The Black Hills Machine had several close wins en route to a 10-4 regular season. The most notable of these close games was a 74-73 win at Billings. There was also one big exception: and 88-48 drubbing of Fargo. On the last weekend of the season, the Machine lost to Casper, 52-46 at home. Strange nough, the team's first playoff game was an immediate rematch. This time, the Machine doubled up the Cavalry, 68-34. The following week, the Machine lost, 56-45 at Topeka. When the IFL was bought out by the AFL, the franchise moved to the NIFL. After initial success, the team fell on hard times, winning very few games. The franchise carried their bad trend to the UIF in 2005. In 2006, the team was sold and moved back to the NIFL as the Rapid City Flying Aces.