Beef/Bandits preview of the 51st meeting

Sioux City Bandits @ Omaha Beef

May 11th – 6:30pm CT

Liberty First Credit Union Arena


The oldest rivalry in indoor football gets renewed this Saturday as the Sioux City Bandits travel to Ralston to take on the Omaha Beef. Since 2002 the two teams have met 50 times in the I-29 rivalry with the Beef holding onto a 26-24 lead after they sweep Sioux City in 2023 and have won the last three matchups. The Beef are currently on top of the National Arena League standings at 4-0 while the Bandits are in second at 3-1 with the Carolina Cobras sitting third at 4-2. Kickoff is slated for 6:30pm at Liberty First Credit Union Arena for Heros Night. Activities start at 4:30pm as the Omaha Police and Fire Departments will be there alongside the Nebraska State Patrol.

The game features six players in the top ten for rushing stats in the NAL. Beef quarterback Tommy Armstrong is averaging 53.2 yards per game (3rd in NAL) while Jeff Mack sits 4th at 49.0 ypg and Tabyus Taylor is 7th with 35.5 ypg. The Bandits counter with Andrew Prohaska who is 5th with 42.0 ypg, Joshua Hollins is 8th with 29.3 ypg, and Fred Bruno is 9th with 28.5 ypg. Omaha leads the NAL in rushing, averaging 127.8 ypg while the Bandits are seconds at 110.2 ypg. These two teams also boast the two best run defenses as Omaha gives up 56.8 ypg while Sioux City allows 78.5 ypg. While the two offense are the top two in scoring, Omaha boosts a big advantage on defense as they rank number one scoring defense (31.2 ppg), second in total defense (196.8 ypg), first in sacks (12), and tied for second in interceptions (8). Sioux City’s defense is last in scoring defense (49.2 ppg) and total defense (295.5 ypg).

Armstrong is the top rank quarterback in efficiency at 112.3 going 30 for 55 for 432 yards with 9 TD’s and 1 interception. He is the leading scorer for the NAL at 17.0 ppg and is fourth in total offense averaging 161.2 ypg. The last two games Jeff Mack has taken over for Tabyus Taylor in the backfield and has put up good numbers. In three games, Mack has rushed for 147 yards on 29 carries and is eighth in total offense averaging 49.0 ypg. While the Beef are heavy on the run, the receiver core has big play potential. Rookie Korrell Koehlmoos is in 7th in receiving yards per game averaging 42.0 ypg while catching 9 balls for 168 yards and four touchdowns. Troy Evans Jr has played the last two games and has caught 6 passes for 101 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Ponce Deleon is leading the Beef defense averaging 7.2 tackles per game, making 29 tackles in four games. Rodell Rahmaan (14 tackles), Rudy Ngougni (17 tackles) each have three sacks while four other have at least one sack. Ngougni was named Defensive Player of the Week for his part in the 42-36 win over Oklahoma Flying Aces. Ngougni had two sacks as part of his six-tackle night in the win. Trey Dudley-Giles, Chris Perry, and Terrance Jackson each made two interceptions in 2024. The pressure from the front 3 has helped the Beef to have the best turnover margin in the NAL with a plus 9 in their four games.

Sioux City’s quarterback Joshua Hollins has thrown only 35 passes this season. In three games Hollins is 18 of 35 for 167 yards and six touchdowns with throwing one interception. The Bandits, who lead the NAL in time of possession, have run the ball 108 times while throwing it only 85. Braden Meints, a true iron-man as a running back, linebacker, and kicker for the Bandits, leads Sioux City defense. Meints is the leading tackler with 21 tackles in three games with 2 sacks, has rushed for 16 yards on five attempts, and has made 7 of 12 extra-point kicks, 1 field goal, and 1 deuce.


OTHER NOTES: 

The 2024 Omaha Beef - T4 Academy football camp is scheduled for June 7th from 6:00pm-8:00pm. Scan the QR code to register for this fun and entertaining activity. The registration comes with a camp T-shirt, 2 hours of fun coaching and player instructions, a pizza party immediately afterwards and a ticket to the Omaha Beef football game the following day. Registration space is limited, so do not wait and we will see you on June 7th!!!!

2024 Hall of Fame Nominations are officially open to our fans and supporters.... Please submit all nominations to ricky@beeffootball.com by May 1st for the enshrinement ceremony to take place on our June 8th game. Players, Coaches, Support Staff, Fans...all will be considered as it is YOU that make the Omaha Beef Family so special!!!

Tickets are on sale starting at just $23.00, you can buy them by visiting the arena box office or online at Omaha Beef Football | Liberty First Credit Union Arena

The Fareway Butcher Block Season Ticket package – Sections 107 or 108, Free Beef butcher jacket, hat, and a chance to win Fareway gift cards at every home game.

