We still have the same 4 teams without a loss: San Jose, Houston, Orlando, and Washington, but we now have no teams with zero wins. New Orleans came into this week 0-5, but 3 of those losses were by a combined 6 points, including an OT loss so they were due for some breaks. The crazy part is that despite their 1-5 record, the VooDoo are just 1 game out of first place in the South. In fact we have 3 divisions where just 2 games or less separate first and last and only Washington has more than a 2 game lead. I'm going to try to make this blog short and sweet.
Gamblers 31 Bell 22
Houston's defense got shredded for over 400 yards by an East division team for the second week in a row, but just like last week, Tony Dean and some timely turnovers save the day for the Gamblers. Philadelphia got 119 rushing yards from Jamie Epperson and rushing TDs from Timothy Roquemore and Robert Cooper to compliment Joseph Serio's 308 passing yards. Serio didn't pass for any TDs however, and he was responsible for both turnovers, tossing an INT and losing a fumble. Houston ran the ball effectively, just not very often as Tony Dean did the heavy lifting today. Dean finished 30/38, 389 yards and 4 TDs.
SaberCats 25 Sun 3
San Jose opted for a run heavy/defensive game plan today and it worked, as Jake Plummer threw for just 171 yards today. RB David Hartwig led San Jose with 95 rushing yards and 56 receiving yards but the story was the SaberCats defense. They harassed Gary Wiggins all day long, allowing him to complete just 1/3 of his passes, 11/33 for 88 yards, 3 INTs and 2 sacks, with only one Southern California drive covering more than 21 yards.
Federals 20 Bulls 13
Jacksonville was just 1-4 coming into this game against 5-0 Washington, but the upstart Bulls hung with the Federals, never trailing by more than 7 points. The Bulls defense frustrated Bieber and the Federals in the first half, as Jacksonville led 6-3 at the break. Bieber finally got the offense moving a bit in the second half, finding Ronald Matthews for a TD pass to take the lead. Derek Joyce got the lead back for the Bulls with a TD pass of his own, aided by a short field after a Bieber INT. James Dunn would catch Bieber's 2nd TD pass early in the 4th to give Washington the lead for good and the Federals defense made sure Jacksonville had no more scoring opportunities.
Renegades 31 Wheels 24
Orlando leads the Southeast and the Renegades traveled to the Motor City to face the Midwest leading Detroit Wheels. Gabriel Flanagan threw 3 TDs for Detroit today and his first one gave the Wheels a 7-0 lead. Orlando came back with a FG before Flanagan's 2nd TD pass made the score 14-3 Detroit. Trey Lyons then found Donald Young for a 25 yard TD to cut the lead to 14-10. The alternating scores continued with Flanagan's 3rd TD pass and another Lyons to Young TD and the halftime score was 21-17 Detroit. The defenses settled down in the second half and the Renegades stopped following the alternating scoring script with Trey Lyons' 3rd TD pass to finally take the lead 24-21. Detroit tied it with a FG and Orlando's Roger Radke had a short TD run inside the 2 minute warning for a 31-24 Renegades lead. Flanagan had the Wheels in Orlando territory, but an INT stopped that drive and the Renegades stay unbeaten.
Storm 59 Express 10
Sorry mwd65, last week in the blog, I said your team was flying under the radar then this game happened. Melvin Driggers threw for 425 yards and 6 TD passes, and the Storm converted all 5 red zone opportunities into TDs. WR Richard Robinson caught 9 passes for 213 yards and 2 TDs to lead the Portland skill players. The Portland defense intercepted David Tavarez 3 times, with Mark Sumner taking his INT to the house for 6 points, and Tavarez was sacked twice.
Panthers 29 Gunslingers 10
San Antonio led at the half 10-6 but the Michigan defense shut down the Gunslingers offense in the second half while the Panthers offense scored on all but 1 possession the final 30 minutes. Larry Henderson didn't have a great statistical game, completing 27/40 for 272 yards but the important stat was zero turnovers. Henderson threw a TD pass in the 3rd quarter, William Hutchings capped the scoring with an 8 yard TD run, and Jonathan Ruch booted 5 FGs to help Michigan win and gain sole possession of first in the Midwest.
Force 23 Steamer 16
Division games in the South are more important so far than other division games because the 4 South teams are just 1-13 against non South teams. Georgia scored 2 TDs and a FG their first 3 possessions to take a 16-3 lead and the Force led at halftime 16-6. Both Georgia TDs were scored by RB Shaun Sutton and he finished the game with 90 rushing yards, 2 TDs and another 63 yards on 3 catches to lead the Force skill players. George Marcil led Shreveport to a FG in the 3rd and his TD pass early in the 4th to Richard Wise tied the game at 16. As the game wound down, Georgia forced Shreveport into mistakes as the Steamer's last 3 drives ended INT, punt, fumble. Just inside the 2 minute warning, Thomas Jacobi threw a 68 yard TD pass to Glen Hampton and Georgia wins, forcing a tie atop the South between these 2 teams.
VooDoo 19 Stallions 13
The other 2 South teams faced off in New Orleans, where the VooDoo were searching for their first victory of the season. RB Thomas Thomas had 105 combined yards and his rushing TD on the game's opening drive gave New Orleans the early 7-0 lead. The VooDoo eextended the lead to 13-0 with a pair of Emil Porter 2nd qtr FGs. Birmingham fought back in the 3rd with a FG and a 73 yard Willie Benge TD pass to Theodore Turner to get within 16-10 as the 4th started as New Orleans got 3 in between Stallions scores. Birmingham cut it to 16-13 before New Orleans ended the scoring with a FG in the final 2 minutes. The VooDoo out gained the Stallions 334-200, held Birmingham without a 3rd down conversion in 9 tries, and sacked Benge 4 times. Both teams are just 1-5 but also just 1 game out of first place.
