Sioux Falls handles Empire in matchup of league's top two teams
SPOKANE — In a matchup of Indoor Football League frontrunners, it was the old dogs that taught the new pups some tricks on Saturday night at the Spokane Arena.
Rolanden Finch scored four touchdowns on the ground, finishing the game with 63 rushing yards as the Sioux Falls Storm — winners of the last five IFL championships — beat the Spokane Empire 59-35.
Spokane turned the ball over five times in the game, four on interceptions thrown by quarterback Charles Dowdell, with three coming in the first half.
Spokane, in its first year since dropping from the Arena Football League after the 2015 season, cut the deficit to 49-35 with 7:26 remaining, but was unable to get another point as Sioux Falls closed out the win on a 41-yard interception return for a touchdown by Elijah Fields with 3:12 remaining.
Sioux Falls (15-1) concluded the regular season on Saturday. The Storm has already locked up home field advantage in the United Conference playoffs.
Spokane (12-3) visits Billings to finish the regular season next Saturday. The Empire clinched home field in the Intense Conference and will host the Billings/Nebraska winner on July 17 in the conference championship game.
Samuel Charles had nine catches for 82 yards in the loss for Spokane, which lost at Sioux Falls 63-50 on May 14.
Sioux Falls 7 17 12 23 — 59
Spokane 6 15 8 6 — 35
First quarter
Spo — Josh Ferguson 15 run (kick failed), 13:08
SF — Rolandan Finch 1 run (Justin Syrovatka kick), :18
Second quarter
Spo — Diondre Borel 1 pass from Charles Dowdell (Carl Sims run), 11:41
SF — Finch 16 run (Syrovakta kick), 6:09
SF — Lorenzo Brown 6 run (Syrovakta kick), 3:43
Spo — Charles Sims 12 pass from Dowdell (Pat Clarke kick), 1:27
SF — FG, Syrovatka, 30, :00.
Third quarter
SF — Finch 2 run (kick failed), 11:23
SF — Holley 45 pass from Brown (Syrovatka kick), 6:45
Spo — Justin Helwege 12 pass from Dowdell (Borel pass from Dowdell), 2:39
Fourth quarter
SF — Brown 8 run (kick failed), 14:29
SF — Finch 18 run (kick failed), 10:30
Spo — Samuel Charles 4 pass from Dowdell (kick failed), 7:26
SF — FG, Syrovatka, 22, 4:28
SF — Elijah Fields 41 interception return (Syrovatka kick), 3:12
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — SF, Finch 7-63, Brown 11-30, Holley 1-2, Hanna 2-(-3). Spo, Dowdell 6-33, Ferguson 3-13, Borel 5-12.
PASSING — SF, Brown, 10-23-1-135, Hanna, 0-0-0-0. Spo, Dowdell, 22-34-4-166, Aiken, 0-2-1-0.
RECEIVING — SF, Williams 4-47, Holley 3-67, Finch 2-14, Beaurem 1-7. Spo, Charles 9-82, Helwege 5-48, Sims 3-14, Borel 3-9, Ferguson 2-13.