WEST VALLEY CITY — The last time the Utah Warriors and Omaha Beef took the field, a Pacific Conference championship — which Utah won — was on the line. The stakes were not as high on Saturday night at the E Center, nor was the result, as the Beef stymied the Warrior offense in a 27-17 win.
Despite being held scoreless in the second half, Warrior head coach Lee Leslie felt that his defense helped keep the team in the game.
"The defense played as good as they've ever played with Utah, and if we have even an average game offensively, we blow these guys out," said Leslie.
Omaha demonstrated from the start that they commanded the respect of the Warriors. A 46-yard opening kickoff return by Steven Lovell gave the Beef tremendous field position and Kevin Brown scored three plays later from three yards out to give the Beef an early 7-0 lead.
The fifth ranked scoring defense in the NIFL then went to work and held Utah in check throughout.
A week after scoring 77 points, the Warrior offense struggled to get anything going in the first quarter, and could only muster an 18-yard Pete Garces field goal to trail 10-3.
In the second, the Warriors showed signs that they would turn things around. One play after stopping Omaha on three consecutive plays inside the 10-yard line, Warrior quarterback Doug Smith hit Mike Riggell across the middle on a 40-yard scoring strike to even the score at 10-10.
Two rushing touchdowns gave the Beef a 24-10 lead with 1:11 to play in the first half before Utah finally managed another offensive score. Smith completed two passes of six and 10 yards, and scrambled out of the pocket two plays later for a 9-yard touchdown run to make the score 24-17 at the half.
A scoreless third quarter was strange enough after last week's offensive barrage, but with a minute to go in the third, Smith was knocked out of the game after suffering a concussion and things began to look bleak.
Shawn Kojima entered the game and immediately tossed two interceptions, sandwiched between a 36-yard field goal by Omaha's Chace Long that provided the final margin of victory, and the Warriors fate was sealed.
The loss leaves Utah with a 5-4 record and an uphill battle for a playoff spot as they hit the road for two games.
"The wild card is a four loss team," said Lee, "but this definitely puts us in rough shape and we're going to have to see what our character is like and see if we can hang in there."
GAME NOTES: With 12.5 tackles, defensive back Jason Potter set a Warriors franchise record for tackles in a game . . . The Warriors return home to the E Center on June 5 to face the Beaumont Drillers.
E-mail: jrahl@desnews.com