Indoor Football League: Crucial mistakes put Roughnecks on verge of losing season

There has been no margin for error.

Not for the Odessa Roughnecks. Not for the last couple of weeks.

The Roughnecks keep finding ways to lose. A trio of second-half turnovers caused Odessa's 60-50 loss to Colorado on Saturday night.

Roughnecks quarterback Dennis Gile was at the center of all three plays.

"We didn't come out and execute, and that starts with me," Gile said. "I played like crap. Can't win if the quarterback doesn't play good."

Odessa (2-7) held a slim 28-26 lead heading into halftime.

The Roughnecks needed a touchdown to start the second half.

But Gile tossed his second interception of the game instead, a pick Colorado's Courtney Miller returned 19 yards to set up a 4-yard touchdown pass from Ice quarterback Justin Holland to Eugene Reed.

Gile tossed another pick on the Roughnecks' ensuing drive that Eric Brown returned 44 yards to the Odessa 3-yard line.

"He started off so good in the beginning," Roughnecks head coach Chris Williams said. "We didn't take advantage of opportunities in the second half."

Those two picks erased a pair of inspired first-half performances by defensive tackles Ahmad Childress and Akeem Rettig, who have been forced to play extended minutes because of injuries.

Two scoring runs by Reed, who torched the Roughnecks for 89 yards rushing, 34 yards receiving and five total touchdowns, gave Colorado (4-6) a 13-7 lead after the first quarter.

Right before the quarter ended, Childress recovered a Holland fumble deep in Roughnecks territory.

Two plays later Gile tossed a 31-yard touchdown pass to Eric Taylor.

Rettig ended Colorado's next drive by slapping a fumble out of Holland's hands to set up a 1-yard plunge by Gile that gave the Roughnecks a 21-13 lead.

"We were just getting after it," Rettig said. "It's been a lot of wear and tear on us, but we have to push through it."

Holland sandwiched two touchdown passes to George Hill around a 3-yard touchdown run by Hogan in the final four minutes of the quarter, but Odessa carried a 28-26 lead into halftime.

Rettig recovered another fumble in the second half.

But another mistake on offense ended Odessa's chances.

Trailing 47-35 early in the fourth quarter, a bad snap flew past Gile into the end zone. Rather than fall on the ball, Gile tried to tap the ball out of bounds.

"I have a hurt shoulder, so I didn't want to dive on it and have him land on me," Gile said. "I pushed it to the sideline, but I don't know what the rule is."

Losing to Colorado has the Roughnecks on the verge of the first losing season in their history.

One more loss seals Odessa's fate.

"At 2-7, our chances of making the playoffs are slim to none," Gile said.

Any margin for error is gone.

>> Ice 60, Roughnecks 50

Saturday

At Ector County Coliseum

Colorado                                13   13   14  20   - 60

Odessa                                  7   21     7   15   - 50

First Quarter

Colorado- Eugene Reed 1 run (Rocky Stevens kick), 12:26.

Odessa- DeWayne Hogan 8 run (Zeke Arevalo kick), 8:16.

Colorado- Reed 11 run (kick failed), 7:38.

Second Quarter

Odessa- Eric Taylor 31 pass from Dennis Gile (Arevalo kick), 14:52.

Odessa- Gile 1 run (Arevalo kick), 7:37.

Colorado- George Hill 4 pass from Justin Holland (Stevens kick), 4:06.

Odessa- Hogan 3 run (Arevalo kick), 1:25.

Colorado- Hill 10 pass from Holland (kick failed), 0:25.

Third Quarter

Colorado- Reed 4 pass from Holland (Hill pass from Holland), 8:55.

Colorado- Reed 3 run (kick failed), 5:07.

Odessa- Torrey Day 17 pass from Gile (Arevalo kick), 3:36.

Fourth Quarter

Colorado- Justin Gallas 27 pass from Holland (Stevens kick), 6:06.

Colorado- Ryan Palmer 0 fumble recovery (Stevens kick), 5:15.

Odessa- Jimmy Conner 14 pass from Gile (Arevalo kick), 4:25.

Colorado- Reed 2 run (pass failed), 1:28.

Odessa- Hogan 3 run (Conner pass from Gile), 0:16.

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TEAM STATISTICS

                         Colorado              Odessa

First downs          20                           21

Total yards            267                       300

Rushes-yards     22-89                     15-57

Passing                178                         243

Comp-Att-Int     16-20-0                      21-36-3

Kickoff returns      7-154                      8-163

Fumbles-Lost         3-3                       1-1

Penalties-yarrds      8-43                    10-59

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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

Colorado

Eugene Reed 20-89, Miles Scheer 2-0.

Odessa

DeWayne Hogan 10-40, Dennis Gile, 3-16, Keith Turner 2-1.

PASSING

Colorado

Justin Holland 16-20-0-180.

Odessa

Dennis Gile 21-36-3-259.

RECEIVING

Colorado

Josh Gibson 6-82, Justin Gallas 3-40, Eugene Reed 3-34, Joe Sanders 2-20, George Hill 2-14.

Odessa

Jimmy Conner 14-155, Torrey Day 4-61, Eric Taylor 3-43.

INTERCEPTIONS

Colorado

Courtney Miller 2-19, Eric Brown 1-44.

Odessa

None.