April 23, 2008

Fort Collins, Colo. -The Colorado Ice (2-4) hopes to carry their momentum on the road when they travel to Omaha, Neb. this Saturday to take on the Omaha Beef (5-2) at the Omaha Civic Auditorium for a 7 p.m. CST/6 p.m. MST kickoff.  The teams last met on July 14, 2007, at the Budweiser Events Center with Omaha pulling off a 43-40 win over Colorado.  That was only the third loss at home last season, the previous two to the Sioux Falls Storm.
The Ice defeated the Beef 39-32 at home on April 21, 2007, after previously losing 31-20 in Omaha on March 30, 2007.

Colorado led most of the second half at home on July 14, 2007, and tied it at 40 a piece on a two-yard run by QB Matt Gutierrez with :40 left on the clock.  Omaha took over and advanced the ball 12 yards in four plays before K Ted Retzlaff hit a field goal from 43 yards out at the buzzer to win.

The Ice defense controlled the game last Friday against Sioux City when Colorado recorded a 55-32 victory.  They forced two fumbles, recovered three (one returned for a TD), broke up two passes and picked off QB Chad Kapanui twice.  The offense didn't stall, however, putting up seven on the first play of their first drive on a 23-yard pass from newly returned QB Ryan Clement to WR George Hill.  The subsequent Sioux City drive ended in another Colorado touchdown when DB Travis Garcia picked up a fumble and returned it 41 yards to put the Ice up 14-0 with less than five minutes expired.  The home team would get two field goals from K Deric Yaussi and five touchdowns (four rushing) before the end of the game.

Omaha QB James McNear connected on 21-of-27 passes for 173 yards and two scores in a 47-29 win over Bloomington last week.  He added 21 yards and two touchdowns on the ground for the Beef and earned UIF Player of the Week honors for his performance.  Omaha held the Extreme to just 132 total yards (58 rushing, 74 passing) while putting up 320 (130 rushing, 190 passing) of their own.

Colorado will begin a three-game home stand on May 2, when they host Billings for the second time this season at 7:30 p.m. MT at the Budweiser Events Center.  Wichita and RiverCity come to Colorado on May 10 and 17, for 7 p.m. MT kickoffs.