LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Bloomington Extreme could not negotiate 1 yard in two key third-quarter plays Saturday at Rupp Arena.

When Lexington covered 49 yards on the following snap, the Horsemen were on their way to a 40-34 United Indoor Football victory before a crowd of 2,200.

The Extreme dropped to 5-5, while Lexington improved to 6-5 in the Eastern Division game.

Bloomington quarterback Dusty Burk was stopped twice on sneaks from the 1-yard line on third and fourth downs late in the third quarter.

Lexington then struck for a 49-yard touchdown pass from Kewan Dewberry to Harry Lewis to give the Horsemen a 37-24 lead.

Both Burk and Extreme coach Ted Schmitz felt Burk reached the end zone on the third-down rush.

"Rocky (Harvey) scored on the toss on second down, and Burk scored on third down," Schmitz said. "They (the officials) did a poor job. And I'll let the top man (in the UIF) know about it."

"I was in, no questions asked," Burk said. "The sideline (personnel) told me I was in. It was black and white. There was no grey area other than we didn't get the call."

Bloomington trailed 28-14 at halftime. Rayshawn Askew rushed for two short touchdowns for the Horsemen, and Burk tossed TD passes of 16 yards to Reggie Gray and 31 yards to James Walton.

"This one was our fault. It was a bit too long of a ride," said Schmitz, whose team left for Kentucky early Saturday morning. "We weren't ready to play the first half. It's hard to get the motor going after six and a half hours on a bus."

Bloomington defensive lineman Eric Johnson agreed the ride was a factor in the slow start.

"You hate to make excuses, but it's very difficult to be sedentary for a number of hours and get off the bus and get started," Johnson said. "But we've got to be focused and overcome those situations. We let that be a hindrance to us."

The Extreme pulled within 28-24 in the third quarter.

After a 40-yard Peter Christofilakos field goal, Bloomington's Eric Powell recovered a Lexington fumble in the end zone for a touchdown on the ensuing kickoff.

Collin Barber's 17-yard field goal pushed the Horsemen's lead back to seven before the long scoring connection from Dewberry to Lewis.

"We were in the game. We felt like we had the ability to win it and we didn't do it," Burk said. "To say we had it taken away from us at that point (the failed sneaks) is unfair to them. We still need to score again. But it's frustrating to not get those points on the board."

Burk scored on a 5-yard run to cut the Lexington advantage to 37-31 early in the fourth quarter. Barber and Christofilakos exchanged field goals for the final score.

"We played much better the second half," said Schmitz. "We regrouped. We played very hard and very well."

Burk completed 11 of 28 passes for 150 yards. Walton was the leading receiver with seven catches for 105 yards.

Dewberry was 17 of 21 for 179 yards and three TDs. Askew rushed for 60 yards on 22 carries as Lexington held a margin of 234 to 181 in total offense.

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Extreme video

Video highlights with an interview of coach Ted Schmitz by pantagraph.com sports editor Joel Fellers are posted every Wednesday after each game at www.pantagraph.com/extreme.