In Week 2, Baltimore scored a season high 61 points in their 61-3 win over Oklahoma. New Orleans traveled to Denver and hung 30 on the Gold, but they gave up 40 and lost. We also had three shutouts by Portland, Pittsburgh, and Boston. There are currently 9 teams off to a 2-0 start and 9 teams on the 0-2 schneid, and barring ties, 3 teams will come off the list. We have a pair of games featuring 2-0 teams, one an interconference game, Florida @ San Jose while the other is a battle for early control of the Atlantic as Pittsburgh visits Baltimore. Up the road in New York, the Philadelphia Bell play the (NY) Stars as each team seeks their first win of 1992.
Stars 61 Outlaws 3
Baltimore QB Jon Snow tossed 6 TD passes, 5 to Jeffrey Zimmer as the Stars blew out Oklahoma. Zimmer found the end zone on each of his 5 catches, covering 267 yards and Mark Numbers chipped in with 4 catches, 106 yards and the other TD catch. Snow fell just short of 500 yards passing, finishing with 487, giving him the early league lead (766) in that category.
Gold 40 VooDoo 30
This was like a basketball game in more ways than one. A 40-30 score is like a halftime score in college, or even a full Ivy League game, and both teams had a scoring run, followed by a lot of back and forth scoring at the end of the game. VooDoo QB Bruno Wilson had a more familiar stat line today, completing 42/61 for 390 yards, 3 TD and 1 INT as New Orleans claimed an early 10-0 lead. Denver stormed back with 27 unanswered points for a 27-10 3rd qtr lead. Gold QB Andrew Brewer only completed 19 passes, but he threw for 320 yards and 3 TDs, 2 to Douglas Crowley. Jake Peralta caught the other TD as part of his big day, 139 yards on 6 catches plus 57 yards on 15 carries.
The 4th quarter began with that 27-10 score, meaning there were still 33 points to be scored in the final 15 minutes. Bruno Wilson tossed his first TD early in the quarter, but the 2 point try failed and the VooDoo trailed 27-16. Denver would push it to 30-16 with a FG before Wilson found Dorey for a TD, cutting the deficit to 7 points. The Gold answered with Brewer's 3rd TD pass for a 37-23 lead. New Orleans then had their 3rd straight 75 yard TD drive to make the score 37-30 with almost 6 minutes to play. Denver went on a time consuming FG drive to go up by 10, then forcing a four and out to seal the win.
Storm 34 Express 0
Melvin Driggers so far is loving life in the Pacific Northwest, as he is just 5 yards behind Jon Snow with his 761 passing yards, and among qualifiers (min, 15 att a gm), he is 2nd in passer rating behind Florida's Sidney Maggard. Driggers was 32/36 for 405 yards, 3 TD and 1 INT. The yards were spread among several players and his 3 TD passes went to 3 different receivers, and while they failed to crack 3 yards a carry, the running game helped control the clock. The Portland defense limited Los Angeles to just 104 total yards.
Maulers 9 Stallions 0
In Pittsburgh, "Winning Ugly" T-shirts are flying off the shelves as the Maulers did just that, again. Birmingham held Pittsburgh to 205 yards and kept the Maulers out of the end zone but QB Stephen Ponder had a rough game. Ponder finished 20/44 for 107 yards and 3 INT, and rumor has it he may have started his last game for awhile as the Stallions claimed former New Jersey QB Ric Flair this week. Pittsburgh did not turn the ball over and the 3 Dominick Cochran FGs stood up for the win.
Breakers 18 Blitz 0
Speaking of winning ugly, that's exactly what Boston has been doing so far. Their defense is for real and they are getting enough offense to outscore their opponents, which doesn't take much giving up 3 points a game. Boston intercepted 2 passes and recovered 3 Blitz fumbles while also chipping in 2 points on a safety with a sack in the end zone. Throw in 3 field goals and a TD pass from steady but unspectacular Joseph Haight and you get an 18-0 Boston win.
Gamblers 25 Federals 20
This was a pretty even statistical game as these two championship contenders faced off. Houston certainly didn't want to start off 0-2 but with the Atlantic now a 3 team race, Washington couldn't afford a loss either. The teams traded TDs in the 1st qtr with Scott Bieber starting things off with an 80 yard TD pass to Robert Trammell. Tony Dean thought he tied the game with his TD pass to Jett Black but the XP was no good and the Gamblers were behind 14-6 after Bieber's 2nd TD pass of the 1st quarter. Prior to the end of the 1st, Ryan Dearing had a 6 yard TD run and this time the XP was good.
