The dramatic defensive stand wasn’t to win the game, but rather to preserve the Venom’s second shutout of the season in their 74-0 season-ending victory over the Arctic Predators. The question of whether or not the Arctic Predators would score provided the only drama in a game where the final outcome was determined shortly after the opening kickoff.

“I told our guys, if they score on us it was going to feel like we lost,” Venom coach Brian Smith said of the defense’s last stand.

After losing six of their first eight games, the Venom ended the season on a six-game winning streak and ended up one win short of the playoffs.

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The bad news for the Venom (7-6) is that they won’t be meeting the Cavalry again until next year.

In spite of their impressive victory, the Venom’s playoff hopes ended Saturday when San Jose (9-4) defeated Yakima Valley 44-28 to clinch the second and final playoff spot in the West.

“That doesn’t change what we wanted to do, which is finish strong,” said Venom coach Brian Smith, who has led the Venom to five straight victories.

The defense again led the way for Wenatchee Valley, forcing three interceptions and becoming the first team to hold Wyoming under 40 points on the season. The Cavalry’s previous low was 48 points, in an overtime victory over the Venom on March 26.

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The Wolves (9-4) clinched a post-season birth in their inaugural season with a 44-28 win over the Yakima Valley Warriors (7-7) Saturday at the Yakima Valley Sundome.

While the Wolves have been within one win of the post-season for nearly a month, they had dropped their last three contests before a forfeit victory last week.

San Jose kept up their hopes and finished the job thanks to a solid team effort.

Despite falling behind early 6-0, a pair of touchdown passes from Omar Jacobs to Jayson Boyd helped spur the Wolves out in front. Jacobs added another touchdown pass to Jerome McGee and ran in a 20-yard score as the Wolves led 27-13 at the half.

The Wolves maintained the lead in the third quarter despite the surprisingly loud 2,187 fans in attendance. The Warriors picked it up in the final quarter and pulled as close as 9 points.

Jacob’s added touchdown passes to A.J. Bennett and McGee to put the game out of reach before the San Jose defense came up with a couple of key stops on fourth down to drain the clock. The Warriors hit the one-minute warning and failed to get a fourth down conversion before San Jose ran out the clock to seal the victory.

This is their opportunity.

With just two games left on their AIFA Western Conference regular season schedule, the Venom (6-6) need to beat the undefeated Wyoming Cavalry on the road Saturday, then the Arctic Predators at home next week to keep open the possibility of making the postseason.

And that’s the easy part.

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“We’re peaking right now on offense, defense and special teams,” said coach Brian Smith, who is 4-1 since taking over as Venom head coach in mid-May. “It was a total team effort all the way around. Our normal guys were all making their plays.”

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WENATCHEE — Sure, it was a huge win, the first in franchise history over a team with a winning record.

Sure, it kept the Wenatchee Valley Venom’s slim playoff hopes alive.

Sure, it was a thriller that kept fans on the edge of their seats until Tim Simmons’ interception sealed the 51-44 win in overtime.

But Saturday’s win over San Jose was important on a much more basic level…

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