BY DEVELON ISOM for Sports Radio 1210

Rocky Mountain Football League commissioner Jared Neumeier will present the championship trophy to either the Utah Shock or the St. George Blitz Saturday night at Walt Brooks Stadium after the two teams do battle.

Neumeier said the 14-year league’s business operations are doing well and continues to experience growth.

“The state of the league is very healthy right now,” Neumeier said. “We’ll probably continue to expand until we get to 32 teams in four states.”

The semi-pro football league was founded in 1997 in Idaho and started with four organizations, all from Idaho. The league added and subtracted various teams through the first seven years, but in 2004 the league merged with the Utah Football League adding five teams from the Wasatch Front. The next year eight more teams joined the fold, mostly Utah teams. Each year has netted more organizations and even caused the league to subdivide.

The league has two divisions: AA and AAA. The AA consists of three regions: North, Central and South. Nineteen teams from Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Utah make up the regions.

The AAA division has 10 teams from Idaho and Utah: three from Idaho, six from the Wasatch Front and far south representative St. George Blitz.

Neumeier said the quality of play in the RMFL compares with other semi-pro leagues in the United States.

“The AAA division of the RMFL is a top division in the country for semi-pro football,” said Neumeier. “Anybody in the AAA level like the St. George Blitz can compete with the best semi-pro teams in the country. There may be better teams than our champion, but not too many. Our champion would compete well in a national tournament.”

And the players in the RMFL must have great desire to play. There is no paycheck in the RMFL, so regular life activity and football sometimes becomes a counter consideration.

“It’s semi-pro because a player can only be semi into it,” said Neumeier. “They have competing interests besides what their teams need them for. A player’s family, job and other demands win out over football at times.”

Neumeier said St. George has clearly taken a place among the top echelon of the league.

“St. George has done it quick, they have great organization,” said Neumeier. “They got people that know what they are doing. Here they are in only the third season and are competing for the championship.”

Being the informative commissioner that he is, Neumeier provided an analysis of the Blitz and Shock.

“The Blitz are a power team and the Shock are more of a finesse team,” Neumeier said. “The Shock attack you with the pass. Their (Shock) quarterback is extremely athletic; he is one of the best athletes in our league. The Blitz are big and strong and try to overpower its opponents. The teams are different brands of football, but they are the top two teams and that is why they are playing the last game.”

The St. George Blitz began operations in 2008 as part of the Southern Nevada Football League. They went 5-1 in that season and lost in the semi-final round playoffs.

Team owners Josh and Isaac Smith redirected the Blitz to the RMFL in the second season in 2009 and went 5-3. They lost to the eventual RMFL champion Wasatch Revolution in the semi-final round. This season the Blitz went 8-1 and earned the No. 2 seed.

Rocky Mountain Football League AAA 2010 regular season standings

Treasure Valley Spartans 9-0
St. George Blitz 8-1
Wasatch Revolution 7-2
Utah Shock 6-3
Utah Valley Desperados 5-4
Utah Bears 4-5
Davis Cowboys 2-7
Magic Valley Bulldawgs 2-7
Utah Wolverines 1-8
Upper Valley Vikings 1-8
How they got here:

Quarterfinal round:
No. 4 seed Utah Shock defeated the Utah Valley Desperados 18-8
No. 2 seed St. George Blitz earned a bye
Semifinal round:
Utah Shock defeated the Treasure Valley Spartans 27-19
St. George Blitz defeated the Wasatch Revolution 28-17