Come Back Bid Falls Short in Playoffs

August 2, 2005 - United Indoor Football Association (UIF)
Evansville BlueCats News Release


EVANSVILLE, IN: The Evansville BlueCats took the UIF South Champions and defending national champions down to the wire as they surged back in the second half to make it as close as two points before falling to the Lexington Horsemen by 5 points in the first round of the UIF playoffs. The BlueCats had the ball with a chance to win late in the fourth quarter in their first round playoff game against the rival Horsemen last Saturday night in Rupp Arena but ultimately lost 55-50.

The loss knocks Evansville out of the inaugural UIF playoffs and ends the 2005 season for the BlueCats.

Lexington advances to the semi-finals of the UIF playoffs and will host the #5 seed Sioux Falls Storm.

Evansville fell behind in the first half and trailed 39-23 at halftime. In the third quarter the BlueCats started to turn things around when they scored the first two touchdowns of the second half. It started when Scotty Stewart intercepted his 4th pass of the season and returned it for a touchdown. The two-point conversion try was good and the BlueCats trailed by 8 until Otis Shannon added and touchdown on a one yard run on the BlueCats next possession. The two-point conversion try would have tied the game at that point, but the try was no good and the BlueCats trailed 39-37.

In the 4th quarter, the teams exchanged scores until wide Receiver Matt Kent caught his second touchdown of the game with 7:20 to go in the game to pull the BlueCats back within 5. After a defensive stop, the BlueCats took over trailing 55-50 with 4:20 to go and started a drive that ultimately stalled out. With under a minute to go the BlueCats found themselves in Horsemen territory with a chance to win but couldn't convert on 4th down and the Horsemen held on to run out the clock and take the round one playoff victory.

Evansville BlueCats Head Coach Ollie Guidry commented after the game, "The difference in that game was special teams. They blocked a kick and had 9 points on special teams and if you take away that we obviously had a chance to still be playing."

BlueCats quarterback Ramon Robinson threw for 3 touchdowns and no interceptions, completing 15 of his 33 pass attempts for 141 yards. Robinson also ran for 14 yards and a touchdown and ran for a two-point conversion.

Wide receiver Matt Kent was the leading receiver catching 6 passes for 76 yards and 2 touchdowns. Wide receiver Byron Curtis added 5 catches for 48 yards and touchdown.

Running back Otis Shannon scored two touchdowns rushing for 17 yards on 6 attempts. Shannon also caught 3 passes for 8 yards. Running back Dale Jennings ran 6 times for 15 yards and caught one pass for 9 yards.

BlueCats defensive back Scotty Stewart scored on an interception return for a touchdown. It was his 4th interception of the season and the first touchdown of his career. Defensive tackle Deon DeBoise also had an interception and 3 tackles. The leagues leading tackler and team and league record holder for tackles in a season, BlueCats linebacker Connie Brown had 7 tackles against Lexington, giving him a total of 114 tackles for the season.

Coach Guidry said, "What a wonderful ride we've had this year. We had a great 5-2 start and I think that's where our organization really made a turn for the better on the football field. But with success comes recognition and that led to the loss of some good players like Sean Bennett. We lost Sean when he got an opportunity in the CFL. We also lost two of our starting offensive linemen, Bruce (Jackson) and Mark (Stout) to injury, and Shawn (Miller) left for the NFL and it all happened at about the same time. That's when our offense lost a little steam because we lost a lot of production in the middle stretch of the season. We got back on track later with a couple wins to get us in the playoffs where we played a competitive game versus Lexington." Coach Guidry continued, "Overall we're happy with what we accomplished but we're not satisfied. We're happy to make the playoffs but we want more than that. I'm happy with how the players came together and jelled trying to accomplish something. We achieved 2 of our 4 goals this season. One was to win at home and two was to make the playoffs. Three and four was to win the division and win a championship. We're happy but disappointed and now it's time to start on next year."

The BlueCats enjoyed their best season ever, setting franchise records in more than 20 categories.

Evansville BlueCats players also earned player of the week awards from the league 8 times. No other team in the UIF had more players earn more Player of the Week awards than Evansville.

Offensive Player of the Week Award: Dale Jennings (week 1), Sean Bennett (week 3), Otis Shannon (week 6), Ramon Robinson (week 11).

Defensive Player of the Week Award: Connie Brown (week 17).

Special Teams Player of the Week Award: Erik Rockhold (week 9 and 17). Otis Shannon (week 15).

The Evansville BlueCats 2005 season is over. The UIF League Championship game will be on Saturday, August 13th.

Season tickets for the 2006 season of Evansville BlueCats football are on sale now. Reserve your seats now to take advantage of the early pricing special. For complete pricing or for more information, call the Evansville BlueCats season ticket hotline at (812) 437-CATS (437-2287) or visit the website at www.evansvillebluecats.com. For the complete Evansville BlueCats 2005 schedule, please visit the website at www.evansvillebluecats.com.



United Indoor Football Association Stories from August 2, 2005


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