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There were times when Richard Daniel felt indifferent with his defensive play.

On one hand, the Sioux City Bandits’ defensive back returned a fumble recovery 29 yards for a first-quarter touchdown. A quarter later, Andre Jones’ end zone interception was denied because of Daniel’s offside penalty, which two plays later, led to a 23-yard touchdown catch for Amarillo Venom wide receiver Julian Walker.

On a night where all-time tackle leader Spetlar Tonga’s No. 51 was retired, Sioux City’s secondary was also guilty of pass interference penalties on Amarillo’s two first-quarter touchdowns. However, the defense held the Venom without a touchdown on six possessions and the Bandits clinched a playoff berth with a 79-58 Champions Indoor Football victory in front of 3,708 fans at the Tyson Events Center.

“We all played well and it’s a win. We had a few mental mistakes that cost us some big plays, but with more practice, we’ll be focused and ready for the playoffs,” said Daniel, who was part of a defense that recorded two fumble recoveries, an interception and two fourth-quarter safeties.

“That would have been Andre’s second (interception) of the year and I felt bad about it. But we did a good job of holding (Amarillo). They have an awesome quarterback. We did all right holding them off. It was fun.”

Winning quarterback Charles Dowdell guided a quick-striking offense that has averaged 65.6 points in six straight victories.

Despite a 45:01 to 14:59 disadvantage in possession time, Dowdell fired six touchdown passes for the first-place 8-3 Bandits, three each for Frederick Bruno and Willie Downs. Bruno also scored his fifth kick return touchdown of the season, a 53-yarder in the first quarter for a team that improved their home record to 6-0.

Paced by Marlon Lobban’s 10 tackles, Sioux City’s defense was on the field a lot thanks to Amarillo (6-5), which entered leading the CIF in possession time, an average of 34 minutes and 50 seconds per game.

It took only 41 seconds for Sioux City to react after Walker’s touchdown catch 1-1/2 minutes into the second quarter. Amarillo was charged with illegal defense on John Bentley’s 22-yard catch to the Venom 6. The Bandits naturally declined the penalty and Bentley caught a six-yard touchdown pass for a 28-21 lead.

Amarillo, which had scoring drives of four, nine, 10 and seven plays in the first half, was six plays into a possession that began with 12:34 left in the second quarter. Emilious Davis, a 6-foot-2, 275-pound Bandits’ lineman, sacked quarterback Nate Davis for a six-yard loss on fourth down and Coach Erv Strohbeen’s squad responded with a five-play, 29-yard scoring drive that ended with Bruno’s 10-yard scoring catch for a 35-21 lead.

From there, Sioux City never lost its double-digit lead, thanks in part to the defense and the continued quick-striking offense. Third-quarter action saw Marcus Miles recover a fumble while Rahn Franklin had his ninth interception of the season. The Bandits’ pass rush, paced by Miles, Davis and James Patterson, recorded two fourth-quarter safeties.

“It was a high-scoring game, but the defense definitely came to play,” said Strohbeen. “We got the stops when we needed to and put points on the board in the first half that got us that nice lead. Overall, it was a great night for everybody.

“In the first half we had a few mental errors,” he added. “We definitely weren’t going to win (possession time) that battle all night. Some of their drives got extended with penalties, but then the guys took it upon themselves to get out there and play better in the second half.”

Tonga is the Bandits’ career leader in total tackles (701), unassisted tackles (380), assisted tackles (321), tackles for loss (82.5) and fumble recoveries (11). He became the 11th member of the squad’s Ring of Honor.

The Bandits will conclude the regular season this Saturday at Dodge City.

Sioux City 79, Amarillo 58

Amarillo 14 17 7 20 -- 58

Sioux City 21 21 12 25 -- 79

First Quarter

AMA: Undra Hendrix 1 run (Jacob Felton kick) 12:47

SCB: Frederick Bruno 53 kickoff return (Max Martin kick) 12:39

AMA: Nate Davis 2 run (Felton kick) 6:44

SCB: Bruno 14 pass from Charles Dowdell (Martin kick) 6:00

SCB: Richard Daniel 29 fumble recovery return (Martin kick) 5:18

Second Quarter

AMA: Julian Walker 23 pass from Davis (Felton kick) 13:31

SCB: John Bentley 6 run (Martin kick) 12:48

SCB: Bruno 10 pass from Dowdell (Martin kick) 5:55

AMA: Wyreaz Bradley 1 run (Felton kick) 1:27

SCB: Bruno 6 pass from Dowdell (Martin kick) :01

AMA: FG Felton 24 :00

Third Quarter

SCB: Willie Downs 22 pass from Dowdell (kick failed) 14:26

SCB: Downs 31 pass from Dowdell (kick failed) 12:46

AMA: Bradley 6 pass from Davis (Felton kick) 9:00

Fourth Quarter

SCB: Team safety 13:09

SCB: Team safety 11:50

SCB: Drew Prohaska 8 run (Martin kick) 10:41

AMA: Raymond Johnson 7 pass from Davis (Felton kick) 7:13

SCB: Downs 34 pass from Dowdell (Martin kick) 6:35

AMA: Johnson 5 pass from Davis (Felton kick) 2:45

SCB: Damon Mothershead 3 run (Martin kick) 1:52

AMA: Johnson 3 catch from Davis (run failed) 1:03

TEAM STATISTICS

AMA SCB

First downs 25 13

Rushes-yards 22-107 13-37

Passing yards 190 148

Passes 19-34-1 9-13-0

Total plays-yards 58-297 27-185

Fumbles-lost 3-2 1-0

Penalties-yards 13-83 9-53

Possession time 45:01 14:59

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Amarillo – Wyreaz Bradley 12-47, Nate Davis 7-36, Raymond Johnson 1-22, Undra Hendrix 1-1, Tedder Easton 1-1, TEAM 0-0. Sioux City – Drew Prohaska 5-29, John Bentley 1-6, Willie Downs 1-5, Damon Mothershead 3-4, Frederick Bruno 1-(-3), Charles Dowdell 2 (-4).

PASSING: Amarillo – Davis 19-34-1, 207; TEAM 0-0-0, (-17). Sioux City – Dowdell 9-13-0, 151; TEAM 0-0-0 (-3) .

RECEIVING: Amarillo – Percy Turner 7-7, Julian Walker 5-75, Johnson 5-46, Bradley 1-6, Brock Ringo 1-3. Sioux City – Bruno 4-36, Downs 3-87, Bentley 1-22, Mothershead 1-6.

TACKLES

(Solo-assist-totals)

AMARILLO – Dominic Miller 3-0 – 3, Shjuan Richardson 3-0 – 3, Kendrick Causey 2-1 – 3, Royel Johnson III 2-1 – 3, Blake Adams 2-0 – 2, Julian Walker 1-1 -- 2. SIOUX CITY – Marlon Lobban 7-3 – 10, Andre Jones 6-0 – 6, Rahn Franklin 5-1 – 6, Cliff Stokes 4-0 – 4, Damon Mothershead 4-0 -- 4, Jonathan Smith 2-2 – 4, Denzel Adams 3-0 – 3, Richard Daniel 3-0 – 3, Marcus Miles 2-1 – 3, Emilious Davis 1-1 – 2, Anthony Thomas 1-1 – 2, Drew Prohaska 1-1 – 2, Brent Schlote 1-0 -- 1.

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