Gamblers 34 Stallions 31 (OT)
It took almost 5 quarters of football to decide the 1985 USFL/WFL Champion in Tempe, AZ today. Birmingham played their hearts out, but are left to ask themselves what went wrong as they had a 31-21 lead with 6:58 left before allowing Houston to score the last 13 points to steal the victory.
Birmingham received the opening kickoff and marched down the field for a TD, an 11 yard pass from David Schmitt to Leonard Robles. Houston responded with a TD drive of their own, a 32 yd pass from Tony Dean to TE Fredrick Skeen. Birmingham FS Fred Kyle seemingly had Skeen wrapped up, but Skeen broke the tackle before racing into the end zone. Birmingham got a 27 yd Gerald Hinton FG on their second drive for a 10-7 lead.
After trading punts, Houston scored on a 3 play TD drive. Tony Dean found Willie Nelson streaking down the sideline, only to be caught from behind by Stallions CB Gerald McCormick. Two plays later, Tony Dean found James Connelly for a 2 yard TD. The Daniel McCormack XP made the score 14-10 Houston. Birmingham answered on the next drive, going 75 yards in 9 plays, with this Schmitt to Mario Burton 5 yd pass.
That gave us a halftime score of Birmingham 17 Houston 14. For years, the USFL has been trying to get Iron Maiden to do the World Bowl halftime show, but couldn't because Bruce Dickinson was playing in the game. Dickinson is a talented individual, but it was a bit much to ask him to play and sing. With New Jersey being eliminated, Dickinson was finally able to perform and Iron Maiden did not disappoint.
The two teams traded punts to open the second half before Houston went on a 9 play, 79 yard TD drive to retake the lead 21-17. Bruce Edwards caught a 2 yard pass from Tony Dean for that score. The 3rd quarter would end with that 21-17 score.
Early in the 4th, Birmingham's David Schmitt found RB Mark Peterson in the flat for a 20 yard catch and run TD. Originally ruled out of bounds at the 1, a coach's challenge got the call overturned. That gave the Stallions a 24-21 lead. Following a Houston three and out, Birmingham got the ball back. A 9 play, 81 yard drive ended with this RB Richard Sutton TD reception from David Schmitt to put Birmingham up 31-21 with 6:58 left.
It was at this point of the game things started heating up. Houston QB Tony Dean was intercepted on the very next offensive play and the Birmingham fans were ecstatic. The euphoria didn't last long, as Schmitt tried one too many passes to his RB, giving the ball right back to Houston. The Gamblers marched down the field but had to settle for a Daniel McCormack 49 yd FG to cut the lead to 31-24 with 4:07 left.
Birmingham could not run out the clock, punting away to Houston. The Gamblers got the ball on their own 20 with all 3 time outs and 1:52 on the clock. Gabriel Ahrens broke free for a 53 yard catch and run, putting Houston on the doorstep of the red zone. Five plays later, Bruce Edwards's 2nd TD of the day plus the XP tied the game at 31.
Birmingham would not cross midfield and we are heading for OT for the second time in a World Bowl. The first one was World Bowl VIII. Houston got the ball first and punted, while Birmingham was intercepted on their first OT drive. CB Robert Sokol's INT set Houston up at the Birmingham 49 yard line. The Stallions defense stiffened, forcing a punt. More punts followed before the crazy last 2 minutes of OT.
Houston FS Alexander Morrison picked off a David Schmitt pass, but Morrison was flagged for pass interference, nullifying the play. The next play set Birmingham up for the Championship winning 30 yard FG but it was wide leftt. This is early 1986 so Scott Norwood's miss hasn't technically happened yet, but I found an interesting nugget about Mr. Norwood. He once really played for Birmingham in the USFL. Freaky.
Gabriel Ahrens then had another big catch and run, setting Houston up for a Championship winning FG of their own. Daniel McCormack's kick snuck inside the right upright for the Gamblers second World Bowl trophy in a row and third in four years.
Birmingham put up 592 yards of offense on Houston and they certainly played like a Champion today, but alas, there can be only one Champion and that is the Houston Gamblers. Congratulations, this was a hard fought title for your squad
