It would have been extremely difficult to repeat the drama of the divisional round, and alas, there was no drama at all. The Houston Gamblers and Baltimore Stars flexed their muscles and will meet in World Bowl XV.
Gamblers 48 Panthers 18
This game was actually close in the first half and neither team scored at all the first 15 minutes of the game. Houston opened the scoring early 2nd qtr with a Daniel McCormack 44 yard FG. The first TD of the game came with 5:23 left in the half as Tony Dean found Chase Miles with a short pass to make the score 10-0 Gamblers. Michigan QB Alan Scales would throw an INT on the next drive and Houston would capitalize three plays later. Tony Dean found Ryan Dearing this time, and 18 yards later it was 17-0.
The Panthers crowd was stunned by this turn of events, but Michigan wasn't going to go down without a fight. Adam Scales hit Peter Lewis for a 22 yard TD and the ensuing 2 point conversion made the score 17-8. Houston lived up to their nickname as they gambled they could score before halftime rather than just go into the locker room with a 9 point lead. The gamble did not pay off as Tony Dean was intercepted by Robert Kimball. Michigan would kick a FG at the end of the half for a halftime score of 17-11 Houston.
The 3rd qtr was a different story however, as Adam Scales threw 2 more INTs and the offense punted 3 times. Houston scored a FG on their first drive of the second half, then scored 3 straight TDs for a 41-11 lead heading into the final quarter. The first TD was another Dean to Miles TD pass and Miles struck again for the second TD with an 8 yard run. Following Scales' second INT of the quarter, Ryan Dearing ran in the final TD of the quarter from 25 yards out.
Gabriel Ahrens was uncharacteristically silent most of the game but he did end up with 3-143-1 thanks to this 71 yard catch and run TD to cap the Houston scoring for the game. Ryan Dearing had a combined 197 yards and backup QB Clifford Saul even saw some action, but this pick six was not the kind of action he wanted.
Stars 31 VooDoo 3
Baltimore went to New Orleans and quickly took the crowd out of the game with TDs on their first 3 drives. New Orleans got the ball first and punted. Baltimore then went 77 yards in 12 plays which ended with this short TD pass from Jon Snow to Timothy Harmon. Following the ensuing VooDoo punt which left Baltimore pinned at their 10, Jon Snow led the Stars on an 11 play 90 yard drive. Justin Coffey caught this pass from Snow for a 14-0 Stars lead. Three and out for the VooDoo and their defense is right back on the field, surely gassed from the previous 2 long drives. The third Baltimore drive ended just like the first 2, with a Jon Snow TD pass. This one went to Brian Darden, giving Baltimore a 21-0 lead.
New Orleans went on a long drive of their own, but turned it over on downs at the Stars 22 yard line. That drive plus the halftime break gave the VooDoo defense some much needed rest. Baltimore got the ball to start the 3rd qtr, but the VooDoo defense had other ideas. This was just the break New Orleans needed if they were going to have another double digit comeback in the playoffs, but they could only manage a FG, so it was 21-3.
That was the score when the 4th qtr started, but one play later it was 28-3, thanks to the second Snow-Darden hookup. The VooDoo struggled with their offense the whole game and the early deficit was too much to overcome as Baltimore advances to their first ever World Bowl.
