An article from The Salt Lake Tribune
The Daily Herald
OREM - The Professional Indoor Football League is officially only two weeks old, and the Utah Catzz have already made some mortal enemies.
Utah ran it's record to 2-0 by pounding the Texas Bullets 57-24 Friday night in the McKay Center as former BYU quarterback Paul Shoemaker and former Utah wide receiver Greg Hooks connected on three first-half touchdown passes.
There was plenty of bad blood on the field between the two teams. Nearly 20 penalties were called, words were exchanged between every play, and post-game comments nearly resulted in a rumble outside the locker rooms.
"They were mouthing off a lot early," Hooks said. "They made a couple of phone calls early in the week, telling us we weren't that good. That really motivated us. Right from the beginning of the game they were talking."
"They never even sent us a tape," Utah coach Gordon Hudson said. "I've sent out two real quality tapes. Minnesota sent us one so dark we couldn't see it and Texas never did send us a tape."
Welcome to the PIFL.
It's a league Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones would love - Wayne Stigler is not only the owner of the Texas Bullets, he's also the coach - and the 1,500 fans seemed to like it too.
"The people at the game had a pretty good show," Hudson said.
Shoemaker threw for 193 yards (123 to Hooks) and the Utah defense, led by Junior Tagaloa and Levine Tupe, stymied and overpowered the Texas offense.
Texas took an early 6-0 lead, but Utah came back to score on five of its next six posessions. Just before halftime, Utah's Harold Ragin picked off a Texas pass with 26 seconds left. On the very next play, Shoemaker tossed a 19-yard strike to Hooks and Utah led 41-14 at the half.
Shoemaker sat out most the second half, and backup quarterback Joe Borich hit Terrance Keehan with a 17-yard touchdown pass for 50-17 lead entering the fourth period.
Linebacker Levine Tupe put the final Utah points on the board by picking up a Texas fumble and rumbling 42 yards for a touchdown.
Kicker Pat Beach stepped in for the injured Bill Noble and converted 6-of-7 extra points and 3-of-4 field goals for 15 points.
Utah lost mammoth tackle Will Knight (6-8 360) for the season when he tore his ACL and his MCL late in the first half.
The Catzz travel to Colorado for their next game.
Texas 14 0 3 7 24 Utah 21 20 9 7 57
TX - McCormick 4 pass from Saldana (kick failed)
UT - Hooks 48 pass from Shoemaker (Beach kick)
UT - Black 4 run (Beach kick)
TX - Warren 33 pass from Saldana (Saldana pass to Henderson)
UT - Hooks 35 pass from Shoemaker (Beach kick)
UT - Black 3 run (Beach kick)
UT - Beach 37 FG
UT - Beach 46 FG
UT - Hooks 19 pass from Shoemaker (Beach kick)
UT - Beach 43 FG
TX - Schaefer 55 FG
UT - Keehan 17 pass from Borich (kick failed)
UT - Lupe 42 fumble return (Beach kick)
TX - McCormick 8 pass from Saldana (Schaefer kick)
Texas 14 0 3 7 24
Utah 21 20 9 7 57
First Quarter
Tex- Lee McCormick 40 yd pass from Marc Saldana, PAT failed 0-6
Utah- Greg Hooks 13 yd pass from Paul Shoemaker, Doug Beach PAT 7-6
Utah- Derek Black 4 yd run, Beach PAT 14-6
Tex- Jackie Warren 40 yd pass from Saldana,
Ed Henderson from Saldana 14-14
Utah- Hooks 40 yd pass from Shoemaker, Beach PAT 21-14
Second Quarter
Utah- Black 4 yd run, Beach PAT 28-14
Utah- Beach 34 yd Field Goal 31-14
Utah- Beach 46 yd Field Goal 34-14
Utah- Hooks 19 yd pass from Shoemaker, Beach PAT 41-14
Third Quarter
Utah- Beach 40 yd Field Goal 44-14
Tex- Rolf Schaefer 55 yd Field Goal 44-17
Utah- Terrance Keehan 21 yd pass from Joe Borich, PAT failed 50-17
Fourth Quarter
Utah- Levine Tupe 46 yd fumble return, Beach PAT 57-17
Tex- McCormick 14 yd pass from Saldana, Schaefer PAT 57-24
Team Stats Utah Texas
First Downs 16 13
Rushing 11 9
Passing 1 1
Penalty 3 2
Rushing Attempts 11 15
Yards Rushing 71 35
Passing Yards 210 191
Passes Attempted 24 41
Passes Completed 12 19
Had Intercepted 0 1
Total Offensive Plays 66 82
Total net Yards 265 207
Fumbles: Number-Lost 2-1 3-1
Penalties: Number-Lost 6-55 9-69
Kickoff Returns: No.-Yards 4-60 8-102
Possession Time
3rd Down Conversions 2-8 4-17
4th Down Conversions 0-0 2-5
Sacks by: Number-Yards
Interception Returns: 1-9 0-0
Fumble Returns: 1-37 1-0
Individual Stats
Rushing-U-Borich 2-26, Shoemaker 1-13, Black 5-18-2, Tagaloa 1-0, Hooks 2-10;
Tex-Ed Henderson 2-(-10),Bobby Craig 2-(-1), Butch Hadnot 11-26,
Saldana 3-8, McCormick 1-0
Passing-U-Shoemaker 10-18-193-3-0, Borich 2-6-17-1-0;
Tex-Saldana 19-40-191-3-1, Brent Alford 0-1-0-0-0
Pass Receiving-U-Hooks 5-123-3, Keehan 4-76-1, Tagaloa 2-15, Mike Hudson 1-(-4);
Tex-McCormick 9-69-2, E. Henderson 4-49, Hadnot 3-25, Jackie Warren 2-42-1, #15 1-6
Field Goals-U-Beach 3-4 (made 40,46,34 missed 51);
Tex-Schaefer 1-4 (made 55 missed 57,48,48)
Kickoff Returns-U-Hooks 3-34, Tagaloa 1-26; Tex- 8-102
Interceptions-Ragin 1-9
Attendance 2517
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