Half of the 12 playoff teams have been decided, and it's go time for the rest of the teams trying to claim an invitation to the postseason party. Memphis, Tampa Bay, Washington, and New York punched their playoff tickets this week, joining Portland and Baltimore. Speaking of Portland, Mark McKeon had 4 more sacks, increasing his record breaking season total to 65. Denver WR Jake Peralta is no longer on pace to break the single season receiving yardage record, but at 657 yards short, it's still within reach. Peralta has 20 TD catches and is within reach of the all time record of 26, first done by Los Angeles Express WR Santiago Smith in 1976 and tied in 1977 by teammate Robert Herrera.
Storm 19 Blitz 14
Portland is fighting with Memphis for home field advantage and today's win over Chicago eliminated the Blitz. Usually when a team holds their opponent under 200 yards, it's awesome, but in Portland's case, it's coming back down to earth. From weeks 5 to 11, taking out the aberration game at Denver where they gave up 503 yards, the Storm defense allowed games of 6 total yards, 35, 9, 12, (-69), and 76. Chicago put up 164 today and the whole league can't wait to see what McKeon does or doesn't do once the playoffs start.
QB Oscar Willis has had struggles this season with turnovers, but the Storm offense usually still has gaudy yardage numbers after most games. Today though, the Blitz defense was able to slow down the Portland offense, allowing 334 yards and no Storm skill player cracked 100 total yards. In fact, Chicago had a 14-13 lead after 3 quarters but two Donald Dosch FGs in the 4th gave Portland the win.
Showboats 24 Wranglers 3
Memphis clinched a playoff spot with today's victory, and it was all thanks to Mark Lambert and the Showboats defense. Lambert had 92 rushing yards and 104 receiving with a TD catch and WR James Wise hauled in 2 TD catches of his own as part of Memphis' 443 yard day. QB David Allen had an average yardage day but Memphis had to love his 3:1 TD:INT ratio. On defense, Memphis only allowed 129 yards all day, and of the 16 Arizona drives, 12 ended up as three and out. In fact, after the Wranglers early FG on their second drive, they went three and out on every drive except for 2, and those ended with lost fumbles.
Bandits 26 Force 10
Georgia outgained Tampa Bay but 4 INTs by Force QB Norris Thomas allowed the Bandits to win, clinching the Southeast division in the process. Besides the turnovers, Thomas was decent, completing 38/53 for 318 yards and Richard Donofrio caught 15 of those for 76 yards. Those 15 catches tied his own league best for a single game this season, and with 21 rushing yards, his 97 total yards tied him for this game's high. Tampa Bay WR Thomas Whitley also had 97 yards on 6 catches and a TD as the Bandits enjoyed great field position all game.
Federals 26 Maulers 14
The Federals got off to a rough start as Robert Sullivan fumbled on Washington's first offensive play, but the defense forced a punt. Second drive, QB Scott Bieber was intercepted by Pittsburgh WLB Fred Leeper, who returned it 14 yards for his 3rd INT return TD of the season. This has only been done two other times in league history, first in 1984 by Honolulu's Douglas Oneal, and the record of 4 was set last season by Jacksonville's Gordon Wong. The Maulers scored another 1st qtr TD for a 14-7 lead before the Federals chipped away with 2 Bieber TD passes and 4 John Bazile FGs for the victory.
Hornets 17 (NY) Stars 9
Charlotte fumbled on their opening drive, setting up a Willie Bust 27 yard TD pass to Damien Bierman for an early 7-0 lead for New York. The Stars went supernova after that, only scoring 2 more points on a safety in the 4th qtr as Bust threw 2 INTs and his teammates lost a fumble and missed a FG. That safety was the last score of the game, and Charlotte scored 17 points in between Stars scores for the victory. New York RB Cam Dalton had 130 combined yards in the loss.
The victory keeps Charlotte in the playoff race thanks to the Generals loss to Baltimore. That New Jersey loss plus Shreveport's loss mean New York clinches a playoff spot despite losing.
Express 27 Hawaiians 19
Two weeks ago, Honolulu looked like a lock to make the playoffs, needing only 1 win or 1 San Jose loss, and I said they could be the first team to clinch. If trslick had a picture of me, it would probably be tacked to a dart board or shooting target for him to take shots at me, because it seems I put the kibosh on the Hawaiians. In an ironic twist, Honolulu is really pulling for New Jersey to beat San Jose tonight because Honolulu's last 3 games are against Portland (12-1), Denver (11-2), and New York (10-3) while San Jose gets Southern California (3-10) and Los Angeles (5-8) after tonight.
This was a turnover free game, and Los Angeles jumped out 10-0, and 17-3 before Honolulu started to get back into it. The early deficit and the Los Angeles running game (33-230 yards) were too much to overcome.
Stars 16 Generals 10
Baltimore already had a playoff spot wrapped up, but the Stars still had a lot to play for. They have yet to clinch their division, but they also have the inside track on home field advantage, plus a chance to get some revenge on New Jersey. The Stars are trying to make it back for their second World Bowl, but it could be their 3rd, 4th, or 5th trip if it wasn't for New Jersey. These teams have met in 3 Conference Championship games with New Jersey winning them all, and despite the fact Baltimore is the better team right now, they probably don't want to see red when the postseason comes.
