Ryan Baker, Journalist
Indy @ Madison Preview
The playoffs come a week early for the Madison Radicals this Friday night when they host the Indianapolis AlleyCats at Breese Stevens Field.
Wins by both teams last week set the scene for the final week of the regular season. Win and you’re in. Lose and your season comes to a close. This is the situation for both teams, assuming a Chicago Union win versus Detroit this week. Combining the situation, the stakes, and the undoubtedly large crowd that will gather at Breese, the atmosphere is going to be unrivaled.
Expect this to be a very close game. The last matchup these two had came down to the wire with Indy coming away with the one-point win. Madison has not been on the winning side of these games in recent history, with their last win against Indy coming early in the 2022 season.
When the teams met up a few weeks ago, the game was back and forth until the buzzer. Ultimately, Madison got broken with just a few minutes left, and they couldn’t get back on the right side of things. The game saw a few ill-advised hucks in that last quarter that will need to be cleaned up for this do-or-die game.
“Come out, play hard, and play consistent for four quarters. We've really struggled with that. We did that against Chicago pretty well. The goal against Indy is to come out, play hard, and see who the better team is. As long as we put our best effort in, I feel like we have a good chance of winning,” said head coach Tim DeByl.
This week’s game will feature a couple of key changes from the last. For starters, they didn’t have offensive technician Pat Shriwise playing. Additionally, former all-star Kevin Pettit-Scantling will be suiting up again after seeing the field for the first time in nearly two years last week. Veteran Kai DeLorenzo will also be suiting up for his second game in 2024 after coming back from injury.
More roster differences see Brian Hart playing after being out with injury. He returned last week and was able to produce one goal and one assist in 16 points. Avery Johnson is the last of the changes. He will not be playing in the regular season finale after injuring his ribs at practice.
“We played our best game of the year last week, and everybody is healthy and available for this game. So it's tough. I feel really good about the team, and where we're at. It's definitely hard to come up with who our 20-person roster is going to be for this game,” said DeByl.
If Madison wants to walk away with their first playoff berth since 2018, they need to stay locked in for the entire game. They can’t let one moment compound into another and give up runs. Look for them to feed Max Sample in the middle of the field as a safety blanket and stretch the field with the duo of Kai Marcus and Anthony Gutowsky.
“I’m not sure what to think. It’s honestly overwhelming at times, especially being someone who is expected to perform at the top of their game every week. But as of now, my eyes are set on getting the win,” said Gutowsky. “I think the key for us getting the dub this week is to keep our offensive turnovers as low as possible. Recently, I feel like both our D-lines have become just an unstoppable force.”
The pressure is surely there as Gutowsky put up six goals in the previous game against Indy and has been on fire all season. The deep threats in him and Jack Nelson have been as good of a duo as any in the league. In just his second year, Gutowksy etched his name in the Radicals history books, but he wants to get to the playoffs.
“It would honestly mean a lot to me. I know I haven’t been on the team for too long, but historically we were always a team to reckon with. However, within the last four years, from what I know, the Rads have fallen off. Not only have I been working hard, but my teammates have been as well, and that’s why we are where we are now. All I know is that we are hungry. The boys will eat. If we make the playoffs, it would make this whole season worth it,” said Gutowsky.
To get tickets to the regular season finale at 7 p.m. CDT this Friday, click here!
To watch the do-or-die game, click here!
