News: Beef beat Horsemen as Armstrong rushes for five touchdowns

The Omaha Beef looked a little slow after a 21-day break as the visiting Idaho Horsemen took the opening drive in for a touchdown and then Tommy Armstrong threw an interception on the Beef’s first possession. That was enough as Ponce Deleon stopped the Horsemen’s next drive with an interception in the endzone and the Beef went on to score the next 28 points on to a 63-14 win at Liberty First Credit Union Arena Friday night. Armstrong ran for five touchdowns and threw one and the Beef scored 32 points off turnovers as they extended their winning streak to 15 games.

The Horsemen scored first on a four yards pass from Timonthy “James” Oates to Kyler Henson at the 8:30 of the first quarter. On the first play after the kickoff, Armstrong was picked off by Rashad Flanders. Idaho moved the ball back down the field and had a first and goal from the Beef two yardline before Ponce Deleon picked off Oates. Omaha drove down the field and on the first play of the second quarter, Armstrong scrambled for a 20-yard touchdown run and Ryan Hibbets PAT kick the Beef and their first lead of the game. On the next Idaho drive they faced a fourth down deep in their side of the field and tried a 60-yard FG from Oates that was blocked for safety. Jordan Barton capped a two-play drive with a four-yard run and the Beef lead grew to nine points. The Omaha defense forced a turnover on downs and this time Jeff Mack’s 40-yard run on the second play of the drive increased the lead to 16 points. The Beef defense picked off Oates again this time by Chris Perry, his 18^th career interception of his Beef career, with 11 seconds left in the 2^nd quarter. Armstrong hit Korrey Koehlmoos with a 20 yards strike and the Beef took a time out with five seconds left. A great RPO faked out the defense and Armstrong walked in for his second touchdown of the quarter and Omaha went into halftime with a 28-6 lead.

Idaho started the second half like the first and scored on their first possession of the half as Oates hit Kyler Henson from 12 yards and Rashad Flanders added the two-point extra point rush. From there it was all Beef as they went on a 35-0 run as Armstrong and Cameron Hunt put on a show. It started with an Armstrong 3-yard touchdown run with 2:38 left in the third quarter. Hunt stripped and recovered the ball from Jaquan Blackwell and Armstrong finished the Beef drive with a 2-yard touchdown. On the next possession Hunt intercepted Oates and one play later, Armstrong hit Troy Evans Jr with a 26-yard touchdown pass. Then after a turnover on downs Jeff Mack scored from one yard out to make it 55-14 with 3:43 to play. Ryan Hibbets then scored the first deuce in Beef history as his kickoff sailed through the goal post to add two points to the Beef lead. The Horsemen put together a strong drive after that, but Hunt stripped sack Oates and the Beef put one more touchdown on the board as Armstrong score his fifth rushing touchdown from one yard out as time expired.

Armstrong finished the game with 74 yards on 10 carries to increase his season total to 210 yards on 29 carries and 11 touchdowns. He also went 9 for 14 passing for 111 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Jeff Mack added 64 yards on 10 carries with two touchdowns. Mack was also the leading receiver with 3 receptions for 18 yards. Cameron Hunt made nine tackles with one sack, two tackle for loss, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, one interception and one quarterback hurry. Terrance Jackson Jr finished with six tackles and two pass breakups. Rodell Rahmaan and Juleon Harrison added sacks for Omaha.

Oates went 14 of 29 for 130 yards with three interceptions and two touchdowns before he was pulled from the game in the fourth quarter. Taeson Hardin led the Horsemen with nine tackles and Sam Moala and Rashard Budd combined for the lone sack of Armstrong.

After a bye week the Beef will host the Oklahoma Flying Aces on May 4th.

OTHER NOTES:

Beef now has a 15-game winning streak. 

No coaches show this week as the Beef have a bye next week.

2024 Omaha Beef Schedule (0-0)

Beef All-Time records vs. (As of 4/20/24)