UNITED BOWL III

United Bowl III features two familiar foes in the Lexington Horsemen and the Sioux Falls Storm. Both are perennial playoff powers. Besides this game being a rematch of last year’s championship, it’s also the third time in four years the two teams meet with a title on the line. The year they didn’t meet for a championship, they collided in the semi-finals.

Lexington finished the regular season 8-7 and qualified for the Eastern Conference playoffs as the number three seed. That meant going on the road in the first round to face the RiverCity Rage in St. Charles, MO. It was also the return of veteran indoor quarterback Eddie Eviston. He had guided Lexington to last year’s championship game and rejoined the Horsemen roster in time for the playoffs. In the 48-33 road win over the Rage, Eviston was 20-0f-26 passing with four touchdowns and no interceptions. He stepped up his play at home in the Eastern Conference championship against Bloomington by throwing seven touchdowns and running for one more in the 67-49 victory. Chad Spencer hauled in four of those touchdown tosses. Lexington running back Rayshawn Askew caught the last TD toss in that game—giving him 209 touchdowns for his professional career—surpassing NFL great Jerry Rice.

With Eviston providing the offensive firepower, the Horsemen defensive has clamped down on opponents. Against RiverCity, J.T. Haskins picked off Rage quarterbacks three times for 30 yards. Earven Flowers also had a 21-yard interception return and a pass breakup. In round two the Lexington defense held Bloomington scoreless for a 22-minute span. Sylvester Peoples had two sacks for 15 yards and Flowers had an interception. The big momentum swing though was just before halftime when Bloomington setup for a field goal to tie the game. Instead, Lexington would block the attempt and run it back for a touchdown. Coupled with Collin Barber’s extra point, the Horsemen went into the break with a 10-point lead.

Lexington Head Coach, Mike Zuckerman, says everybody on the Horsemen team has played at a higher level during the playoffs. “That’s what you hope for when you get to the playoffs—that people come to another level—and that’s what we’ve done right now.”
The game will be bitter-sweet for Zuckerman who previously announced his resignation from the team following the season.

Both teams sport several veterans. Sioux Falls Head Coach Kurtiss Riggs says the key to maintaining a core group of players is finding players from the area. “You build around that. You’re able to get guys that want to continue to play because it’s fun for them and then you sprinkle in some guys that buy into that work ethic. It’s been successful for us and for Lexington.”

Sioux Falls is undefeated for the second straight year and the defending UIF champions two years running. Their 37-game win streak is a record for professional sports. Being the number one seed in the Western Conference, both playoff games were at home. Both games accounted for beating opponents a fourth time during the season. In round one, they handled Colorado 44-16. Storm quarterback Terrance Bryant was 17-of-20 with three touchdowns. Defensively, the Storm held the Ice to three field goals and a fourth quarter touchdown.

Against Billings for the Western Conference championship, the Storm displayed their usual offensive prowess as Bryant completed 15-of-20 for 232 yards and two touchdowns while the defense blanked Billings in the second half to pick up a 45-23 win. Cory Johnsen had three tackles for loss for seven yards with a sack for four yards. Leif Murphy had three tackles for loss for 15 yards with two sacks for 11 yards.

UIF Executive Director & Commissioner, Dakota Crow, says United Bowl III looks to be as exciting as the first tow. “We’re looking forward to another sellout event. Lexington and Sioux Falls are no strangers to each other. It should be a great match up with two of the best indoor teams in the country.”

UNITED BOWL II

United Bowl II Video Webcast


Post Game Video Clips

Terrance Bryant (UBII MVP, 258 yards Passing, 8 TD’s, 1 rushing TD)

Casey Veenhof (3 TD’s, 106 yards receiving)

Head Coach Kurtiss Riggs (17-0)



Sioux Falls, SD - The Sioux Falls Storm (17-0), for the second year in a row, are the UIF United Bowl champions! The Storm end their perfect season with a 72-64 victory over the Lexington Horsemen (14-3) at the Sioux Falls Arena in front of a sold-out crowd of 4,800 screaming fans. Sioux Falls has now won 20 straight games since the 2005 playoffs. Last season the Storm defeated the Sioux City Bandits for United Bowl I. UBII’s game MVP went to Terrance Bryant, quarterback for the Sioux Falls Storm.

