Bluecats Cage Red Dogs
Published on April 25, 2005 under United Indoor Football Association (UIF)
Evansville BlueCats News Release
EVANSVILLE, IN: The Evansville Bluecats defeated the Black Hills Red Dogs Saturday night at Roberts Stadium to remain a perfect 3-0 at home this season. The win improves the Bluecats to 3-2 overall and moves them back in to a tie for first place in the UIF South Division with Lexington. The loss drops the Red Dogs to 0-5.
The Bluecats offense was once again led by a strong running game. Running back Otis Shannon led the way with 83 yards on 21 attempts and 3 touchdowns. Dale Jennings added 47 yards on 13 attempts and one touchdown and Sean Bennett scored two rushing touchdowns on goal line carries. As a team, the Bluecats totaled 158 rushing yards for the game.
In addition to his exceptional game running out of the backfield, Otis Shannon also had 109 yards on kickoff returns giving Shannon 192 all-purpose yards against the Red Dogs.
Gerald Clark led the Bluecats receivers with 3 receptions for 36 yards. Clark caught both of quarterback Ramon Robinson's touchdown passes for the night. Clark also scored on a two-point conversion when he caught one of Robinson's passes on an attempt in the 4th quarter.
Sean Bennett had two catches for 21 yards and Byron Curtis caught one pass for 15 yards. Quarterback Ramon Robinson was 6 for 18 for 72 yards, and had 2 touchdowns and one interception in the game. Robinson's one interception was a costly one as it was intercepted in the end zone by Red Dogs defensive end Chris Thomas for a touchdown.
After the game, Bluecats Head Coach Ollie Guidry said, "Offensively we had a very productive day. We wanted to eliminate turnovers and penalties and we still had some, but we were able to overcome them, especially those two big turnovers. But, the guys responded to the challenge of the Black Hills team."
Evansville's defense held the Red Dogs to 168 net yards and only allowed them to convert on 3 of their 10 third down conversion opportunities. Darrell Jack led the Bluecat defense recording 6.5 tackles in the game. Connie Brown had 5.5 tackles and Richard Johnson and Joel Stubblefield each had 4 tackles.
Tywaiin Dismuke had 3 tackles and an interception. Dismuke now has 3 picks on the year.
Connie Brown and Quincy Roe each broke up 3 passes. Richard Johnson and Darrell Jack both had one pass break up.
Coach Guidry said, "The defense was put in some tough situations after our turnovers but they continued to play hard. There are some areas we could definitely improve on, but we played well."
The Bluecats found themselves trailing 50-49 after the Red Dogs kicked a 30 yard field goal with 3:19 left to go in the game. Evansville responded on the next possession when Sean Bennett found the endzone on a one yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion from Robinson to Clark was good and the Bluecats were up 7. However, the Red Dogs were able to tie it up 27 seconds later after a 22 yard pass from Black Hills quarterback Frank Borba was caught by Chris Dixon to set up a two yard touchdown run by Red Dogs running back Mike Scott.
The Bluecats got the ball back on the kickoff with 42 seconds to go. Otis Shannon returned the kickoff 31 yards to the Red Dogs 9 yard line. 3 plays later on 4th down, Bluecats kicker Scottie Barrick kicked a 22 yard field goal to take the lead 60-57 with 14 seconds left. The Red Dogs had one more chance to tie it but their 36 yard field goal attempt sailed wide left as time expired.
"On special teams we accomplished one of our goals, we didn't want to give up any big plays and we wanted to make some big plays of our own. The field goal at the end of the game was obviously the biggest play because it put us back up for the last time." Coach Guidry commented after the game.
Next week the first place Evansville Bluecats will be at home again when they take on the Omaha Beef in a rematch of the April 16th game in Omaha.
Kickoff against Omaha is set for 7:05pm this Saturday night April 30th. For tickets, contact the Roberts Stadium box office at 812-476-1383 or Ticketmaster. For the complete Evansville Bluecats 2005 schedule, please visit the website at www.evansvillebluecats.com.
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