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| Enrique Pacheco, RB, Detroit |
Detroit, which had to win its final four regular-season games just to get into the playoffs, will try to claim its third league championship when the Wheels face the New Jersey Generals in Monday's World Bowl VIII.
The Wheels dominated Midwest Division foe Chicago in the American Conference championship game, beating the Blitz, 24-10, while outgaining them 427yards to 168. Detroit QB Mario Valencia was 33-for-36 passing for 397 yards and a 29-yard TD pass to John Risinger. John Ayala's 108-yard kickoff return was the only TD for Chicago.
After 12 weeks of the regular season, Detroit was sitting at 6-6. The Wheels finished up with two victories over Cleveland and one each over Denver and Arizona. In the postseason, they have dispatched Denver, Oklahoma, and Chicago.
The Generals ended Baltimore's almost-worst-to-first season with a 30-13 triumph in the National Conference championship game. The Stars led for a few seconds, 7-3, before Aaron Paul's 102-yard kickoff return TD gave New Jersey a lead it would never relinquish. The Generals defense sacked Baltimore QB Fred Murphy four times and intercepted him twice.
This won't be the first rodeo for either team.
The Generals played in World Bowl VI, falling 34-31 to the Memphis Southmen in the final 2 minutes. The Wheels, meanwhile, won World Bowl III and IV, joining Memphis as the only teams to claim back-to-back championships.
The Wheels have won both of the previous meetings of these clubs,34-31 in OT in 1980 and 37-0 in 1976 behind Valencia's four TD passes.
The Florida Blazers of the National Conference won World Bowl I, but the American Conference representative has won the last six championship games.
