LOVELAND — It was an uphill battle from the first half for the Colorado Ice, but the El Paso Generals kept their lead to defeat the Ice, 65-33, on Saturday night at the Budweiser Events Center.

El Paso surged out to a 30-0 lead and cruised from there.

The Ice (5-7) were scoreless in the first half of their last regular-season home game and couldn't get anything working in their favor against the Generals (8-2).

After a field goal in the first quarter, El Paso scored early in the second quarter to increase its lead when El Paso quarterback Tommy Jones completed a 37-yard pass to DeAngelo Woodie for a touchdown. The touchdown would be the first of an onslaught of coming toward the Ice.

A 6-yard completion by Jones to Lemans Casimier in double-coverage scored the Generals' second touchdown. Trey Crum made the conversion to give El Paso a 16-0 lead with about two minutes left in the first half.

With less then a minute left, the Generals capped the half with a 1-yard touchdown run by Jermaine Blakeley. Crum made the conversion to give El Paso a 23-0 halftime lead.

Starting the second half, Generals defensive back Melvin Screen recovered a fumble by the Ice on Colorado's second play and ran for a 23-yard touchdown. The conversion increased El Paso's lead 30-0.

The loss drops Colorado's home record to 4-4. The Ice hit the road for their next two games against the Billings Outlaws and again El Paso.

Quarterback Miles Scheer threw eight incomplete passes and one completion. Running backs Maurice Cantrell and Ryan Drinkwater together rushed for 15 yards combined. Even Rocky Stevens' only field-goal attempt hit the uprights.

“We all had to get on the same page,” said wide receiver Josh Gibson. “Coming out in the second half we knew we had to score.”

The Generals' defense gave up one first down and forced a fumble in the first half. The Ice gave up 13 first downs, however DJ Craft came to the rescue and made two interceptions for 36 yards.

Cantrell was the first to score for the Ice, rushing 2 yards for a touchdown. The Ice attempted their climb back into the game.

“It gave us hope,” Gibson said. “We knew we weren't out of the game. We had to fight. We're a team of fighters, and we've come back in these types of games.”

The Ice then began to match the General touchdown-for-touchdown.

Cantrell's 3-yard rush scored the Ice's second touchdown and the conversion made it 37-14 with 1:16 left in the third quarter.

Drinkwater scored on a 2-yard run. Gibson caught a 25-yard pass from Scheer for a touchdown.

Scheer also scored on a 6-yard run.

“We were gellin' more,” he said.

The Ice's effort wasn't enough, though, as the deficit from the first half came back to bite them.

Defensive back Eric Brown said the final regular season game against the Generals should be a good test before the Ice enters the postseason.

“They're a good team,” Brown said. “They've got good athletes. They execute well. I mean, they're gonna prepare us because we see them in two weeks, so it's gonna be on.”

El Paso 65, Colorado 33

El Paso 3 20 14 28 — 65

Colorado 0 0 14 19 — 33

First quarter

EP — FG Crum 31, 5:54.

Second quarter

EP — Woodie 37 pass from Jones (kick failed), 11:24; EP — Leman 6 pass from Jones (Crum kick), 2:12; EP — Blakely 1 run kickoff return (Crum kick),0:06.

Third quarter

EP — Screen 23 rumble recovery (Crum kick), 14:12; C — Cantrell 2 run (Stevens kick) 7:57; EP — Leman 6 pass from Jones (Crum kick), 4:08; C — Cantrell 3 run (Stevens kick), 1:33.

Fourth quarter

EP — Odoms 2 run (Crum kick), 14:07; C — Drinkwater 2 run (kick failed), 13:03; EP — Price 12 pass from Jones (Crum kick), 8:49; C — Gibson 25 pass from Scheer (Stevens kick), 6:09; EP — Odoms 2 run (Crum kick), 4:13; Scheer 6 run (kick failed), 1:27; C — Johnson 2 int return (Crum kick), 0:31.

El Paso Colorado

First downs 22 14

Rushes-yards 13-88 19-50

Passing 270 101

Att-Comp-Int 39-22-3 22-8-1

Interception returns-yards 1-48 3-60

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-2

Penalties-Yards 13-117 5-42

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — El Paso, Odoms, 10-75, Jones 2-12; Colorado, Drinkwater 6-18, Cantrell, 8-18.

PASSING — El Paso, Jones, 37-22-2-278, Davis, 2-0-1-0; Colorado, Scheer, 22-8-1-101.

RECEIVING — El Paso, Casimier, 8-98, Odoms, 7-67, Woodie, 4-66, Price 3-47; Colorado, Gibson, 4-62, Hill, 3-32, Cantrell, 1-7.