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Created on Tuesday, 23 June 2015 15:26

Written by Jeff Budlong, Sioux City Journal; Sioux City, Iowa

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In the minutes after capturing the Champions Indoor Football championship, a veteran group of Sioux City Bandits were focusing on what allowed them to navigate a trying season and come out on top.

Neither key injuries nor a 2-3 start to the season was enough to derail a Bandits team that seemed to use adversity to strengthen the bond of a team that finished with an 11-3 record. A 76-61 win over Texas enabled Sioux City to claim its third title in the last five seasons.

"We started a motto after (Sean) Kelly went down because he was the leader of our team, he was the foundation ... that motto was hunt," Lobban said. "Just like lions we wanted to hunt and we figured it out. It was tough at times but the coaches stuck with us and we hunted it out, we figured it out."

Kelly, a defensive lineman who led the team in sacks, suffered a leg injury late in the season. However, he was one of numerous veteran players who played key roles throughout the season and in the title game that allowed Sioux City to walk away victorious.

"It was a great team effort and we fought through it all season from camp on," said running back Johnny Bentley, who said he is retiring from the game. "This is a real life brotherhood, this is real love right here. This is great to come back to this.

"I am glad I came back and went out like this. Last year it wasn't fair but we came back for the redemption."

Sioux City rebounded from a runner-up finish last year to get the win to finish its season this time around.

Bandits head coach Erv Strohbeen felt he had the best team in the league from the start of camp. It was proven as the Sioux City defense came up with two key stops in the second half that saw a two-point lead grow to 16 with just over five minutes to play.

The offense, for its part, scored a touchdown every time it touched the ball in the second half.

"If you would have told me when we were sitting at 2-3 that we would have gone undefeated the rest of the season I probably would have called you crazy," he said. "I saw the amount of work these guys were putting in, but still, to run the table and go undefeated I figured we would drop one.

"We felt like we had the best team the past two years ... and then the way we started this year you start wondering what are we doing wrong here. But the guys buckled down and it makes it that much sweeter."

Much of the talk coming into the title game was about Texas' defense that led the league in points allowed. Strohbeen believed his team used any of that talk as motivation.

"I said that our defense was going to win this game because everyone was talking about our offense and their defense," he said. "Our defense stepped up and it started with those stops in the second half.

"Our offense minus the one fumble against what was supposedly the No. 1 defense, and I never like to talk trash, but all these guys read everything that Texas said all week about how this offense wasn't ready for the defense they were bringing to town."

The Bandits proved more than ready for the challenge. So was the crowd of 3,757 at the Tyson Events Center as it made things hard on Texas. The noise made communication hard and led to several of the 15 penalties thrown on the Revolution.

"This crowd was definitely the difference," Strohbeen said. "It is the greatest crowd I have seen all year. Third down, fourth down they were there when we needed it. The fans should be proud of themselves because they helped us get that championship."

This championship was hard earned by team and fans.

"It has been a long 18 weeks and without these fans here it wouldn't be nothing. This city deserves a title and we brought it back," Lobban said.

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