The coaches show will be every Monday at Phoenix 120 Food & Spirit starting at 6pm.

Hurrdat Sports Bar & Grill in La Vista is your official watch party destination this season! Come join us to cheer on the Beef. The watch party hosted by Wired Axcess PodcastDJ K DuB Omaha and our special build your own burger! Grab your spot here: https://tinyurl.com/2wkamfxp You have the chance to win some great prizes.

Any questions call the Beef office at 402.346.2333.

Erv Strohbeen is 17-10 vs Omaha. Omaha is 4-8 vs SC in Ralston and 12-11 in Sioux City. Omaha is 4-0 vs SC in the Playoffs.

 

2024 Omaha Beef Schedule (4-0)

 

 

 


Sioux City

Omaha

March 24, 2pm CT

@ Carolina Cobras

W 54-43

Avg Pts Scored/G

49.8 (2nd)

51.0 (1st)

March 30, 6:30pm CT

Vs Colorado Spartans

W 45-32

Avg Pts Allow/G

49.2 (6th)

31.2 (1st)

April 20, 7pm CT

Vs Idaho Horsemen

W 63-14

Total Offense/G

198.0 (4th)

232.8 (2nd)

May 4, 6:30pm CT

Vs Oklahoma Flying Aces

W 42-36

Total Defense/G

295.5 (6th)

196.8 (2nd)

May 11, 6:30pm CT

Vs Sioux City Bandits


Turnover Margin

-4 (4th)

+9 (1st)

May 18, 7:10pm CT

@ Sioux City Bandits





May 25, 7:05pm CT



Home Record

3-0

3-0

June 1, 8pm CT

@Colorado Spartans


Road Record

0-1

1-0

June 8, 6:30pm CT 

Vs Carolina Cobras


All-time Record

26-24 Omaha

 

 


Last Meeting

5/27/23, 44-15 Omaha in Ralston

 

 



Beef have won three in a row

 

 



NAL games only for team rank


Projected Starters


Omaha Beef

 

Oklahoma Flying Aces

 

QB

#10 Tommy Armstrong

30/55 passing 432 yds, 9 TD, 1 Int

32-213 yds rushing, 11 TD

#18 Joshua Hollins

18/35 passing 167 yds, 6 TD, 1 Int

22-88 yds rushing 6 TD

RB

#5 Jeff Mack

29-147 rushing 4 TD; 4-23 rec

# 20 Andrew Prohaska

46-168 rushing 4 TD, 10-77 rec 1 TD

WR

#13 Korrell Koehlmoos

9 rec 168 yds 4 TD

# 2 Fred Bruno

8 rec 61 yds 2 TD, 16-116 yds rushing 2 TD

WR

#18 Jordon Barton

8 rec 105 yds 2 TD, 5-20 yds rush 1 TD

#14 Brandon Sheperd

4 rec 56 yds, 1-7 yds rushing

WR

#8 Troy Evans Jr

6 rec 101 yds 4 TD, 4-29 yds rush

#4 Sammie Epps 

4 rec 28 yds,

OL

#50 Olu’kayode Akinmoladun


#55 Omar Roberts


OL

#68 Matthew Allred

OL has given up 2 sack on season

#96 Steven Fluker

OL has given up 7 sack on season

OL

#92 Nathan Roehr


#70 Sterling Clark


 



 


DL

#1 Rudy Ngougni

 17 tackles, 3 sack, 3 TFL, safety

#26 Devin Groenhagen

12 tackles, .5 sack, 5.5 TFL

DL

#16 Dave Pettway

13 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 2.5 TFL, 1 FR, 2 QBH

# 11 Randall Blash

4 tackles, 1 QBH

DL

#15 Rodell Rahmaan

14 tackles, 3 sacks, 4 TFL, 2 FF, safety

#12 Asi Tupua

12 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 2.5 TFL, 1 PB

LB

#7 Cameron Hunt

11 tackles, 1 sack, 4 TFL, 2 FF, 1 FR, 1 INT, 1 PB, 4 QBH

# 10 Braden Meints

21 tackles, 2 sacks, 2.5 TFL, 1 BLK, 1 Safety

DB

#21 Trey Dudley-Giles

11 tackles, 2 INT, 1 TFL, 1 PB

#1 Xavier Spann

10 tackles, 1 INT, 1 PB

DB

#3 Chris Perry

12 tackles, 1 TFL, 2 INT, 2 PB

#5 Carlton Watkins

14 tackles, 1 FF, 1 PB

DB

#0 Ponce Deleon

29 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 FF, 1 INT

#0 Justin Gilbert

9 tackles

DB

#2 Terrance Jackson Jr

20 tackles, 1 TFL, 2 INT, 2 PB

#23 Sherman Gilbert

11 tackles,1 INT,1 FR

 

