Memphis and New Jersey will face off at an as yet undisclosed stadium to see which franchise will join the Houston Gamblers as 3 time USFL/WFL Champion. This will be the Showboat's first World Bowl appearance since winning back to back World Bowls (VI and VII), and at 18-0, they are aiming for the second perfect season in league history. No word on whether the 1977 Detroit Wheels will have a celebration like the '72 Dolphins do every year if New Jersey is able to make that 18-1. Memphis is 2-0 in the World Bowl under previous owner PrivateSnowflake, including a victory over the Generals in World Bowl VI. This may be the first title appearance in this league for Infinity On Trial, but across MFN, he is accustomed to being in this position.
The New Jersey Generals are certainly accustomed to playing in the World Bowl, as this is their 6th appearance in the last 8 seasons. This year is perhaps their most unlikely run yet, as they were losers of 5 of 6 games heading into wildcard weekend and seemed destined to get bounced by somebody in the playoffs before now. It's almost as if the players have a "playoff switch" and step up their performance. They certainly have had the breaks fall their way, especially late 2nd/early 3rd qtr against Baltimore. New Jersey is 2-3 in the World Bowl, including the aforementioned loss to Memphis.
MFN oddsmakers have installed Memphis as 4 point favorites.
Showboats 45 Sun 14
Memphis took the opening kickoff and marched 75 yards in 12 plays, scoring a TD on a 4 yard run by Tim "Donut Mogul" Horton. Jessie Cepeda ran in the 2 point conversion to give Memphis the early 8-0 lead. Southern California's first 3 drives ended with a punt, a fumble, and another fumble, both lost by Nicholas Wittrock. Memphis turned those turnovers into FG's for a 14-0 lead and another 2nd qtr FG made the halftime score 17-0.
The second half wasn't any better for the Sun as they went three and out three straight drives in the 3rd qtr. Memphis scored TD's after the first two to take a commanding 31-0 lead. The first TD was a hot read 83 yard TD to Jessie Cepeda, the second a Numbers Zielinski 1 yard TD run. Memphis would add two more TD's to take a 45-0 lead before the Sun scored twice in garbage time.
This loss may have ended the Southern California season, but it still was the best season in franchise history and there is no shame in losing to an 18-0 Memphis team.
Generals 38 Stars 13
This game was closer than the score indicates and a couple of breaks here and there for Baltimore could have made for a much different outcome. New Jersey got the ball first and GM raidergreg69 was quite surprised when the first 3 plays were all passes as the game plan was supposed to be run heavy. The Generals went three and out while Baltimore took the punt and marched 77 yards in 3 plays for the game's first score. Jon Snow found Brian Darden on a Flanker Hitch and 65 yards later it was 6-0, extra point made it 7. New Jersey finally got around to running the ball on their second drive, going 75 yards in 14 plays, with Rudi Johnson getting the final 3 yards to tie the score.
Baltimore's first drive gave us one theme for the day, the Stars were going to rack up yardage in chunks all game long. The Stars out gained the Generals 410-367. Their third drive gave us another theme, the turnover. New Jersey won the turnover battle 7-0, and they capitalized on that Bob Marley INT, driving 76 yards in 10 plays, with Marcus Allen doing the honors of punching it in from the 3. On Baltimore's next drive, RB Mark Numbers seemed to be on his way to the end zone with the tying TD but Bob Marley struck again, stripping Numbers short of the goal line and recovering in the end zone for a touchback.
Following 3 punts, Baltimore got the ball inside the 2 minute warning, still trailing 14-7. The Stars ran two plays and called their last 2 time outs, leaving themselves 44 seconds from their own 49 yard line. Jon Snow found Brian Darden on the Flanker Hitch again, but this time Generals SS Walter Moore was able to tackle Darden inside the 1. It set up a first and goal but with only 5 seconds and no time outs, Baltimore elected to kick the FG for a halftime score of 14-10 New Jersey.
New Jersey had to be feeling lucky at the break as they could have easily been down 28-14 the way Baltimore moved the ball. Baltimore got the ball to start the 3rd quarter and Jon Snow quickly turned it over. The very next play Generals QB Ric Flair found Aaron Paul streaking down the seam for a 49 yard TD. Baltimore's next offensive play was another INT of Jon Snow, this one by Lars Ulrich. New Jersey added a Lucio Grant FG for a 24-10 lead. Baltimore would kick a FG for a score of 24-13 New Jersey after 3.
It's tough to come back from an 11 point 4th qtr deficit on the road, but it's darn near impossible when your QB throws 3 INT while trying. The first one of the 4th was by Rod Martin and 5 plays later, Ric Flair tossed a 4 yard TD pass to Richard Hansen, making the score 31-13. The rest was garbage time, as Snow threw 2 more INT's for a total of 6, while Richard Hansen added a 7 yard TD run for the final score of the game.
Baltimore had an excellent season, losing their 3rd straight Conference Championship Game. If they keep knocking on the door like that every year, eventually they'll get in the World Bowl. GM 4343 is a proven MFN winner so no doubt they'll be a contender in 1987.