Generals 38 Outlaws 16
New Jersey is the last division leader I'm writing about mainly because the East division is listed at the bottom and they aren't undefeated. Don Ferguson and the Generals had the turnover bug continue to follow them, as Ferguson threw 3 INTs and David Koresh lost 2 fumbles. Ferguson and Koresh more than made up for their lack of ball handling with otherwise big games as Ferguson completed 35/50, 528 yards and 4 TDs, producing three 100 yard receivers. One of those was Koresh, who caught 10 for 146 yards to go with 46 rushing yards, although he did not score. Fellow RB Kurt Cobain led the team in rushing despite about half as many carries as The Waco Wacko. Cobain smelled like TDs today, rushing for 52 yards and 1 score while catching 9 passes for 105 yards and 2 more scores.
Gold 48 Wranglers 6
Time to take a look at games involving teams that would be in the wildcard race, if we were worried about such things now. The Denver Gold are used to being discussed in relation to the playoffs while the Arizona Wranglers are not. Denver pretty much could do no wrong today as they rack up 573 yards of offense while limiting the Wranglers to 187. Andrew Brewer completed 24/28 for 376 yards and 4 TDs, with Douglas Crowley catching 2 of the scores among his 9 for 247. Denver only led 14-3 at halftime, but the Gold scored 17 points each in the 3rd and 4th to win going away.
Showboats 34 Breakers 14
Boston QB Adam Scales had a solid game with better ball security than his counterpart Norman Maldonado, but the Breakers running game was beat on both sides of the ball. Boston ran 27 times for 44 yards while Memphis ran less, 22 times, but gained 150. Showboats RB Steve Ransome had a double triple, rushing for 110 yards and a TD and catching 5 for 151 yards. RB Erik McNamee ran for 40 yards and 2 scores and added a 3rd TD receiving. Maldonado threw for 416 yards and that TD in between his 4 INTs and Memphis won easily by jumping out to a 21-0 lead and having all but 1 turnover occur after the game was in hand.
Blazers 23 Bandits 6
Florida and Tampa Bay didn't create a ton of offensive fireworks, but Sidney Maggard threw 2 TD passes and Gerald Harmon booted 3 FGs in a battle for the current top wildcard spot. Bandits QB Antonio Martinez threw 2 more INTs today on 15/31 passing for just 127 yards and 1/12 on 3rd downs. Tampa Bay did a good job defensively, keeping the Blazers under 300 yards and they trailed just 7-3 at the half, and 7-6 after striking first in the second half. Sidney Maggard then threw a TD pass to Richard Carstens for a 14-6 lead, then the FGs started as Florida ended the game on a 16-0 run for the division win.
Blitz 24 Thunderbolts 13
Chicago had three 75 yard first half drives but just 10 points to show for it, and their TD "drive" was a 75 yard Ronald Brown TD pass to Ian Gordon. Cleveland scored first with a FG, and they closed the half with a FG to trail 10-6 at the half. Tony Romo gave Cleveland the lead in the 3rd with a 12 yard TD pass to Matthew Martin, then gave Chicago the lead with a pick six to Sammy Montz. RB Dale Davis put the final nail in the coffin with a 71 yard TD run as the Blitz win a division game.
(NY) Stars 36 Hornets 3
New York QB Damien Oleary completed 20/26 for 530 yards and 4 TDs, all to Albert Olson, who caught 7 in all for 449 yards. New York forced 2 turnovers and held Charlotte under 200 yards. At 3-3, New York is in a good position for a playoff run, especially with their talented, big game skill players.
Maulers 23 Stars 20 (OT)
This game was a tale of two halves, turnovers, and free football. Jon Snow led Baltimore to TDs on the Stars first 2 drives and FGs on the next two for a 20-0 halftime lead. The Stars were winning the turnover battle 2-0 at this point. The second half was all Pittsburgh, as Snow threw 4 INTs and Fred Boyce missed a FG and Will Allison capitalized. Allison had an 81 yard TD pass to Arthur Thompson, then an 80 yard TD pass to Ronald Smith added to an earlier 3rd qtr FG and Pittsburgh found themselves down 20-17 after the horrible start. Snow's last INT of the 4th led to a short field for the Maulers and Brett Bowman tied it with a short FG as the regulation clock expired. The Maulers got the ball to start OT and were forced to punt. Jon Snow then threw his 5th INT of the day and shortly after, Bowman booted the ball through the uprights to give Pittsburgh a divisional win.
Invaders 27 Hawaiians 18
Oakland and Honolulu have been going opposite directions and that trend continued today. The Hawaiians sorely miss RB Anthony Davis and the good play of their defense from the first 2 weeks of the season. Without the threat of Davis, both QB Derek Henry and his replacement Edwin Clarkson haven't been able to pick up the slack. Clarkson had a decent game today, 28/42, 268 yards and a TD but he was also sacked 4 times. When Oakland had the ball, Honolulu didn't stop them, giving up 420 yards. Andrew Moreno completed 23/34, 335 yards, 2 TD and 1 INT, with RB Ronald McDevitt catching 8 for 233 yards and a TD. Fredrick Barron's 28 yard TD run in the 3rd quarter gave the Invaders a 27-7 lead, and had the game well in hand. Honolulu got a late TD and 2 point conversion to get within 9 points, and even recovered the onside kick. The Hawaiians still needed two scores though, and time expired before they could get the first one. Oakland has now won 3 in a row while Honolulu has dropped 4 straight.
