Horsemen get burned by Fire in first matchup

The Louisville Fire needed a quarterback. They found one in Matt Bassuener during their 61-34 victory over Lexington Saturday night.

Lennie House, owner of the Horsemen, may not have needed a haircut, but he got one anyway. It was courtesy of Will Wolford, his counterpart with the Fire in the first game of the teams' arenafootball2 rivalry before 5,790 fans.

"He looks good," Vicki House said of her newly bald husband. "He's a very handsome man."

The haircut at midfield satisfied a bet between the two owners.

The game was decided by Bassuener's sterling performance, a tough defense and big plays.

Plagued by inconsistency this season (four touchdown passes and six interceptions before Saturday's game), Bassuener threw for three touchdowns (and 240 yards) and ran for three more.

"The biggest upside was that our quarterback was a lot better," Fire Coach Tommy Johnson said, "We had a two-game skid and were coming in against one of the best teams. We executed and played well."

After a scoreless first quarter, Louisville (3-2) outpointed Lexington 27-12 in the second period.

The Horsemen (3-2) trailed 40-26 after three periods before the Fire ruled the last quarter 21-8.

"I'm disappointed in our performance," Lexington Coach Mike Harmon said. "We didn't play very aggressive in the second half. We were really flat. We missed opportunities to make plays."

Louisville (3-2) didn't miss many chances. Jerome Jones, a former Horseman, and Demetrius Forney, who starred at Campbellsville, helped lead the Fire victory.

Jones, a former Eastern Kentucky star, was credited with 2.5 sacks totalling 14 yards. He also scored a touchdown. Forney, a defensive line star in college, ran for two touchdowns.

"We had almost a flawless game," said Forney, who never carried the ball in college.

Jones was pleased with his game. "It's still about trying to win."

His sacks were part of a team effort, he said.

"We practiced all week about flushing (Eddie Eviston) out of the pocket," he said. "We'd had team breakdowns the last two weeks, but we put it all together."

Eviston passed for 268 yards and five touchdowns.

The game was scoreless when the Horsemen seemed to have stopped the Fire.

The home team missed a field-goal attempt on the second play of the second period. But Jones recovered the free ball in the end zone, getting credit for a net recovery touchdown.

Lexington responded in two plays, including a 25-yard touchdown toss from Eviston to Harry Lewis.

Bassuener, in a battle with Aaron Marshall for the full-time job, led three consecutive scoring drives for the Fire.

Ricardo Lenhart took the ball away from defender Jarrod Rouanzoin for a 29-yard TD reception with 9:06 left.

The Fire went ahead 21-6 when Forney ran it in from the 3 with 1:53 left.

Lexington responded with a three-play TD drive featuring completions to Rouanzoin of 10 and 18 yards and a 15-yarder to Lewis for the score with 42 seconds left.

But Lenhart caught a 6-yard TD pass eight seconds before the break.

The teams scored two TDs each in the third quarter. But then the Horsemen had two interceptions and a lost possession on downs to fall behind 54-26.

Notes

• Lexington's J.T. Haskins, who played at Louisville, suffered a broken ankle in the second quarter.

• Johnson recorded his 50th victory in af2. "I didn't realize I had 49," he said. "I don't keep up with stats."