Indoor football: Hammerheads defeat Roughnecks one more time

The Corpus Christi Hammerheads wanted to prove that their 69-point victory a week ago over the Odessa Roughnecks was not a fluke.

Odessa wanted to prove that it was.

Both teams got what they wanted, though what the Roughnecks really needed was a victory.

After heading into halftime tied, Corpus Christi scored 36 points in the second half and held off Odessa for a 71-60 victory Saturday night at Ector County Coliseum.

Corpus Christi (7-1) defeated Odessa 76-7 in Robstown last week.

Odessa (3-5) has lost three consecutive games. The Roughnecks play host to the Alaska Wild at 7:11 p.m. May 17.

The turnover bug continues to plague the Roughnecks as they gave the ball away seven times, with four interceptions and three fumbles. Corpus Christi's Jason Lee and Wali Mumin each returned an interception for a touchdown. Mumin had three of the four Hammerheads' interceptions.

In the two games between the clubs, Odessa turned the ball over 17 times (12 interceptions, five fumbles), with six of those turnovers resulting in Corpus Christi touchdowns.

Odessa quarterback Dennis Gile threw six touchdowns passes - four to Jimmy Conner and two to Torrey Day - before leaving in the fourth quarter because of an ankle injury. Gile was 17-of-26 for 212 yards and the six scores, with four interceptions.

Backup quarterback Ty Sellers, signed earlier this week, completed 4 of 8 passes for 72 yards and one touchdown. He also scored on a 1-yard run with 18 seconds left in the game.

Conner caught 13 passes for 169 yards and the four touchdowns, Day caught five passes for 64 yards and one score, and Joel Babb had three receptions for 54 yards and one score.

The Hammerheads took a 28-13 lead after one quarter and seemed to have the momentum on their side. But Odessa made a defensive stand on Corpus Christi's first possession of the second quarter, forcing the Hammerheads to try a 56-yard field goal that was short.

That seemed to spark the Roughnecks offense as it scored 22 unanswered points on Day's 23-yard touchdown catch and back-to-back scoring catches by Conner from 32 and 17 yards out for a 35-28 Odessa lead with 3:33 left in the first half.

The Hammerheads, however, used a Justin Hardman 1-yard run with 10 seconds remaining in the second quarter to pull even after 30 minutes.