Parker Lapsley (22) and the Oregon High Desert Storm are set to take on the Idaho Horsemen in the America West Conference Football championship game Saturday night in Nampa, Idaho. 

Chuck Jones had one thought when he received a photo of the trophy given to the winner of the American West Football Conference.

“That is coming back to my house,” said the Oregon High Desert Storm coach.

At 6 p.m. Saturday, the Oregon High Desert and the Idaho Horsemen will play in American West Bowl IV at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa Idaho, for a chance to bring home a title.

Winners of three straight games, the Storm professional arena football team feels confident going into Saturday’s title match.

“We are putting up a ton of points; all the guys are showing up,” said Jones, who is in his first year as coach of the High Desert Storm after spending the last two years as a player. “You have some teams that have some guys that don’t show up. Our guys stayed here, and it was hard for them to do that, but it made them trust each other. We have that trust and chemistry now.”

To bring the championship back to Central Oregon, the High Desert Storm will have to take down a team that has beaten them twice this season. The Horsemen knocked off the High Desert Storm twice this season, with a 70-42 win on May 13, and a 77-47 win on May 27.

Since those two losses, the High Desert Storm have rolled off three wins including back-to-back wins over the Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks. In their 44-40 on the road against Wenatchee Valley, the Storm overcame a 26-point halftime deficit to come back and win. Then last Saturday, the Storm beat the Skyhawks 69-57 to clinch a spot in the American West Bowl.

“We are meshing, we have chemistry,” Jones said. “Quite frankly we are pissed from the last two games we played against Idaho. We can’t let them beat us a third time. We have to take advantage of all the opportunities and not hurt ourselves.”

Where Jones thinks his team has the advantage in the third meeting with a title on the line, is the fact that Idaho has not played a game since May 27. Meanwhile, the High Desert Storm has played three games — winning each one — to advance to the title game.

Taking an extended break from playing like the Horseman have, going more than a month without playing games makes things difficult on two fronts, Jones said. First, it is hard to stay sharp on the field without taking as many live reps. And second, it becomes difficult to retain players.

“It is tough when you take all that time off,” Jones said. “You come back with a whole different team. Six weeks off, some asked to go home, apparently they aren’t coming back, which also works in our favor.”

While the High Desert Storm is making its first American West Bowl appearance in the four-year-old league, Idaho will be playing in its third title game.

But Jones doesn’t mind playing the underdog to the team that won the inaugural championship in 2019. “I want (Idaho) to think they are going to come out and beat us,” Jones said. “Because they are not.”