Empire come up short against Nebraska

SPOKANE — Spokane wide receiver Bryan Pray caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from Charles Dowdell — his third of the second half — with 14 seconds remaining, but the Empire were unable to recover the onside kick in a 42-36 loss to the Nebraska Danger in an Indoor Football League game at the Spokane Arena on Saturday.

The teams entered the game tied for the Intense Conference lead at 3-0 and Nebraska built a 36-14 lead early in the third quarter on a 2-yard touchdown run by Patrick McCain.

Spokane (4-2, 3-1) opened the scoring on a 7-yard touchdown run by Dowdell, but Nebraska scored the next 20 points to take an early lead.

Dowdell threw for 188 yards, but had two interceptions for Spokane.

McCain finished with 58 total yards passing for Nebraska (4-2, 4-0).

Spokane will host Colorado on April 14.

Nebraska 14 15 7 6 — 42

Spokane 7 7 6 16 — 36

First quarter

Spo — Charles Dowdell 7 run (Craig Peterson kick), 11:13

Neb — Eric Thomas 12 pass from Patrick McCain (Josh Gable kick), 6:45

Neb — Sierra Nikolas 0 fumble recovery (Gable kick), 4:00

Second quarter

Neb — Thomas 2 pass from McCain (run failed), 9:28

Spo — Dowdell 6 run (Peterson kick), 5:43

Neb — Dello Davis 2 pass from McCain (Gable kick), 1:07

Neb — Safety, Nikolas sack in endzone, :05

Third quarter

Neb — McCain 2 run (Gable kick), 9:05

Spo — Bryan Pray 8 pass from Dowdell (pass failed), 5:54

Fourth quarter

Spo — FG Peterson, 25, 11:55

Neb — FG Gable, 18, 9:41

Spo — Pray 2 pass from Dowdell (pass failed), :57

Neb — FG Gable, 23, :41

Spo — Pray 1 pass from Dowdell (Peterson kick), :14

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Neb, McCain 13-27, Brown 6-13, Jackson 1-10, Bernard 5-3. Spo, Dowdell 9-28, Kalohoh 5-23.

PASSING — Neb, McCain, 12-17-1-52, Bernard, 1-2-0-14. Spo, Dowdell, 15-27-2-188.

RECEIVING — Neb, Brown 5-16, Thomas 4-34, McNeal 2-15, Davis 2-1. Spo, Pray 5-54, Brown 5-49, Miller 3-35, Charles 1-32, Kalohoh 1-18.