The game started off with a bang for the Horsemen as Chad Spencer caught a 30-yard pass from the first play of the game to put the Horsemen up a quick 6-0. The Storm answered right back with a 4-yard run by Mike Scott on the next series. The first quarter ended with the Storm on top, 21-19, and saw six touchdowns from six different players.

Just moments into the second quarter, Lexington took the lead once more after a 9-yard run by Dieonte Stewart that put the Horsemen up, 26-21. This would not last long as Casey Veenhof caught one of his three touchdowns from five yards out, to bring the Storm back on top. Minutes later, Chad Spencer (LEX) and Veenhof would trade TD’s and bring the game back to a three point ball game, 32-35, with the Storm having the advantage. With forty seconds remaining in the first half, Colin Barber nailed a 24-yard field goal to tie the game at 35. The Storm, wanting the last move, saw James Terry in the end zone for a 12-yard score from Terrance Bryant with only seven seconds left on the clock. The Storm would go into the half with a 42-35 lead and receive the ball in the start of the third quarter. The first half saw an amazing eleven touchdowns and one field goal for one of the highest scoring halves in UIF history. Terrance Bryant threw for five touchdowns alone in the first two quarters.

The third quarter saw no let down of offense, as Bryant rushed in a one yard TD in the first two minutes of the third, to bring the Storm’s lead to fourteen. Eddie Eviston would answer right back with a 22-yard bullet to Chad Spencer and bring the Horsemen back to within 7, 42-49. Veenhof, once again had an answer for Spencer, as he caught a 13-yard line drive from Terrance Bryant for the Storm. Going into the fourth quarter, the Storm had the lead, 55-45.

Minutes into the fourth quarter, Eddie Eviston got caught with his head on a swivel and threw the ball away in the end zone, resulting in a Storm safety, to add to Sioux Falls’ lead, 57-45. The Storm’s next possession gave them their biggest lead of the game as James Terry caught a ten yard pass for one of his three touchdowns, giving Sioux Falls a 64-51 cushion. The Horsemen would not give up and outscored Sioux Falls 13-8 in the final seven minutes of the game, but it was too little too late as the Storm went on to capture their second crown in a row, 72-64.

Leading the way for Sioux Falls was UBII game MVP and UIF 2006 MVP, Terrance Bryant. Bryant threw for 258 yards and a new UIF record, 8 passing touchdowns. He connected on 20 of 25 passes and also had 33 yards rushing and one touchdown. Terrance had no interceptions during the contest. On his receiving core was the trio of Casey Veenhof, James Terry and Matt Holmlund. Veenhof had 106 yards receiving and three touchdowns from 8 receptions leading the receivers. Terry added 77 yards and three TD’s and Holmlund caught five passes for 75 yards and 2 scores. On the ground, Mike Scott filled in for the injured Marques Smith, and had 48 yards rushing and one TD. Defensively, Mark Blackburn led all players with 9.5 tackles (8 solo, 3 assisted) and three pass break-ups. Trice Crump had seven tackles and Andre Fields chipped in with 5.

For Lexington, Eddie Eviston threw for 164 yards from 15 of 25 pass attempts and hit the end zone six times. He also led the Horsemen in rushing with 85 yards and one score. Taking the bulk of his passes was UIF 1st Team All-Star, Chad Spencer. Spencer caught nine passes for 123 yards and five touchdowns. Leading their defensive core was Muhamm Abdullah with 7.5 tackles. Sylvester Peoples had 6.5 and Champ Kelly added 5.5.

Be sure to check back to unitedindoorfootball.com throughout the rest of the weekend for more updates, photos, highlights and stats from this monumental game, United Bowl II!

UNITED BOWL I

In what some say may have been the greatest indoor game played and for
sure the best championship indoors, the Sioux Falls Storm traveled south a
mere 90 miles down interstate 29 to meet familiar foes, the Sioux City Bandits
for the UIF Championship. This was the fourth time in the 2005 season that
the two league rivals had met and it served up to be much of the same exciting,
hard hitting game as in the previous three.