 


 


K

#35 Ryan Hibbets

9-18 PAT, 0-1 FG, 1 Deuce

#10 Braden Meints

7-12 PAT, 1-3 FG (28 long) 1 deuce


NAL Player of the Week Awards-

Tommy Armstrong- (Offensive) Week 2, Week 6

Dylan Pettway – (Defensive) Week 2

Camron Hunt II (Defensive) Week 6

Rudy Ngougni – (Defensive) Week 8

Web information

Livestream – youtube.com/@NationalArenaLeague/streams

Website – beeffootball.com

Facebook- facebook.com/TheOmahaBeef

Beef All-Time records vs. (As of 3/15/24)

 

Overall record

Regular Season

Post-Season

Home

Away

Sioux City Bandits

26-24

22-24

4-0

14-11

12-13

Oklahoma Fly Aces

4-0

4-0

0-0

3-0

1-0

Carolina Cobras

1-0

1-0

0-0

0-0

1-0

Colorado Spartans

1-0

1-0

0-0

1-0

0-0

Idaho Horsemen

1-0

1-0

0-0

1-0

0-0

 

Beef Championships-

CIF Champions Bowl VI (2021) and VIII (2023)

vs Sioux City Bandits (26-24)

 

Date

Opponent

 

Score

 

Attend

 

