Beef steal show from Bandits

06/29/03 Beef Press Release

Saturday, June 28th the Omaha Beef (10-3) football team cinched the Pacific Conference No. 1 seed and took the home field advantage by stealing the show when the Sioux City Bandits (6-7) showed up to at the Omaha Auditorium. 5,573 delirious fans were present to witness the theft and support their home team favorites for the final regular season game.

This rivalry was a tough struggle for both defensive and offensive teams but the Beef wanted to regain their reputation after the last time they faced the Bandits and suffered a 3-point loss earlier this month.

The Bandits won the coin toss and elected to kick to the Beef to start this shootout.  After several minutes of struggling with a hard-nosed Bandit defense, the Beefs #10 LaMar O'Neil took it in from the 2nd yard line to put the beef on the board first with 9:15 left in the first quarter. Chace Long came out to put it through the uprights and get the point after making the score Beef 7- 0.

With only 5:19 left #15 for the Bandits, John Ostermeyer snuck in to score for the Bandits and make the score 7-6.  The point after attempt by the Bandits Bobby Hunter was no good and the score remained in the Beefs favor 7-6.

With 1:38 left in the quarter the Beef's LeAndre Moore took it in to the grass to make the score 13-6 still in the Beefs favor. Following the chaos the leagues golden legged kicker, Chace Long put up and through the uprights again making the score to 14-6 for the Beef and ending the first quarter

The second quarter had only seen 1:30 of play before the Bandits Quarterback, Jarod DeGeogia scored to make the score 14-12 with the Beef still owning the lead.  The point after by the Bandits Robert Hunter was good bringing the score to 14-13.

Answering the call with 9:42 seconds left in the quarter Omaha Beefs Quarterback, Troy Travis marched in to score and make it 20-13 with Chace Long, Omaha's kicking machine, again put it up and giving the Beef a 21-13 lead.

Coming back in a hard fought effort was Bandits' quarterback Jarod DeGeoria as he scored with 5:37 left giving he Bandits 19 points and leaving them trailing by 2. Sioux City's Robert Hunter again put it up and through the uprights to bring the Beefs lead to only one point. (21-20)

The Beef's Clinton Childs saw the light and followed it to the end zone with 2:11 left to score bringing the score back up to 27-20 with Chace Long using his magic and again putting through the long yellow fingers of the goal posts to make it 28-20.

With only: 53 left before the half the Bandits' Defensive Back, Trice Crump intercepted one of Troy Travis' long bullets in the end zone to try and regain the Sioux City momentum and recover their position to score before the half to no avail.

With only seconds before the half the Beefs Chace Long put it up from the 22 yard line for a three point kick to make the score 31-20 in favor of the Beef to end the half.

The third quarter saw the Bandits receive the kick and drive to midfield in an attempt to gain momentum and spur a touchdown. With less than 2:30 minutes into the 3rd quarter they did just that when the Bandits quarterback, #12, Jarod DeGeogia found the grass and brought it to within 5 and make the score to 31-26. The Bandits' #44, Abrian Stovall, found an outside track to the zone to bring in two points and make it 31-28 still in the Beef's favor.

The third quarter battle was a war of wills as the Bandits held the fired up Beef at the goal and didn't allow them to score after a long, tedious 6:58 drive to the goal that resulted in giving the ball to the Bandits on the second yard line.

Ending the long, hard hitting, third quarter saw the Bandit's defensive back, Lamont Truitt steal a long bullet from Beef quarter back, Troy Travis and give the Bandits the momentum to start the last quarter.

The fourth quarter started as an in-your-face defensive battle for both teams went nose-to-nose stopping any attempt the other team had of scoring until Bandits' kicker, Robert Hunter, put one through the uprights for three points and tied the score at 31 all with just fewer than three minutes of playing time left

The Beefs offensive and defensive teams took the tie as an insult and tried to muscle their way back into the lead with a long 3 pointer from Chace Long only to have an illegal defensive call on the Bandits bring it back and instead give the Beef a 1st down.

Quarterback, Troy Travis took offense to the situation and promptly waltzed in to recapture the lead and bring the score to 37-31. Chace Long immediately saw the need to add another one to the scoreboard making the score 38-31 with less than 7 minutes left to play in the ballgame.

Tempers flared as the war got bloodier and bloodier when the Bandits coach head coach and defensive coordinator Carl Reinhardt received an unsportsmanlike like conduct call and was relegated to the bench for the rest of the game.  This only enraged the Bandits as the later the game went the more flags for little things like unsportsmanlike conduct, illegal blocking and face masking calls seemed to show who was set to walk the victory walk with style

The Beefs' defensive back,  Dontea Jones, decided to take matters into his own hands and intercepted a firecracker at the 8 yard line to find the grass and bring the score to 44-31 with the hometown gladiators pushing the score up and pushing the tempers of the ill-received Bandits down into the dumps. Beefs kicker extraordinaire, Chace Long,  again came in to dazzle the Bandits with another unstoppable one point kick to help the Beef maintain the lead by 14 with just 6:23 left in the final game of the regular season.

The Bandits' bad attitude showed up more and more with every tick of the clock as the flags were being thrown on almost every play for little things like illegal blocking in the back and the ever popular unsportsmanlike conduct. 

With each and every penalty the Beef came marching back to fight the good fight and work harder to show these stealthy thieves that crime doesn't pay when you face the Beef.

The Bandits attempted one last strong push with a haphazard touchdown by Bandits, wide receiver, John Ostermeyer with only 5:25 left to bring them within 10 and make the score 45-37. The extra point that followed by the Bandits kicker, #8, Robert Hunter to bring the score to 45-38 with the Beef still leading by 7 points.

Beef's #10, LaMar O'Neil, decided to show what a motivated Beef defensive back could do as he picked one off in the end zone with 3:32 left and show his skill and team motivation.

Feeling his oats and wanting to show the Bandits what a division leading quarterback could do, Troy Travis decided to march into the end zone one more time in regular season play and bring the score to 51-38, recapturing a 13 point lead.

Nothing is done until Beef kicker Chace Long decides it's done so to follow his teammate and cohort in crime he promptly captured the extra point to make the score 52-38 with less than 3 minutes left in the game.

Keith Mercer decided to join in the fun as he ran for the last touchdown of the game when the buzzer was sounding.  Receiving a side lateral from teammate and fellow defensive back LaMar O'Neil and then running like a madman to make the score 58-38 and end the season with a 20 point victory over the ill-tempered and ill-fated Sioux City Bandits.

The final score was 58-38 to end a winning season for the New Omaha Beef.