The game started with a fl eet of more than 10 buses that caravanned from
Sioux Falls with more than a thousand Sioux Falls fans to see their team
take on the Bandits for the fi rst ever United Bowl championship. A sea of red
fl ooded out the doors of each bus as the fans had a pre-game celebration for
hours before hand in the parking lot with beverages, food, football and fun.
Just across the way was more of the same with black Bandit jerseys and Tshirts
walking in every which direction waiting in anticipation for the coveted
UBI title game to begin. When the doors opened, fans from both cities pushed
and shoved their way through the doors of the new Tyson’s Event Center.
More than 7,000 Storm and Bandit fans poured into the seats on that sunny
Sunday afternoon.

The game started with an amazing celebration of lights and music as the
owners, coaches and players were each announced as their respected cities
cheered on with a roar of noise so loud that some had to cover their ears.
Cars and revved up Harley Davidson motorcycles welcomed each team on
the fi eld as well.

From the start everyone knew that this would be a battle for the ages. Both
teams came out fi ring the ball and laying big hit after big hit. The score went
back and forth in the fi rst quarter with each team hitting a fi eld goal for their
fi rst points of the session.

Sioux Falls managed to cross the goal line fi rst for the first touchdown of
United Bowl one after James Jones caught a 2-yard pass from Terrance Bryant
to give the Storm the 9-3 lead. Sioux City would not be out done as Jarrod
DeGeorgia threw the long ball for a 32-yard touchdown pass to Ken Horton.
With only one minute left in the fi rst quarter, Bryant ran a 15-yard scramble
in for the Storm to put them on top with a 16-10 lead going into the second
quarter.

The second quarter was all Sioux City, as they scored on a 22-yard run by
league MVP Fred Jackson giving the Bandits a one point lead, 16-17. Terrance
Bryant and James Jones once again answered the Bandits score with
an 8-yard pass shortly after for the Storm. The rest of the fi rst half was nothing
but Jarrod DeGeorgia doing what he done for the Bandits all season long,
connect on passes. DeGeorgia hit Jackson for a 5 yard pass and for a second
time Horton grabbed another in the air for a 16-yard TD giving the Bandits
a 23-31 lead going into the second half.

Fred Jackson came out with a purpose of taking home a Championship in the
second half after he broke tackle after tackle only to return the opening kickoff
for a touchdown spreading the Bandits lead even more. The remaining
14-minutes of the third quarter was controlled by Storm QB, Terrance Bryant,
as he lifted the Storm’s chance of a victory after a 1-yard TD run and a 12-
yard pass to Casey Veenhof to cut the Bandits lead to only one going into the
fourth quarter, 37-38.

The fourth quarter was all defense as both teams knew it would come down to
whom ever had the ball last. The Bandits put together an 11-play drive in the
beginning of the fourth quarter only to have the ball stripped out of Jackson’s
hands as the Storm recovered the ball on Sioux City’s one-yard line. The
Bandit’s defense held strong as they forced the Storm to punt their next two
possessions.

The Bandits were then down to minimal time on the clock to seal the victory
only to be stalled by holding penalties to force a fi eld goal attempt. The attempt
went wide right giving the ball over to the Storm with a little over a minute
left in play. The Storm then put together an 8-play drive taking them 28-
yards down the fi eld and putting them into fi eld goal position with 3-seconds
left on the game clock. Smooth as silk, Storm Kicker, Adam Hicks connected
on a 35-yard attempt giving the Storm a 40-38 lead.

With only 2.2 seconds left after the kick, Sioux City was forced to go for the
win with a 51-yard fi eld goal attempt by Cody Butler that fell a few yards short
and giving the fi rst ever United Bowl Championship Cup to the Sioux Falls
Storm.

Adam Hicks was awarded the game MVP after his game winning fi eld goal
along with going 4 for 4 PAT attempts and 2 of 3 fi eld goals. Terrance Bryant
led the offense by connecting on 17 of his 25 passes for 123 yards and 3
touchdown passes. He also rushed for 66 yards and 2 TD’s. James Jones led
the Storm receivers with 60 yards from 8 receptions and 2 touchdowns. The
Storm defense was led by Tony Hermes who laid out for 6 solo tackles and 2
assisted. Mike Lawson also chipped in at the Defensive End spot with 6 total
tackles and one sack for a lost 18 yards on the play.

Jackson led the Bandits with 168-yards rushing from 28 carries and 2 TD’s.
Ken Horton did his part with 3 receptions for 60-yards and also 2 touchdowns.
On the defensive, Adam Lloyd ended with 5 solo and 5 assisted tackles along
with one break-up.