The Wyoming Mustangs professional indoor football team won its first regular season game in dominating fashion by beating the Rapid City War Eagles 56-0 Saturday night in the Wyoming Center at Cam-plex.
It was the second straight game the new team sold out, according to the team's Facebook page.
Quarterback Faustino Saucedo led the offensive charge for the Mustangs with four passing touchdowns and one touchdown on the ground. Defensive back Jalen Hicks had two interceptions on the defensive end after having two interceptions in last week's preseason matchup with the Dallas Prime.
"It was cool," Hicks said. "We came in prepared and we just came out here and did what we were supposed to do."
Saucedo was proud of the way the offense ran all night. He was also glad to have reached the endzone five different times.
"The crowd better get used to it," Saucedo said about seeing him in the endzone. "It's going to happen plenty more times."
Game recap
The Mustangs started the game with the ball but the team's first drive eventually stalled as Wyoming turned it over on downs. It would be one of the rare occurrences of the night where the Mustangs had a drive not come away with points.
After Rapid City took over, the Mustangs got the ball right back with an interception by Mike Jenkins to set the offense up at the War Eagles' 2-yard line. There, Saucedo threw his first touchdown pass to give the Mustangs the early 7-0 lead with five minutes left in the first quarter.
Rapid City turned the ball over on downs on its next offensive drive and Saucedo capitalized with another 20-yard touchdown pass to make the lead 14-0 early in the second quarter. Wyoming's defense continued to impress by forcing another turnover on downs to give the Mustangs the ball right back.
David Perkins subbed in at quarterback for the next offensive drive and immediately threw a 29-yard touchdown strike to Nick Tomlinson. After a blocked extra point attempt, the Mustangs held a 20-0 lead with 5:28 left in the first half.
The Rapid City offense continued to be inefficient and had roughly a dozen bad snaps on the night. The struggles continued in the next drive with a third consecutive turnover on downs for the War Eagles.
Running back Brian Handley, who had three touchdowns last week for the Mustangs, made the score 26-0 with a 16-yard touchdown run with 1:03 left in the second quarter. Wyoming missed the extra point attempt.
With just seconds left in the half, a Mustang defender was able to strip the ball and run it back for a touchdown. After another missed extra point attempt, the Mustangs took a 32-0 lead into halftime.
Rapid City started the second half with the ball but it was Hicks who came away with the highlight with his first interception on the night to give the Mustangs the ball. After a rare stalled drive by Wyoming, Hicks answered back with his second interception of the quarter to give the offense the ball right back.
Saucedo got the team on the board again in the second half with a 9-yard touchdown pass to make the lead 38-0 as time expired in the third quarter. After another Rapid City turnover on downs, Saucedo added his fourth score of the night with a 1-yard rushing touchdown with 5:40 left in the fourth quarter.
After a successful two-point conversion, the Mustangs led 46-0.
The War Eagles fumbled the ensuing kickoff and the Mustangs recovered to start again on offense at the 24-yard line. One play later, wide receiver Eriq Swiftwater caught a 24-yard touchdown from Saucedo to make the score 52-0.
Randy Beidelscies scored on the two-point conversion to make it 54-0 before the Mustangs defense forced a safety with 2:47 left in the fourth quarter to bring the game to its final score of 56-0.
The Mustangs will continue its early stretch of home games with a matchup against the Dodge City Law next weekend, according to the team's Facebook page. The Mustangs will play at 7 p.m. in the Wyoming Center.
