LocalSportsJournal.com

The West Michigan Ironmen’s bid to move up in the league standings failed on Saturday night in Omaha, Nebraska.

The Ironmen failed to compete their comeback, falling to the Omaha Beef 30-28 at the Ralston Arena.

The loss ended West Michigan’s winning streak at two games. The Ironmen, now 2-4 on the season, are in a fourth-place tie with Bismarck in the Champions Indoor Football league’s Northern Division.

The top three teams in each division qualify for the playoffs, and the Ironmen are now a game and a half behind Omaha in the race for the last playoff spot.

But they will have several more chances to catch the Beef. The Ironmen have six games remaining in the regular season, including two against Omaha.

The game was tied 7-7 after the first quarter, 14-14 at halftime and 21-21 after three quarters.  The Beef outscored West Michigan by 9-7 in the fourth quarter.

The Beef grabbed a 24-21 lead with a 34-yard field goal by Benny Hanaphy with 10:44 left in the fourth quarter.

Omaha added a touchdown with 50 seconds left to take a 30-21 lead, after recovering a fumble at midfield with under three minutes remaining.

The Ironmen responded with an 18-yard touchdown completion from quarterback Alex Carder to Dontae Ingraham with 28 seconds remaining to cut their deficit to 30-28.

West Michigan attempted an onside kick, but failed to recover the football to gain another possession.

Carder threw for 130 yards for the Ironmen on 17-for-28 passing with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He also rushed for 32 yards on six carries and one score.

Ingraham had 53 receiving yards on five catches, including one touchdown, while Donovan Campbell caught five passes for 40 yards and a touchdown.

The Ironmen’s defense was led by Aaron Doriot with 12 tackles while Rony Nelson added nine, including with two sacks.

Jose Diaz nailed all four of his extra point attempts for West Michigan.