Using a pair of scores over a five-minute stretch, the Fighters closed out the regular-season slate on a high note Saturday night. A pair of connections between TJ Edwards and Phazione McClurge — one at the end of the first half and another on Frisco’s first possession of the third frame — gave the team the lead for good in a 51-35 win against the Iowa Barnstormers.
 
The first air strike came from five yards out after Iowa’s Gabriel Rui’s 39-yard field goal try went wide.
 
Before that score, the Fighters (13-2) and the Barnstormers (3-12) traded the lead six times. Jordan Jolly and McClurge pulled in touchdown passes from Edwards in the first quarter, and Charles Headen returned a kick for a score and rushed for another.
 
Jerminic Smith punched it in from seven yards out with 13:54 to play, pushing the Fighters’ advantage to 20 points. For good measure, Bryce Crawford rounded out Frisco’s scoring with a 30-yard field goal.
 
Antoni Wimbush’s four-yard surge with 9:30 to go was the hosts’ only score of the second half.
 
Frisco moves on to the playoffs with a head of steam, having won five in a row.