The Sioux Falls Storm (7-7) suffered their second consecutive loss Saturday night as they fell to the Massachusetts Pirates (9-4) 69-55. The loss dropped the Storm into fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings and out of the playoff picture with two games left in the regular season.

The Storm were never able to secure a lead in the game as the Pirates jumped out to an early 14-3 lead after the first quarter. Sioux Falls did not score their first touchdown of the game until the 9:07 mark in the second quarter on a 21-yard run from running back Nate Chavious.

Sioux Falls trailed by as many as 20 points in the game before the end of the first quarter at 33-13. The closest they got was seven points with five minutes left in the game after a touchdown from quarterback Dalton Sneed. Massachusetts responded with another touchdown one minute later closing out the game.

Sneed was 13-22 passing for 171 yards. He threw two touchdowns and an interception while impressing in the run game, rushing 13 times for 107 yards, totaling 278 yards. Sneed had three rushing touchdowns for a total of five touchdowns.

Chavious ran the ball 14 times, compiling 73 yards and a touchdown. Tim Keith led the way in receiving yards for the Storm with 53 yards. Carlos Thompson had 48 receiving yards and one touchdown, while Donnie Corley also had one touchdown along with 48 reception yards.

Vince Sellers had 7.5 tackles in the game to pace the Storm defense. Thompson followed with five tackles and Joshua Carter and Marquis Hendrix had three tackles apiece.

Kicker Sawyer Petre went two-for-two on field goals on the night, draining it from 21 and 30 yards respectively.

The Storm have a bye week next week before returning to action July 9 for their final home game of the season against the Green Bay Blizzard. Their final game of the season is July 16 on the road against the Frisco Fighters.

With two games left, the Storm are 0.5 games behind the Iowa Barnstormers for fourth place and the final spot in the playoffs. The Barnstormers won Saturday night against the Bismarck Bucks, securing their current spot in fourth place.