Beef lose a tough one, 57-50
May 29, 2004 - National Indoor Football League (NIFL)
Omaha Beef News Release
Omaha, NE. - The Billings Outlaws in front of a rowdy crowd of 3741 at the Slaughterhouse held the Omaha Beef at gunpoint Saturday night. Omaha came into the game with a 6-3 record while the Outlaws came to the arena with a 7-1 record.
The Outlaws won the toss and deferred until the second half letting the Beef receive. Beefs Steve Lovell started the first drive of the game by taking the ball to the 20-yard line on the return and saw the series end with LeAndre Moore taking it into the end zone to put the Beef on top 7-0 with less than 3 minutes into the game.
The Outlaws returned the favor with 8 minutes left in the quarter when Cory Grow scored off a short 6-yard pass from quarterback Matt LaFleur making the score 7-6. The Outlaws missed the extra point keeping the score 7-6 with the Beef still in the lead.
Only two minutes after the Billings touchdown, the Beef attacked again as A.J. Street took a long 36-yard spiral from Omaha quarterback Dusty Burk to push the score to 14-6 with the extra point from Long.
The next series of plays saw Billings fighting back when Verna Owens took a 38-yard bomb from quarterback LaFleur to bring the Outlaws to within a point of the Beef. Making the score 14-13 with the Beef still in the lead.
The very next series of plays say the Beefs' quarterback Dusty Burk hit powerhouse Steven Lovell for a 22-yard pass and the opportunity to score. The extra point pushed the score to 21-13 in favor of the Beef with less than 2 minutes left in the quarter.
The second quarter saw the battle rage on as the Omaha team turned into bounty hunters in search of Outlaws. The Billings team tried several times to overcome the Beefs momentum with little success until Billings Verna Owens pushed it in from the 2-yard line to close the gap and bring the score to within two. (21-19 Beef)
Beef DL Bryan Eakin slammed the ball back into Outlaw kicker Aaron Turners face as he tried in vain to find the uprights for Billings with only 3:20 of play in the quarter. Eakin gabbed the misguided pigskin and took it the length of the field for a quick two point play on a PAT return to make the score 23-19 in favor of the Beef.
With only 5:50 left before the half, the Outlaws put the pressure on again and scored when Jason Quinn from Billings grabbed a 41-yard bird from LaFleur to make the score 26-23 and give the Outlaws the lead for the first time in the game.
Not to be outdone, the Beef came storming back to jail the outlaws with a quick touchdown by LeAndre Moore and regain the lead with only 3:11 left before the half. The follow-up extra point kick by Chace Long capped the score at 30-26 in favor of the home team.
With only seconds left before the half Chace Long again grabbed the spotlight and put the ball in the air for a 52-yard field goal adding three to the board and making the score going into the locker-room 33-26 in favor of the Beef.
The second half started with the Billings team taking a high end-over-end boot to their 11-yard line and struggling to regain their composure. Fighting for every yard the Outlaws pushed methodically down the field to score when Outlaw Verna Owens pressed in from the 2-yard line to tie the score with 9:02 in the quarter.
The Beefs Dusty Burk scrambled desperately to get the ball off while behind the line, but the effort was futile and he was sacked in the end zone by Outlaw Anthony Bonner to give the Outlaws the safety and the Montana team the lead. (33-35 Billings)
With only 1:12 in the 3rd quarter, Chace Long hit the jackpot again to pop a 21-yard field goal and give a narrow lead back to the Beef. (36-35)
14 seconds into the 4th quarter saw Billings Quentin Cradle bobble a sloppy 13-yard touchdown attempt from LaFleur just to have the pigskin bounce into the hands of the Beefs Donavon LaVINESS. An incoherent official making the touchdown good for Billings and pushing them again into the lead called laVINESS' run back. (36-43 Montana)
Omaha's Steve Lovell took a 31-yard shot to turn the game around and put the Beef into scoring position. Quarterback and teammate Dusty Burk took the opportunity and pushed a 1-yard run into the end zone to make it a tie ballgame once again.
The lead shuffled back and forth like a disgruntled hockey puck as the Outlaws again pulled another touchdown out of their hats when Cory Grow took a 4-yard pass into the end zone to regain the lead. (43-50)
Beef's Steven Lovell grabbed a high, hard 17-yard spiral from quarterback Dusty Burk in the end zone with less than 6:10 left in the game to make the score 49-50. Omaha kicker extraordinaire Chace Long followed up with a 25-yard blast through the uprights to tie the score at 50 all.
Outlaw's WR Jason Quinn took a 4-yard hand out from LaFleur to rob the Beef of any chance they had to win this hard fought battle. Billings' kicker found the hole in the uprights with: 56 left in the game and took the score to 57-50 in favor of Montana.
The final score was 57-50 in a hard fought battle that saw the Outlaws overtake the Beef by a touchdown in a dynamic test of wills.
National Indoor Football League Stories from May 29, 2004
- Beef lose a tough one, 57-50 - Omaha Beef
- Diesel Defeat Crude in Wild Night - Tri-City Diesel
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
