Storm 31 Thunderbolts 9
Portland QB Oscar Willis threw 23 INTs in 1989, but 9 games into 1990 and Willis has but 3. Add that to a defense giving up less than 6 points a game and the Champs look better this season than last. Timothy Roquemore nearly had 200 combined yards again, finishing with 106 rushing and 84 receiving yards. Portland got 2 TD passes from Oscar Willis and 2 rushing TDs from James Pritchard to stay undefeated this season.
Showboats 71 Gunslingers 6
The Showboats defense harassed Gunslingers QB Willie Benge all game long, sacking him 7 times and intercepting 6 passes. Offensively, David Allen tossed 4 TD passes, two to Mark Lambert. Lambert was the star of the game, rushing for 155 yards and 2 TD to go with 6 catches, 103 yards and the aforementioned receiving TDs. Memphis PK James Ewing was a busy guy, making all 8 XP tries as well as going 5/5 on FGs.
Stars 45 Bulls 20
Baltimore QB Jon Snow threw for 328 yards and 6 TDs with zero sacks and interceptions. Snow tossed 2 TDs each to Mark Numbers, Jeffrey Zimmer, and John Warkentin. Defensively, Baltimore forced Jacksonville into 2 turnovers and sacked Joseph Serio 5 times as they got off to a fast 21-0 start en route to the victory.
Gamblers 31 Hawaiians 13
Houston scored the first 3 TDs of the game to take a 21-0 lead in the first half, then rode that momentum to victory to keep the Gamblers 1 game behind division leading Memphis. Tony Dean tossed 3 TD passes, 2 to Hugh Chance (4-112) and Lloyd Ellis chipped in 122 rushing yards and a TD. Honolulu did not turn the ball over, but the Hawaiians had trouble sustaining drives against the Houston defense.
SaberCats 44 Express 13
Los Angeles had 341 total offensive yards, which is decent, but it's still half of the 680 yards San Jose put up. I'm cancelling the offensive rookie of the year voting (just kidding) because the race is unofficially over. SaberCats rookie WR Mark Hsu leads the entire league in receiving yards with 1,326 yards and 14 TD through 9 games after his monster game today. Hsu caught 7 balls, 4 for TDs with 301 receiving yards while teammate RB Rodney Richardson added 158 rushing yards. The victory enables San Jose to tie Honolulu for the Pacific division lead.
Invaders 23 Generals 17
New Jersey QB Ric Flair threw 2 INTs as Oakland controlled the game throughout. The score looks close, but New Jersey scored a TD in the final 2 minutes to turn a 23-10 game into 23-17. The most exciting part of the game was the final minute of the first half. Oakland kicked a FG for a 13-0 lead, then kicked off to New Jersey. Generals KR/RB Sam Beckett returned it 102 yards for a TD to put New Jersey on the scoreboard, but they still had to kickoff to Oakland. Their KR/RB Oliver Thomas took the kick at the back of the end zone, and 110 yards later, the Invaders got those 7 points back.
Panthers 30 VooDoo 28
New Orleans WR Nicholas Dorey returned to his former home field to face the team he made his name with. There were still a lot of #88 Dorey jerseys in the stands, as the fans saw their former star score 4 TDs today, but the Michigan Panthers would get the last laugh. Neither team's defense played particularly well as both teams had more than 400 offensive yards and were successful on 3rd down conversions (Michigan 7/13, New Orleans 12/19).
Dorey caught 9 for 171 and 3 TDs, adding a rushing TD as well to lead the VooDoo and they had exactly 100 yards rushing from Louie Perry. Michigan QB Adam Scales threw 4 TD passes, the last one 27 yards to Tim Carol with 0:27 left for the game winner. That was Carol's only catch of the game.