Speaking of New Jersey, they seemed a good bet for a wildcard berth 2 weeks ago, but with this second loss in a row, they are playing doorman, holding the playoff door wide open for Shreveport or Charlotte to take the last spot. New Jersey could not get their running game going without rookie Sam Beckett, who has yet to leap back into action following a serious leg injury. QB Ric Flair completed 32 passes but couldn't crack 200 yards. WR Jeffrey Zimmer led Baltimore with 4 catches for 105 yards and a TD.
VooDoo 6 Steamer 3
If Shreveport could have won, they would have forced a tie with New Orleans for the South lead, and they got off to a good start. They intercepted VooDoo QB Bruno Wilson on the game's first play to set up a FG for the early 3-0 lead. New Orleans would tie it on their next drive, then the points stopped for most of the rest of the game. Punts galore until New Orleans got the ball in a 3-3 game with 6:47 left to play. The VooDoo methodically marched 64 yards in 14 plays to set up the game winning FG from Jordan Fuller with 9 seconds left.
New Orleans hasn't clinched a spot yet, but their magic number is 1 and at the risk of another kibosh, they seem likely to play extra football in January. Shreveport will be hard pressed to win their division, but if New Jersey keeps choking on Kenny Rogers chicken, they could take a wildcard spot.
Gold 45 Blazers 13
Jake Peralta did very little offensively today (27 rushing yards, 1 catch 4 yards) but he made his presence felt before a lot of fans even reached their seats. Peralta took the opening kickoff 102 yards for the early 7-0 Gold lead. Offensively, Denver struggled in the first quarter before getting into gear for a 459 yard day with a balanced attack. Denver usually strikes through the air, but Andrew Brewer struggled, 20/39, 235 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT and Florida scored 2 FGs to cut the lead to 7-6. The Gold running game picked up the slack as Jose Buford and Richard Huff scored rushing TDs, and a FG just before halftime made the score 24-6 Denver.
Defensively, the Gold held Florida under 200 yards and the Blazers lone TD was a kickoff return of 106 yards by Freddy Mercury. Richard Huff finished with 2 rushing TDs and 113 yards, Richard Funkhouser caught 7 for 123 and a TD while Jose Buford had 161 combined yards (74 rushing and a TD, 87 receiving).
Gamblers 29 Outlaws 10
Houston struggled in the red zone, scoring no TDs on 5 trips, but K Daniel McCormack was 5/5 on FG tries and Gabriel Ahrens had a huge day as the Gamblers move closer to securing a wildcard spot. Ahrens had TD catches of 80 and 38 yards from Tony Dean as part of his 7-203-2 day. The Gamblers defense held Oklahoma under 200 yards for the game.
Panthers 21 Gunslingers 0
Adam Scales threw 3 TD passes to 3 different receivers and Nicholas Dorey ran for 123 yards to lead Michigan to victory. The Panthers defense held San Antonio to 131 total yards, almost exactly 1/3 of Michigan's 392 yards. Corey Martin didn't catch any of Scales' TD passes but he did catch 3 for 104 yards.
Wheels 9 Thunderbolts 6 (OT)
Detroit kicked a FG on their opening drive and the Wheels defense intercepted rookie QB Michael McGowan 3 times as they put a serious hurt on Cleveland's postseason hopes. Neither team could crack the end zone and 4 quarters of football was not enough to settle this FG kicking contest. Cleveland was led by Samuel Draper's 111 combined yards while Detroit was led by Thomas Mazzeo's 101 combined.
Invaders 27 Renegades 17
Oakland intercepted Elwood Savage twice and Andrew Moreno was 32/39, 229 yards with 2 TDs as the Invaders kept their playoff hopes alive with the victory. TE Christopher Sherrick led Oakland with 10 catches for 88 yards and a TD.
SaberCats 30 Sun 7
Only 3 teams are hotter than San Jose right now as the SaberCats are trying to put together an historic playoff run. San Jose has needed to win out and have Honolulu lose out for a couple weeks now, yet here we are still talking about them. San Jose tripled the offensive output of the Sun (456-148) without benefit of anyone cracking 100 combined yards. QB Tony Romo was 28/33, 305 yards and 2 TD and K Robert Rodriguez booted 5 FGs.
Bell 27 Breakers 6
Boston played their usual game today, great pass defense, horrible run defense and an offense that struggles to score. Philadelphia ran for 278 yards on 44 carries with Jamie Epperson accounting for 172 yards and a TD. QB Robert Hernandez didn't throw for many yards (86) but threw 2 TDs and the Bell defense shut down the Breakers run game.
Bulls 29 Stallions 20
Jacksonville and Birmingham may be home in January, but they were still playing hard today. Stallions QB Marvin Benford was just 13/25 but with 248 yards, he had nearly 20 yards per completion. His 76 yard TD pass to Larry Ceaser got the scoring underway and Ceaser finished with 3 catches and 140 yards. Jacksonville couldn't get much going on the ground but QB Joseph Serio was 30/46, 393 yards, 3 TD and an INT. Edward Maloney caught 6 for 128 and a TD while Timothy Richardson caught 7 for 111 and 2 TD. Jacksonville had a 19-10 lead after 3, and extended it to 22-10 early in the 4th, then held on as Birmingham got within 2 points late.
