The Louisiana Bayou Beast survived a late rally by the visiting Texas Bullets last night to win 56-51 to run their record to 4-1 on the season. The Bullets, who have lost three games by a touchdown or less, dropped to 1-6.
The Beast came out with a defensive game plan designed to shut down the league's top rusher, John Henry of the Bullets. The Beast were successful in that they held Henry to a more typical PIFL rushing night of 28 yards on 8 carries. But Henry still was the star for the Bullets as he scored three touchdowns (two rushing and one receiving) and ran back kickoffs to net 156 all purpose yards. The Beast countered with five different players scoring a total of seven touchdowns including defensive standout Pat Rogers' four yard fumble return.
"That was lucky," Rogers said. "I happened to see it (the ball) and looking at the score, we sure needed it."
The Bullets offense changed gears this week in putting the most points on the board all year. Marc Saldana spread the ball around among his four receivers who were led by Lee McCormick's 44 yards and Brent Alford's 2 touchdown catches. Jackie Warren also contributed to the cause with an outstanding grab at the back of the endzone in the third quarter on a 25 yard touchdown strike from Saldana.
On the night, Saldana was 18 of 30 for 157 yards, no interceptions and 4 touchdowns. "Mark probably played his best game all year," stated Texas Head Coach Wayne Stigler He only forced one pass on the night. He played a smart and balanced game."
"I am glad to see Jackie (Warren) back to where he needs to be," said Stigler after the game. "He was a little shakey after the injury he sustained in the pre-season, but he is tough as nails now."
Texas had a shot with just over 7 seconds remaining as the Bullets attempted an onside kick after narrowing the deficit to five points. But Louisiana recovered the ball cleanly, and then proceeded to run out the clock for the victory.
After the game, Beast Head Coach Buford Jordan stated, "The team did a good job of hanging in there. Every time we let them score, the offense was able to come back and score as well. They're a good ball club, and we knew this was the type of game we were in for. The guys hung in there and did what we asked them to do." The Beast will travel to Green Bay next weekend in a battle of teams with only one loss.
Texas will host the Madison Mad Dogs on Sunday at 7:00 pm in a rematch of a game played a month ago which the Mad Dogs took on their home field. Madison is coming off a big win as they downed previously unbeaten Green Bay 31-30 this past Saturday. "The Dogs have gotten a lot better over the last couple of weeks," said Stigler. "Hopefully our improvement will be seen as well so that we can knock them off in front of the home crowd, but it will be a very tough game."
Tickets are available for the Bullets game against the Mad Dogs at the Bell County Expo Center and at local Dillard's outlets in Killeen, Temple and Waco.
Texas 10 9 13 19 51
Louisiaina 13 17 16 10 56
First Quarter
LA-12:12-Germaine Williams 5 yd run, Matt Huerkamp PAT 7-0
Tex- 9:20-Billy Watkins 36 yd Field Goal 7-3
LA- 8:29-Michael Lewis 42 yd pass from Melvin Hill,
Huerkamp PAT failed 13-3
Tex- 1:28-John Henry 9 yd pass from Marc Saldana, Watkins PAT 13-10
Second Quarter
LA-13:36-Huerkamp 44 yd Field Goal 16-10
Tex- 9:25-Brent Alford 11 yd pass from Marc Saldana, Watkins PAT 16-17
LA- 4:48-Melvin Hill 1 yd run, 2 pt conversion failed 22-17
LA- 0:22-Williams 20 yd pass from Hill, Derrick Fobb 2 pt reception 30-17
Tex-0:01-Watkins 24 yd Field Goal 30-19
Third Quarter
Tex-13:05-Saldana 2 yd run, Watkins PAT 30-26
LA- 10:04-Byron Allen 2 yd run, Huerkamp PAT 37-26
Tex- 9:25-Jackie Warren 25 yd pass from Saldana, Watkins PAT 37-32
LA- 3:45-Huerkamp 23 yd FG 39-32
LA- 0:35-Pat Rogers 4 yd fumble recovery, Huerkamp PAT 46-32
Fourth Quarter
Tex-13:30-Alford 21 yd pass from Saldana, Watkins PAT 46-39
LA- 9:13-Hill 16 yd run, Huerkamp PAT 53-39
Tex- 4:06-Henry 3 yd run, 2pt conversion failed 53-45
LA- 0:51-Huerkamp 40 yd Field Goal 56-45
Tex- 0:07-Henry 8 yd run, 2pt conversion failed 56-51
Team Stats Louisiana Texas
First Downs 15 13
Rushing 9 5
Passing 6 7
Penalty 0 1
Rushing Attempts 26 14
Yards Rushing 95 41
Net Passing Yards 129 157
Passes Attempted 15 30
Passes Completed 7 18
Had Intercepted 1 0
Total Offensive Plays 41 44
Total net Yards 224 198
Fumbles: Number-Lost 1-0 1-1
Penalties: Number-Lost 6-36 2-6
Missed Field Goal Returns 0-0 0-0
Kickoff Returns: No.-Yards 9-152 8-156
3rd Down Conversions 2-5 3-8
4th Down Conversions 0-0 1-2
Sacks by: Number-Yards 0-0 0-0
Interception Returns: 0-0 1-0
Possession Time 32:24 28:36
Individual Stats
Rushing-L-Byron Allen 15-43-1, Germaine Williams 4-16-1, Melvin Hill 7-36;
T-John Henry 8-28-2, Saldana 4-9, Butch Hadnot 2-4
Receiving-L-Michael Lewis 2-55-1, Germaine Williams 2-38-1,
Joe Valencio 3-36;
T-Lee McCormick 9-44, Henry 4-43-1, Alford 2-32-2, Warren 3-38-1
Passing-L-Melvin Hill 7-14-124-2-1, Michael Lewis 0-1-0-0-0;
T-Saldana 18-30-157-4-0
Field Goals-L-Huerkamp 3-4 made 44,23,40 missed 55;
T-Watkins 2-3 made 36,24 missed 45
PATS-L-Huerkamp 4-5;
T-Watkins 5-5
Kickoff Returns L-Michael Lewis 4-98, Derrick Fobb 4-54, Joe Valencia 1-0;
T-Henry 4-85, Hadnot 2-41, McCormick 2-30
Interceptions-T-Lamont Moore 1
Tackles-L-Ballard 1, Lee 4, Phillips 7, Taylor 1, Rogers 5, Green 1,
Gillyard 9, Johnson 3, Tomas 1, Hilliard 2, Allen 1;
T-Blake 5, Coe 6, Cook 1, Craig 1, Henderson 2,
Jefferson 2, Moore 6, Otte 3, Bower 3
Attendance: 3000
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