That Dearing TD was the start of a 19-0 run for Houston as Gamblers kicker Earl Castro nailed 2 FGs but missed another XP following Dean's 2nd TD pass. That made the halftime score 25-14 Houston but the gamblers would be shutout in the second half. Washington got within 25-20 on a pair of John Bazile FGs but their last drive for a game winning TD ended with a turnover on downs inside the red zone and Houston ran out the clock.
Wheels 20 Thunderbolts 19
Cleveland out gained Detroit 342-253, didn't turn the ball over and forced the Wheels running game to go in reverse, allowing -36 yards on 16 carries, yet they fall on a last second 50 yard Kent Olden FG. Detroit QB Gabriel Flanagan completed 23/28 for 299 yards and 2 TDs and his favorite target was Matthew Houston, who caught 7 for 151 yards and a TD. Detroit played bend but don't break defense as they allowed all FGs in 3 red zone trips, keeping them in the game as their rushing "attack" went backward. Cleveland also missed a FG right before Detroit's last drive, which proved costly.
SaberCats 30 Invaders 25
Oakland got the memo about Mark Hsu as they held him to a regular 4-72-0 stat line, but San Jose ran for exactly 200 yards and 3 TDs as the SaberCats got out 20-7 on the Invaders. Oakland then scored 12 in a row, including 9 points lightning fast. Jake Plummer was sacked in the end zone for a safety by Robert Poe and Oliver Thomas took the free kick 98 yards to the house to pull the Invaders within a point. San Jose would score the next 10 points for a 30-19 lead before Oliver Thomas had a 3 yard TD run. The 2 point try failed and Oakland trailed 30-25 with 5:17 left but never saw the ball again.
Gunslingers 20 Sun 10
Southern California started the scoring with a FG and ended the scoring with a TD, but San Antonio scored 20 points in between for the win. The Gunslingers had ball control even if they didn't move it well, rushing for 110 yards on 50 carries. They only attempted 14 passes all day, completing 9, but with their defense forcing 4 turnovers, the Gunslingers scoring drives didn't need to go far. RB Lemon Jefferson had a rushing line of 29 carries, 42 yards and 2 TDs.
Renegades 27 Force 18
Orlando racked up 532 yards of offense including 432 passing from Emory Howard. The Renegades had a pair of 100 yard receivers as David King had 152 on 7 catches and Cam Dalton had 122 on 6. Dalton also ran for 53 yards as the Renegades built leads of 19-3 and 27-10. Georgia got 2 TD passes from Milton People in the 4th qtr but it was too little too late to help the Force win.
Panthers 17 Bell 3
Michigan opted to start rookie QB Larry Henderson and he threw for 195 yards and 2 TD with 0 INTs, completing 25/35 passes. Philadelphia was able to move the ball some through the air but their running game struggled, as did the Bell run defense. Michigan ran for 116 yards and won comfortably despite losing 2 fumbles.
Showboats 18 Hornets 9
Charlotte out gained Memphis 356-161 but the Hornets suffered 3 turnovers and 4 red zone trips with no TDs, settling for 3 FGs. The Showboats took advantage of the field position for 3 FGs to go with their 1 73 yard TD drive. Sylvester Teal sacked Robert Ament in the end zone to round out the Memphis scoring in the win over Charlotte.
Blazers 20 Hawaiians 3
Florida QB Sidney Maggard threw 2 TD passes and Gerald Hinton booted a pair of FGs to lead the Blazers to the win over Honolulu. The Florida defense intercepted Derek Henry twice and held the Hawaiians to 190 total yards to improve to 2-0.
Steamer 32 Wranglers 3
Arizona got on the scoreboard first with a FG before Gregory Skidmore hit the skids stat wise. Local sports talk radio was calling him Skidmark after his 13/35, 74 yard 2 INT performance. Shreveport got 128 rushing yards from Orville Barker and rushing TDs from David Oldham and Francisco Dement for a 14-3 lead. The rest of the scoring was courtesy of the leg of William Neal who booted 6 FGs to help the Steamer win.
Bandits 9 Bulls 3
Tampa Bay out gained Jacksonville 361-92 as they overcame 3 INTs by rookie QB Thomas Lawson to defeat the Bulls in a FG kicking contest 9-3. In between the turnovers, Lawson threw for 327 yards and got the Bandits in FG range often enough to avoid an 0-2 start.
Generals 29 (NY) Stars 13
Ernest Simmon got the start at QB for New Jersey following the release of Ric Flair and backup QB James Wright led the Generals in rushing (14-79), although Kurt Cobain also contributed 74 yards on 12 carries. Both Simmon and New York QB Willie Bust threw 2 INTs, but Simmon also threw 3 TD passes to 3 different receivers in the 2nd qtr as the Generals built a 21-7 halftime lead. New York got within 8 in the second half before a safety turned the momentum back in New Jersey's favor, and the Generals held on for the win.
