This wasn’t the last impression Abilene Ruff Riders coach Rodney Blackshear wanted to leave on the home folks — a 56-22 shellacking at the hands of the Amarillo Venom on Saturday in the Riders’ home finale at Taylor County Coliseum.
Never mind that the Riders were without receivers Ivory McCann and Robert Gill. McCann couldn’t play after being ejected from a game the week before, and Gill was at a United Football League tryout.
Still, Blackshear couldn’t fathom such a lopsided loss.
“We didn’t practice like we wanted to win this week,” he said. “I can’t blame it on guys not being here. The bottom line is this guys are professional athletes under contract who need to find the way to make plays.”
The Venom (10-1), who already had nailed down the Lone Star West Division title, went into the game averaging 51.6 points per game — fourth-best in the Indoor Football League — and continued the hot hand on offense. But the defense was superb, forcing two fumbles and amassing seven sacks.
Still, Amarillo coach Josh Lyles saw room for improvement with three regular-season games remaining before the playoffs.
“I was happy with how we played in all three aspects of the game,” he said. “But there is room for improvement. We definitely have our holes. You can’t see it based on the score, but we definitely have things to fix.”
The Riders (2-10), meanwhile, must salvage the season with two road games, beginning Saturday in Corpus Christi.
“Protection was a problem,” Blackshear said of the seven sacks. “That hasn’t been a problem all year. The receivers didn’t make certain plays they have to make. As a coach, I have to put the best team on the field that I can find. When called on to make the plays, they have to make the plays. That didn’t happen tonight.”
Not often enough.
The Riders took the opening kickoff and drove 47 yards on 11 plays. Quarterback Robert Kent capped the drive with a two-yard touchdown run. However, the PAT attempt by Oscar Moreno was blocked, and Tarleton State graduate Ray Gates caught the ball at the goal line and returned it 50 yards for a two-point score.
The Venom needed only four plays to get in the end zone on their first possession. Alex Watson scored from two yards out.
It was all Amarillo from there on out. Julian Reese threw for a pair of touchdown and ran for two more. He completed 7-of-15 passes for 105 yards on the night — five of those passes, including a 19-yard touchdown, were to Ricardo Lenhart for 91 yards. Don’Trell Moore also ran for touchdowns of 10, 38 and 1 yards. He finished with 93 yards on mome carries.
The Riders, down 43-9 going into the fourth quarter, got touchdown passes of 5 and 28 yards from Fred Howze in the final quarter. Both were from Kent, who completed 22-of-38 passes for a season-best 196 yards.
Cory White had 10 catches for 75 yards, and Howze had nine for 76 yards.
The Venom outscored Abilene 58-50 in the first game between the team in Amarillo.
Amarillo 56, Abilene 22
Amarillo 9 13 21 14—56
Abilene 6 3 0 13—22
1st Quarter
ABI — Robert Kent 2 run (kick blocked), 7:37
AMA — Ray Gates 50 blocked PAT return, 7:12
AMA — Alex Watson 2 run (Darren McCaleb kick), 4:19
2nd Quarter
AM — Watson 3 pass from Julian Reese (kick failed), 6:13
AMA — Reese 2 run (McCaleb kick), :49
ABI — Omar Moreno 34 FG, :00
3rd Quarter
AMA — Don’Trell Moore 10 run (McCaleb kick), 14:05
AMA — Reese 1 run (McCaleb kick), 9:37
AMA — Ricardo Lenhart 19 pass from Reese (McCaleb kick), 3:48
4th Quarter
ABI — Fred Howze 5 pass from Kent (Moreno kick), 14:42
AMA — Moore 38 run (McCaleb kick), 14:00
AMA — Moore 1 run (kick failed), 11:01
ABI — Howze 28 pass from Kent (kick failed), 1:26
