FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
Steel Valley 7 0 10 19 36
Lincoln 32 13 13 20 78
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST :LIN - Dwayne Harris 84 fumble return (run failed)
STV - McGhee 21 pass from Foder (Reinecker kick)
LIN - Benning 5 run (run failed)
LIN - Buckner 23 pass from Christo (Christo run)
LIN - Buckner 5 pass from Christo (run failed)
LIN - Benning 3 run (run failed)
2ND :LIN - Benning 1 run (Hustwik kick)
LIN - Bodaddy 1 run (kick failed)
3RD :STV - Reinecker 20 Feild Goal
LIN - Buckner 22 from Stinson (Hustwik kick)
STV - Howard 4 run (Reinecker kick)
LIN - Bodaddy 4 run (kick failed)
4TH :STV - Vincent 10 pass from Howard (Reinecker kick)
LIN - Bodaddy 13 run (Hustwik kick)
STV - Vincent 2 run (kick failed)
LIN - #24 26 pass from Stinson (Hustwik kick)
STV - Platt 25 pass from Howard (kick failed)
LIN - Stinson 1 run (kick failed)
TEAM STATISTICS
STV LIN
-------- --------
FIRST DOWNS 8 12
TOTAL NET YARDS 259 419
NET YARDS RUSHING 151 325
Rushes 38 40
NET YARDS PASSING 103 94
Completed-attempted 13-21 6-14
Had intercepted 2 0
Kickoffs-returns 4-47 3-71
Interceptions-returns 0-0 2-33
FUMBLES-LOST 5-3 0-0
PLAYER STATISTICS
Steel Valley rushing: Joe Vincent 20-96, Doby Howard 9-25, Curt McGhee 4-16,
Adam Burrell 1-2, Carl Foder 1-(-6)
Lincoln rushing: Charles Bodaddy 21-156, Damon Benning 12-78,
Jamie Stinson 6-13, Monte Christo 1-0
Steel Valley passing: Carl Foder 5-9-2, 45; Doby Howard 7-12-0, 63
Lincoln passing: Monte Christo 4-9-0, 46; Jamie Stinson 2-5-0, 48
Steel Valley receiving: Joe Vincent 6-30, Curt McGhee 2-32, Dejoeve Platt 2-31,
Donald Ellis 2-20
Lincoln receiving: Frenchy Buckner 3-50, Mike Mills 1-26, Damon Benning 1-15,
Charles Bodaddy 1-3
A: 4,997; T: 0:00.
LINCOLN, NE -- The Lincoln Lightning found a pretty simple formula for the start of the Indoor Football League. "Just beat them to the punch, knock people around and suddenly they don't feel like playing so much," said Lightning head coach Vern Thomsen. "I think if we run at people and hit people with our defense, they get ready to give up pretty qu ick." Steel Valley didn't quit, but the team from Wheeling, W.Va., was knocked out of the game early in Lincoln's 78-36 victory Monday night before a sellout crowd of 4,997 fans at Pershing Auditorium.
The Lightning, 2-0 with a 66-30 opening win over Topeka and the strongfollow-up, may be the best team in the new league of eight-man pro football played on a 50-by-29-yard field surrounded by plywood walls. "I don't know how good we are compared to everybody, but what I see is that our style is pretty good so far," Mike Miano said. Miano, a 6-foot-3, 310-pound defensive lineman slammed Smash quarterback Carl Fodor on the first play of the game. The ball squirted loose and former Husker Dwayne Harris recovered in the end zone to start the scoring parade for Lincoln.
Steel Valley (0-2) answered with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Fodor to Eric McGhee, but that was the last time the Smash was heard from in the first half. Fodor left the game for good with six minutes left in the first quarter and was immediately wrappe d in ice and bandages about his midsection for the rest of the night.
"Tonight, we set the tone and the offense finished them off," Miano said. The Lightning scored at will as Damon Benning scored three first-half touchdowns and rested the remainder of the game. Quarterback Monte Christo threw two touchdown passes to Frenchie Buckner and sat out the last two quarters.
By the end of the first quarter, Lincoln led 32-7 and had just 84 yards of offense. Three turnovers by Steel Valley and a Lightning defense that allowed just 3 yards rushing and 43 passing, and had two interceptions and a pair of fumble recoveries was scoring like a pinball machine gone berserk.
"It's not like college football where the guy lining up across from you wants to smack you in the face," said Lightning offensive lineman Brian Nunns, a former Husker. "Here, in the first two games at least, they are expecting passes on every down and they get kind of passive on the line.
"We come out and smack them first and we run and run and we're controlling the line and the game," he said. Charles Bodady, who finished with 156 yards on 20 carries and scored on touchdowns of 4, 1 and 13 yards, said it was easy to run behind his line. "They get the guys going backwards and we just run," he said.
Actually, the Lightning was prepared to show a lot more offense, said quarterback Christo. "We put a lot of stuff in and didn't have to show it," he said. "We were just the more physical team." Getting the season-opener jitters over a week ago helped, too, said Buckner, who caught three passes -- all for touchdowns.
"They were sitting in zone coverage so we went after them and Monte got the ball to me and anybody he wanted," Buckner said. "We kind of carried the entire game to them from the offense to the defense.
"We just try to score on every possession and let our defense take care of business on the other end. This is getting better all the time." The Lightning scored on all but one possession in the first half and stalled on the first drive of the second half. But the eight before the first-half stall and the five after the second-half stall were finished in the end zone.