Bandits 25 Blazers 21
We had a strange, sloppy game in the Citrus Bowl today as both teams committed 3 turnovers and nobody seemed to want to win. Florida took a 21-10 lead into the locker room at halftime but the Blazers forgot to bring the offense out for the second half. The Blazers missed 2 second half FGs and their 3 turnovers happened on their last 3 drives of the game. That would enable Tampa Bay to pick themselves up and score two 4th qtr TDs to snag victory from the jaws of defeat. Bandits QB Melvin Driggers threw for 386 yards when he wasn't throwing to the Blazers defense (3 INTs).
Blitz 16 Gold 16 (OT)
Chicago and Denver played to our first tie of 1990. Denver put up 443 offensive yards to just 236 for Chicago, but Gold PK Robert Deacon was wide right on a 38 yard FG attempt on the last play of OT to prevent Denver from securing the victory. Deacon also was short on a 57 yard attempt in the first half. Richard Huff was the game's yardage king, rushing for 128 yards with 46 receiving.
Bell 20 Wranglers 10
Philadelphia QB Robert Hernandez tossed 2 TD passes to James Jones and the Bell defense held Arizona to 269 yards. The Philadelphia defense forced the Wranglers into 3 turnovers and the win improves the Bell to 4-5 on the season.
Wheels 23 Stallions 6
This game featured zero offensive TDs, 16 punts and 6 FG tries. Detroit PK Kent Olden made 3 of 4 attempts and the Wheels defense intercepted 2 passes, returning both for TDs to enable Detroit to beat Birmingham and keep the Stallions from their first win of 1990. In the 3rd qtr, Steve Rice picked off Stephen Ponder, returning it 14 yards for a score and Darrell Waltrip returned a Ponder INT 11 yards in the 4th qtr for a TD of his own.
(NY) Stars 53 Force 0
1990 has not been a good year for New York, but they took their frustrations out on struggling Georgia today. The Stars forced Georgia QB Bobby Morris into a 4/57 passing day with 7 INTs as the Force had just 86 total offensive yards today. New York QB Willie Bust threw for 399 yards and 5 TDs, 3 to Tomas Abbott. New York had a trio of 100 yard receivers with Kenny Heasley (10-120) and Damien Bierman (3-107-1) joining Abbott (4-104-3).
Sun 20 Maulers 6
Southern California got rushing TDs from Daniel Dungan and Gene Ingram while the Sun defense held Pittsburgh to 2 FGs for the win. Dungam had 90 yards rushing and 30 receiving while Ingram ran for 59 yards, adding 6 receptions for 75 yards to lead the Sun offense. One bright spot for Pittsburgh was the zero INT thrown by QB Will Allison, as he had thrown 10 the previous 2 games.
Renegades 34 Outlaws 17
Oklahoma QB Shane Falco fired 2 first half TD passes to Steve Haywood as the Outlaws took a 14-10 lead into the locker room. The Outlaws would add a FG in the 3rd for a 17-10 lead before Orlando scored the final 24 points of the game. The tiebreaking TD occurred on a fumble return for a TD by Orlando SS Gary Deleon in the 3rd qtr. Renegades RB Ben Dehaven ran for 84 yards and caught 3 passes for 43 yards and 2 TDs to help Orlando maintain their 1 game lead in the Southeast.
Federals 46 Hornets 17
Washington got 3 TD passes from Scott Bieber and 6 John Bazile FGs as the Federals broke the second place tie with Charlotte by defeating the Hornets today. James Dunn had a rushing and a receiving TD for Washington and Robert Matthews had 171 receiving yards with 2 TDs. The Federals defense forced Charlotte QB Robert Ament into throwing 5 INTs, including each of the last 4 drives of the game.
Steamer 21 Breakers 10
Shreveport and Boston have both improved over 1989, but the Steamer were better today as they defeat the Breakers. Steamer QB Edgar Jones completed 31/35 for 201 yards and a TD and converted 11/19 3rd down conversions as they held the ball for nearly 42 minutes. The win improves Shreveport to 5-4, in the thick of the wildcard hunt.
