(SLIDESHOW: Click on the photo to see many images tackled by Kurt Howard)

Omaha Beef quarterback James McNear veers to his right and cuts toward the end zone, looking for an opening to a two-point conversion that would tie his team with the Seattle Timberwolves at 52-52 with only 23 seconds to play.

The Timberwolves would have none of that, however, as they quickly filled the hole and brought McNear down, preserving a 52-50 victory.

Such high-scoring action is common throughout the Indoor Football League, which features a 50-yard field and with only eight players at a time for each team, among other changes from traditional football such as celebrations after scores allowed.

Among those enjoying the view from the winning side at Friday's game was Andre Piper-Jordan, a Federal Way High School graduate who got to the IFL by way of Everett Community College -- plus three years of baseball in the Oakland A's minor league system.

"I gave the baseball up," said Piper-Jordan. "I probably should have played football anyway. But you got to try it out. Everybody takes different paths."

Most of the players in the IFL got there by way of a college career, including former Division I talent.
Seattle has six former Washington State University players -- Michael Bush, Xavier Hicks, Gregory Trent, Vaughn Lesuma and Fevaei Ahm, plus the University of Washington's Manase Hopoi.

The rest of the roster includes players from throughout the country, from as far away as the University of Maine.

The 22 IFL member teams are also scattered across the country.

Seattle, which recently changed its name to the Timberwolves from being the Kent Predators, is in the Pacific Division along with the Tr-Cities Fever with its 7-2 record, to the Fairbanks Grizzlies (7-3) and the Wenatchee Valley Venom (3-7). Seattle is currently third in the standings at 3-6.

The league is divided into six divisions -- Atlantic, Great Lakes, Great Plains, Lone Star, Mountain West and Pacific. Other teams from outside the Pacific Division are the Reading Express, Lehigh Valley Steelhawks, Richmond Revolution, Green Bay Blizzard, Bloomington Express, Chicago Slaughter, La Crosse Spartans, Sioux Falls Storm, Omaha Beef, Nebraska Danger, Wichita Wild, West Texas Roughnecks, Allen Wranglers, Bricktown Brawlers, Amarillo Venom, Colorado ICE, Wyoming Cavalry and Arizona Adrenaline.

With league members in such a variety of cities, it makes life interesting for Piper-Jordan and the Timberwolves.

"The road trips are fun," Piper-Jordan said. "Except for the distance. It reminds me of the minor leagues. I have a whole bunch of friends and family in other towns."

But all is not pleasant at some of the road games.

"Sometimes you find yourself in a hostile environment," Piper-Jordan said. "But we all know that the next guy has to go to work on Monday just like the rest of us.."

For Piper-Jordan, work is at Volvo Logistics.

"It's similar to Boeing," Piper-Jordan said. "It's cool how they let me travel a lot. They know my schedule and let me go."

Playing in front of the home crowd at the Showare Center in Kent is vastly to be preferred, however.
"I love it," said Piper-Jordan. "It's great being in front of family and friends. The fans are great and real supportive."

Piper-Jordan, who caught five passes for 95 yards and two touchdowns in this past Friday's game against the Beef, found the speed of play in the league to be more than he was used to.

"You really got to react a lot quicker," he said. "If you don't you'll get your head knocked off. It's bad if you're too slow."

Piper-Jordan scored what turned out to be the winning touchdown against the Beef on an 18-yard pass from quarterback Charles McCullum of Stillman College with 7:21 left in the fourth quarter.

His score and the ensuing PAT kick by Dan Kleckner of Montana Tech made it 52-47.

But the Beef was not finished, scoring two touchdowns in the time remaining but missing the crucial two-point conversion that would have tied it.

Piper-Jordan also caught a 42-yard touchdown at 9:05 to go in the second quarter, and had a third apparent touchdown taken away in the first quarter that would have been the first score.

"They said I was down," said Piper-Jordan, who also plays defense and is a return man on special teams.

The field the Seattle team calls home at the Showare Center in Kent is ringed by the same fence used by the Seattle Thunderbirds' hockey team. The playing field goes right up to the fence, with the teams seated in the hockey boxes beyond. There is a 5-yard wide end zone on each end, plus a 5-yard space leading to the uprights.

The Timberwolves hope the wins keep coming over the final five weeks of the season.

They visit the Wyoming Cavalry May 14, then drop in on Wenatchee Valley May 21 before hosting the same team May 27. They go north to Alaska to play Fairbanks June 3 and come home to finish against the Tri-Cities Fever June 12.

"It's exciting," said Piper-Jordan of the IFL, which uses Baden balls made in Federal Way. "But we got to stop playing with teams like that. They're going to give me a heart attack."