Ortiz FG with :06 left lifts Beef past Bandits

May 7, 2023 

A Paul Ortiz 31-yard field goal with six seconds left lifted the Omaha Beef to a 48-45 road victory over the Sioux City Bandits Saturday night at the Tyson Events Center.  The 49th meeting between the two teams was another terrific game as the Beef stormed out to an early lead to only see the Bandits score 21 points in the fourth quarter to tie the game with 3:03 left. Tommy Armstrong and Tabyus Taylor ran the ball a combine five times to get the ball to the Sioux City 11 yardline before Ortiz hit his game-winning field goal.  The wins move the Beef to 8-0 on the season while the Bandits (5-3) drop their second home game in a row and drops them to fourth place in the Champions Indoor Football standings with two games remaining.  The Beef now leads the all-time series 25-24. 

Traveon Samuel opened the game with a 40-yard kickoff return to set up a five-yard Armstrong touchdown run and the Beef lead 8-0 after the Taylor two-point conversion.  Sioux City came right back as Tasleem Wilson hit Fred Bruno on a 31-yard strike, but the three-point conversion was no good.  Armstrong added an 11-yard touchdown run and a 33-yard touchdown pass to Gourney Sloan as the Beef lead 22-6 after the first quarter.   

Omaha continued to increase its lead when Taylor caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from Armstong and that was followed by a rouge when Sioux City did not get the ball out of the endzone on the ensuing kickoff. The Bandits closed the gap to 15 when Wilson ran it in from eight yards out and then hit Brandon Sheperd on the three-point conversion to make it 30-15 at halftime.  

Both teams scored once in the third quarter as Omaha had a Taylor two yard run and Sioux City added a Shepard 23-yard touchdown catch and three-point conversion catch by Fred Bruno to make it a 36-24 Beef lead after three quarters.  Paul Ortiz would increase the lead back to 15 when it hit a 24-yard field goal at 13:38 left in the game.  Then it was Bandits' time to comeback as Wilson hit Bruno on a 23-yard pass and Lenwood Joyner on a 26-yard pass to cut the Beef led to three as both three-point conversions failed.  However, the quick strike Beef offense needed only two plays as Devanaire Conliffe took it 45-yards around the right sideline to put the lead back to nine.  On the ensuing kickoff Fred Bruno returned it 48-yards for a touchdown and Wilson converted the three-point conversion and we were tied at 45. Omaha was able to move the ball from its own 15 to the Bandits 11 to set up the winning field goal. 

Armstrong had another strong game as he added two touchdowns and 52 yards of rushing to his two touchdowns and 108 yards of passing.  Sloan caught four passes for 63 yards and a touchdown.  Sioux City’s Fred Bruno led all receivers with 65 yards and two touchdowns on three catches. 

The Beef defense was able to pressure the Bandits offense most of the night as they recorded two sacks (Hunt and Black), and Tamar Heart had an interception. Aaron Jackson led all players with seven tackles. The Bandits ran more offensive plays than the Beef, but those six plays resulted in sixty less yards of offense. 

Omaha and Sioux City will meet again May 27th for the 50th time to close out the regular season.  Omaha plays host to the winless Topeka Tropics on May 13th at Liberty First Credit Union as they try to lock up the number one seed for the playoffs as they have the head-to-head tiebreaker by way of beating the Mustangs 52-29 on April 8th. 

OTHER NOTES: Omaha has a one game lead over Gillette (7-1) with two games remaining. The Mustangs are at Billings next week and then wrap up the regular season at home vs Salina. Salina is in third place with a 6-2 record. Fourth place Sioux City has a bye week before a matchup at Salina and closes out the regular season at Omaha. The top 6 teams make the playoffs with the top two teams receiving first round byes. Billings stands at 4-4, SW Kansas at 2-6 and Topeka and Rapid City are 0-8. 

2023 Omaha Beef Schedule (8-0)