15 to move to 8-2 on the season and drop the Bighorns to 0-9. With the win, the Flyers clinched a return to the UFA Playoffs for the first time under head coach Mike Avila and for the first time since 2024. With just two games remaining, every point is a critical opportunity to stay in the hunt for the top spot in the division and a bye in the first round of the playoffs, and a chance to get fully dialed in ahead of the postseason.

It was another commanding team victory for Carolina though, the kind of win we’ve come to expect from this team as they’ve solidified themselves as a top-five contender in the league. The Flyers offense sliced through Las Vegas all night long. The Bighorns failed to generate a single block across the entire game. The 14 turnovers from Carolina though all being unforced is perhaps something to be cleaned up before they face tougher opponents across the rest of the season, but that’s really the only blemish for Carolina that can be pointed out.

Zeke Thoreson continues to deliver on the hype in his first season as a Flyer, finishing with 4A/2G/1B and no turnovers to along with almost 500 yards of offense and a team-best +7 performance on the night. Suraj Madiraju had yet another dominant defensive-line performance for Carolina with 5A/1G/1B to his name. Matt Tucker delivered yet another impressive defensive performance with three blocks to lead the team, vehicle Christian Belus and Terrance Mitchell joined Tucker as the three Flyers to register multiple blocks across the game. 

It was the kind of performance title contenders need to put out against teams in the bottom half of the standings, and the Flyers did just that. 

The Flyers wrap up the regular season with games against Atlanta at home this weekend, and then Austin at home in July. If the Flyers win this weekend against the Hustle, that final game of the season could be a winner-take-all game for the South Division.