Schuylkill Haven grad Evitts kicking for IFL championship
GLENDALE, Ariz. — When Dawson Evitts graduated from Kutztown University in December, he knew he wanted to pursue a professional football career.
He had no idea that just eight months later he’d get the chance to compete for a professional league championship.
Evitts is the placekicker for the Arizona Rattlers, who will take on the Massachusetts Pirates for the championship of the Indoor Football League on Saturday, Aug. 17, at 1:05 p.m. at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nevada.
An all-conference kicker while at Kutztown, Evitts leads the IFL in extra points with 100 and has converted 14-of-21 field goals. He’s 15th overall in the league in scoring with 148 points, adding three deuces — a two-point play when the kickoff goes through the uprights.
Evitts was a perfect 8-for-8 in conversion kicks and booted a 20-yard field goal in the Rattlers’ 58-23 rout of the San Diego Strike Force in the IFL Western Conference championship game played Aug. 5 in front of 7,042 fans at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
“It’s kind of surreal, really,” Evitts said by phone from his Arizona apartment Wednesday night. “It all happened really fast. I had just graduated, got a degree and was like ‘What am I going to do now?’ I wanted to pursue football a little and it worked out.
“Having this opportunity has been great for me. It gives me the opportunity to get some film and continue on if I can.”
A 2018 Schuylkill Haven graduate, Evitts first attended Erie Community College before arriving at Kutztown. He took over as the Golden Bears’ kicker as a junior in 2022, connecting on 23-of-25 extra points and 8-of-11 field goals in nine games.
Last fall, Evitts earned second-team All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East honors after hitting 41-of-44 extra points and 13-of-18 field goals to lead Kutztown in scoring with 80 points. He closed the season by making 28 straight extra points, including going 17-for-17 in the playoffs as the Golden Bears reached the NCAA Division III national semifinals before falling to Colorado School of Mines.
Kutztown finished the campaign 12-3, beating Slippery Rock 31-7 to win the PSAC title, then ripping off three straight NCAA victories over Virginia Union (38-14), Charleston, W. Va. (32-31) and Slippery Rock (28-16) before falling to Colorado School of Mines.
The son of Chris and Tara Evitts of South Manheim Township, Dawson graduated in December with a bachelor’s degree in business administration/marketing. He had been invited to compete in the FCS Bowl in Florida but couldn’t attend since Kutztown was still alive in the NCAA Division III national semifinals.
Evitts, 24, worked with a kicking coach from the Philadelphia area over the winter and had planned to attend a Pro Day workout at Temple. He went to a combine in Arizona in January, then competed at a small-school combine in Indiana.
While in Indiana, the offer to kick in the Indoor Football League came to fruition.
Evitts said he signed his contract on a Tuesday in February, flew out to Arizona two days later and was ready to go for the Rattlers’ season opener March 16. He hasn’t been home since.
“The whole time I was in contact with my agent, testing the waters,” Evitts said. “While I was in Indiana, I received an offer to kick in a Mexican football league. I wasn’t too keen on going down to Mexico to play. I wanted to see if I had another opportunity come up. The next day, my agent called me and said the Rattlers were looking for a kicker.
“At the time, I really didn’t know anything about indoor football. I knew about the (Arena Football League), but I didn’t know what the IFL was. I didn’t know who the Rattlers were or anything like that.
“I talked with my family. It was either come out (to Arizona), get some film and go from there, or take my chance and do the Pro Day at Temple, which wasn’t until mid-March. I ended up coming out here and that’s where I’m at right now.”
Different game
Kicking in the IFL is much different than kicking at the college level or in the NFL.
Obviously, the game is played indoors, in a basketball or hockey arena. The Arizona Rattlers play in the Diamond Desert Arena, the former home of the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes. The Coyotes became the Utah Hockey Club in the offseason and moved to Salt Lake City, leaving the arena open.
The field is 50 yards long (compared to 100), with 10-yard end zones. The kickoffs are done from the goal line, with the goal post 60 yards away.
The goal posts, Evitts said, are the biggest difference. In college and the NFL, the uprights are 18 feet wide and 10 feet high. In the IFL, the posts are 9 feet wide and 15 feet high.
It’s forced Evitts to focus on his accuracy, something he said will help him moving forward.
“A lot more accurate. When I first got out here, it was a big learning curve for me, absolutely,” said Evitts, who wears No. 96 for the Rattlers. “But since I’ve been out here kicking at those uprights, when I get a chance to go kick outside, my accuracy has gone up tremendously. Looking at it, it looks like a freeway.”
Another big difference, Evitts said, are the fans. Unlike college and the NFL, the fans are right on top of the field, like a hockey game. Evitts said playing in front of big crowds while at Kutztown helped him to prepare for the rowdy crowds in the IFL and the big-game atmosphere, especially in the playoffs.
“The fans are right there on the wall, screaming at you,” Evitts said. “At Kutztown, we had great fans and we definitely had a lot come to games. The biggest thing was playing in those big games that meant something.
“When you get here … sometimes in college, the extra points didn’t mean a lot. Here in the IFL, some games they mean everything. Those are definitely important to make. Obviously, where we’re at now, winning the Western Conference final, games like that definitely come down to an extra point or two.”
Rattlers make late-season run
Arizona is one of 16 teams in the IFL, which is broken into eight-team divisions — Eastern Conference and Western Conference. The other teams in the Western Conference are the Bay Area Panthers, Vegas Knight Hawks, San Diego Strike Force, Northern Arizona Wranglers, San Antonio Gunslingers, Duke City Gladiators and Tucson Sugar Skulls.
The Rattlers opened the season 1-3 but have been red-hot since, going 12-2 the rest of the way and winning their last five games. Arizona finished its league slate 7-5, earning the third seed out of the Western Conference for the IFL playoffs. The Rattlers then beat the No. 2 Vegas Knight Hawks 39-38 in the conference semifinals, outscoring the Hawks 19-3 in the fourth quarter and scoring the game-winning touchdown with no time left on the clock.
In the conference finals, Arizona broke out to a quick 14-0 lead and never looked back, rolling past the No. 4 San Diego Strike Force 58-23. The Rattlers (13-5) will face Massachusetts, a team they didn’t play in the regular season, for the IFL title. The Pirates (10-8) were the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference, scoring wins over the Frisco Fighters (53-50) and Green Bay Blizzard (51-28).
“It’s all been pretty crazy, especially me being a rookie,” Evitts said. “I remember coming in and everyone telling me how hard it is to play in this league, especially being a kicker. A lot of people don’t make the amount of kicks that I have, but at the same time I came here to make kicks and do my job.”
