Matt Mengel, the kicker of the Conquerors, looks to keep the dream alive after The Spring League cancelled next week’s game vs the Jousters. The Conquerors season may be over unless all the cards fall in their favor.

“Playing as a Conqueror was awesome,” Mengel said. “I loved our staff. Our team was great. I believe we were the most sound team on special teams. They focused a lot of time and effort into dominating that faze of the ball. Coach Glanville was a great coach with a lot of knowledge to share with us.”

Mengel is a specialist who lands in the Swiss army knife category. He can punt, kickoff and kick field goals. That is a massive assist to have because not many specialists can do all three and do them successfully. He truly was able to show all three as a Conqueror, which we will delve much more into later on.

“I have always focused on all three duties,” Mengel said on being able to handle all three kicking duties. “I feel it increases my value as a player when being evaluated by leagues. So being able to go out on live tv and prove that I am very dominant at all three could potentially land me a job in the future. I feel it helps me with recruiting purposes. The live film is always better than just combine or kicking videos. It allows teams to see you under pressure.” 

The Conquerors’ last game vs the Blues was scheduled on very short notice. The game was supposed to happen Wednesday and not Tuesday. The players, including Mengel, were training the day before how they normally would with no game the next day.  Mengel went out and played on short rest and still looked good.

“It’s very hard to play a game with no source of treatment or recovery being offered by The Spring League,” Mengel said. “They had a staff of four to six people come to practice to tape and to give us ice but we had to be completely self-sustainable for our own treatment. That is incredibly hard to do with such a physical and brutal sport. A lot of guys were getting hurt and or sitting out practices.

“That being said, I had short recovery windows. I entered every game at 50-70 percent body capacity. Something was always sore or tight or overworked since I’m doing all three duties every day. Playing on short notice was extremely difficult with out having that single rest day they would give us before games. But I just said screw it, do everything you can Matt cause there’s a lot of people that wish to be in your shoes.” 

Against the Alphas, Mengel had an awesome moment. He was brought out to attempt a 53-yard field goal with just seconds remaining in the first half. The Alphas iced him and he did not let it get to him. He drained the 53-yarder and rightfully so felt great about it. Mengel reminisces on that moment with great detail.

“I knew that making that kick would establish me as a kicker and a punter,” Mengal remembered. “A true combo guy. The guy that can go into any facility and perform any duty needed by any coach and help games. I felt on top of the world. They iced me and called a time out to mess with my head but I knew I made it before I even kicked it. My chemistry with my snapper Geron Eatherly and my holder Nick Holley was so on point that I felt I just could not miss. I knew I was sore. I knew my body was putting everything it had into it. I came out victorious and very proud of all the hard work I’ve put into this dream as a free agent to achieve that moment.”  

Matt Mengel truly is a pure athlete. He has all the traits that should land him with a pro team. Make sure to keep up with him and never sleep on Mengel. He played at UCLA in college so he knows what it is like to play in loud environments and big stadiums.