Command Host The Iowa Barnstormers On Saturday

The Kansas City Command (3-12) host their Central Division rival, the Iowa Barnstormers (5-10) on Saturday; kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Sprint Center. KC is coming off a tough loss in San Antonio last weekend. The Command produced one of their best offensive performances of the year, but a season-high 20 penalties was too much to overcome and Kansas City lost 58-48 in the Alamodome.
Command quarterback Matt Gutierrez returns from the injured reserve list and will be reunited with another former Kansas City Chiefs player, Samie Parker who debuted with the Command last week; scoring a rushing and receiving touchdown. Playing opposite Parker will be KC’s leading receiver Bret Smith, who has 72 catches for 901 yards and 20 TD’s in just 10 games this season. Jackie Chambers has lit up the special teams recording at least 100 kickoff-return yards in each of the last four games; scoring two 57-yard kickoff returns in back to back games (San Jose and Chicago).
Barnstormers quarterback J.J. Raterink started the first 13 games for the Command in 2011 before being traded to the Chicago Rush, which he then led to the National Conference Championship game.  He returns to KC for the first time in a Barnstormers’ jersey and is just 20 yards shy of passing Kurt Warner’s single-season franchise record of 4,149 passing yards, set in 1997. Raterink’s favorite target, Jesse Schmidt leads Iowa with 150 catches, 48 touchdowns and has scored a TD in 11 straight games.
Iowa’s defense is centered around Cameron McGlenn who leads the AFL with 102 tackles on the year.   Just as proficient is Kansas City’s J.C. Neal who leads the Command with 96.5 total tackles, just 13 shy of the single-season franchise record of 110, set by Ken Fontenette in 2011.
Kansas City is hoping the offensive potential of Gutierrez, Parker and Smith gels quickly to avenge the May 12th loss to Iowa (62-42) and give the Barnstormers their fourth straight loss.