Site

Notes

*

5/31/2002

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

W

54-49


4579


Omaha, Nebraska


*

6/22/2002

at Sioux City Bandits

L

30-33


2675


Sioux City, IA


*

6/14/2003

at Sioux City Bandits

L

34-37


2623


Sioux City, IA


*

6/28/2003

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

W

58-38


5573


Omaha, Nebraska


*

4/3/2004

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

W

38-26


3393


Omaha, Nebraska


*

5/22/2004

at Sioux City Bandits

L

30-43


3510


Sioux City, IA


#p

7/10/2004

#5 SIOUX CITY BANDITS

W

46-40


3105


Omaha, Nebraska


*

4/9/2005

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

L

51-54


4565


Omaha


*

5/14/2005

at Sioux City Bandits

W

52-42


4175


Sioux City, IA


*

7/9/2005

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

L

41-47


6251


Omaha


*

4/1/2006

at Sioux City Bandits

W

38-35


5219


Sioux City, IA


*

4/22/2006

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

L

27-31


4192


Omaha, Nebraska


*

7/2/2006

at Sioux City Bandits

W

32-30


3814


Sioux City, IA


*

3/24/2007

at Sioux City Bandits

W

47-26


4826


Sioux City, IA


*

5/5/2007

at Sioux City Bandits

L

29-36


5176


Sioux City, IA


*

6/16/2007

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

W

30-27


1610


Omaha, NE



5/10/2008

at Sioux City Bandits

W

53-47


4939


Sioux City, IA



6/14/2008

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

W

34-9


6180


Omaha


*

6/5/2009

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

W

31-25


3549


Omaha, Nebraska


*

6/27/2009

at Sioux City Bandits

W

58-43


3870


Sioux City, IA


*

3/13/2010

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

W

53-26


3790


Omaha, NE


*

5/22/2010

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

W

67-48


1800


Omaha, NE


*

6/5/2010

at Sioux City Bandits

W

64-29


4311


Sioux City, IA


*

4/7/2013

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

W

32-26

ot

2245


Ralston, NE


*

4/27/2013

at Sioux City Bandits

W

38-24


4887


Sioux City, IA


*

4/11/2014

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

L

55-61


-


Omaha, NE


*

5/10/2014

at Sioux City Bandits

L

47-61


3956


Sioux City, IA



2/28/2015

at Sioux City Bandits

L

13-62


3848


Sioux City, IA



4/10/2015

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

W

43-41


3179


Ralston, NE



4/24/2015

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

L

37-61


3148


Ralston, NE



5/16/2015

at Sioux City Bandits

L

38-64


3021


Sioux City, IA


*

2/27/2016

at Sioux City Bandits

L

38-43


3562


Sioux City, IA


*

3/25/2016

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

L

33-45


3902


Ralston, NE



2/25/2017

at Sioux City Bandits

L

44-63


3381


Sioux City, IA



3/31/2017

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

L

56-63


3810


Ralston, NE



5/27/2017

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

L

55-61


3277


Ralston Arena


p

6/17/2017

at Sioux City Bandits

W

55-45


2407


Sioux City, IA

Northern Division Championship

*

3/24/2018

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

L

30-33


3803


Ralston, NE


*

5/5/2018

at Sioux City Bandits

L

40-52


2644


Sioux City, IA


*

5/26/2018

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

L

31-77


2764


Ralston, NE



4/6/2019

at Sioux City Bandits

L

32-43


3176


Sioux City, IA



6/22/2019

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

W

60-50


-


Ralston, NE


*

4/17/2021

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

L

22-33


-


Omaha, NE


*

5/2/2021

at Sioux City Bandits

W

41-37


-


Sioux City, IA


*

6/26/2021

at Sioux City Bandits

L

28-35


-


Sioux City, IA


p

7/9/2021

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

W

40-39


-


Omaha, NE



4/30/2022

at Sioux City Bandits

L

49-60


-


Sioux City, IA


p

6/18/2022

at Sioux City Bandits

W

49-45


-


Sioux City, IA


*

5/6/2023

at Sioux City Bandits

W

48-45


2200


Sioux City, IA



5/27/2023

SIOUX CITY BANDITS

W

44-15


-


Ralston, NE



Overall: 26-24
Conference: 17-16
Home: 14-11
Away: 12-13
Neutral: 0-0

 

Promotions for 2024-

March 17th – Green Jerseys Auction for Ronald McDonald House

May 11th – Heros Night

June 8th – Hall of Fame Class of 2024 


Name 

Beef Record for

current rank

Prior Stat

2024

Current total

up next

Jeff Mack

 rushing yds

4

793

147

940

3rd Clinton Childs (2000-03) 1797

Jeff Mack

rushing attempts

5

244

29

273

 4th James Johnson (2004-07) 279

Jeff Mack

rushing TD

8

17

4

21

8th James Johnson (2004-07) 21, Le’Andre Moore (2002-04) 21, 7th Anthony Iannotti 28

Jeff Mack

pass receptions

15

59

4

63

14th Jared Elmore (2014) 66

Jeff Mack

All-purpose

7

1719

304

2023

6th Jonathan Ray (2016-17) 2036, 5th LeAndrew Moore 2234

Jeff Mack

TD Scored

13

20

4

24

12th Jonathan Ray 26, 10th Iannotti/Moore 28

Jeff Mack

kick returns

13th

25

7

32

 12th Allen Burrell 28,

Jeff Mack

kick return yards

12

393

134

527

11th 562 Allen Burrell 562, 10th Lawrence Pullen 689

Tommy Armstrong

rushing yards

9th

384

213

597

8th Josh Floyd Jr (2016) 603, 7th Le'Andre Moore (2002-04) 736

Tommy Armstrong

rushing attempts

13

80

32

112

12th Troy Travis 120, 11th Josh Floyd Jr 129, 10th 134 Jamar Day

Tommy Armstrong

rushing TD

5th

19

11

30

5th DeShawn Jones (2021-22) 30 4th 32 Troy Travis (2000-04) 32

Tommy Armstrong

passing attempts

10

164

55

219

9th Derrick Bernard (2019) 219, 8th Josh Floyd Jr 246

Tommy Armstrong

Passing completions

9

102

30

132

8th Josh Floyd Jr (2016) 134, 7th Chris Cofin 200

Tommy Armstrong

passing yards

8th

1279

432

1711

7th Chris Coffin (2014) 1971

Tommy Armstrong

passing TD

7

32

9

41

 6th Anthony Iannotti (2017-18) 49

Tommy Armstrong

Total offense

8

1663

645

2308

7th John McMenamin 2376

Tommy Armstrong

TD Responsible

6

51

20

71

5th Anthony Iannotti (2017-18) 77

Chris Perry

Kick returns yards

3rd

1685

37

1722

2nd RJ Rollins (2006-13) 1840

Chris Perry

Kick returns

3rd

92

2

94

2nd RJ Rollins (2006-13) 97

Chris Perry

Interceptions

2nd

16

2

18

1st Dontae Jones (2002-04) 20

Chris Perry

Interceptions yards

1

265

47

312


Chris Perry

Interception TD Returns

1st

4

0

4


Chris Perry

Tackles

3rd

225

12

237

2nd Chris Eads (2006-08) 256

Chris Perry

pass defended

3rd

43

4

47

 2nd Brent Hafford (2007-10) 50

Trey Dudley-Giles

kick return yards

15th

442

1

443

13th David Horne (2008-09) 464

Trey Dudley-Giles

kick returns

11th

29

0

29

12th David Horne 27, 11th Allen Burrell 28, 10th Lawrence Pullen (2007) 38

Trey Dudley-Giles

interceptions

3rd

14

2

16

2nd Chris Perry

Trey Dudley-Giles

interception yards

2

232

74

306

2nd to Chris Perry

Trey Dudley-Giles

Tackles

5

221

11

232


Trey Dudley-Giles

pass defended

6th

32

3

35

5th Taylor Hawkins (2019-21,22) 36, 4th Diezeas Calbert (2008-15) 37