The Divisional Round results are in and our new champion will likely be a repeat champion unless the Washington Federals break through for their first World Bowl win. Just like the wildcard round, we had 2 road teams win and 2 home teams win and our final 4 teams have a combined 18 World Bowls between them. In the American Conference we have the Portland Storm at the Houston Gamblers next week and the winner will be looking to stay undefeated in World Bowl play. Houston is our defending champs and the Gamblers are 5-0 all time in the big game while their opponent, Portland, is 3-0. Anyone who has been in the league awhile knows the American Conference owns the World Bowl, winning 18 of the previous 21, including 11 in a row. The last time the National Conference won the big game was World Bowl XI, when the New Jersey Generals won their 2nd title. Speaking of the Generals, New Jersey is facing Washington in the Conference Championship for the 3rd straight season. The last 2 were Washington wins in New Jersey, so the Generals are hoping to send the Federals fans home mad with this game being in D.C. In all, New Jersey is 2-4 in the World Bowl while Washington is 0-4, all in the last 8 seasons.
We will find out who plays in World Bowl XXII soon enough, but let's look at how Portland, Houston, New Jersey, and Washington advanced.
Houston Gamblers 41 Denver Gold 13
The game started out good for the Gold as they forced Houston into a three and out, then Andrew Brewer drove Denver into FG range. Robert Deacon made a 48 yard FG for an early 3-0 lead, but by the time Deacon made his 2nd FG, Houston had put up 31 unanswered points. The Houston defense was stout today as they kept Denver from hitting big scoring plays, keeping the Gold under 300 total yards. Offensively, Tony Dean did Tony Dean things, completing 22/28, 306 yards and 4 TD passes, all to different receivers. Dean answered the first Gold FG with a 39 yard TD pass to Jett Black to take a 7-3 lead. An Earl Castro FG made it 10-3 then Dean found Donald Turner with an 8 yard TD pass to take a 17-3 lead into halftime.
The second half saw Houston continue to gain momentum as the defense forced a Denver three and out, then Dean led another scoring drive, finding Lloyd Ellis for a 15 yard TD. Denver had another three and out before Donald Turner delivered the death blow, a 62 yard TD run to make the score 31-3. Turner ended the game with a double triple, rushing for 109 yards and that TD and catching 7 for 105 and a TD. Speaking of that stat line of 7-105-1, Turner wasn't the only Gambler to do that, as Jett Black matched that exactly. Denver then got that 2nd FG to cut it to 31-6, but Dean answered with TD pass #4, finding Hugh Chance for the 8 yard score. Denver got a late Andrew Brewer TD pass to Vincent Rodriguez, but it was too little, too late.
Portland Storm 22 San Jose SaberCats 13
Portland's defense shut down the San Jose rushing attack and while they gave up 287 yards through the air, the Storm came up big when they needed to, sacking Jake Plummer 4 times and intercepting 4 passes. Offensively, Portland had a balanced attack with 161 yards rushing and 182 passing. The Storm had the first scoring opportunity, but Donald Atkins was wide right on a 54 yard FG attempt. San Jose pinned Portland at their own 6 on the next drive but Melvin Driggers led a 12 play, 94 yard TD drive that ended when Driggers found Richard Robinson for a 27 yard scoring pass. A couple of punts later, San Jose took over at their own 20 and Plummer led a 14 play, 80 yard scoring drive, capping it with an 8 yard TD to Mark Hsu, tying the game at 7.
In the second half, San Jose got the ball first and punted, while Portland got a Donald Atkins 38 yard FG on their first drive to break the tie. Plummer was driving the SaberCats toward a score when he was intercepted by Harry Moorman. Twelve plays later, Donald Atkins was good from 38 yards again as Portland extends the lead to 13-7. Next San Jose drive, Plummer is intercepted again, this time by Christopher Schneider, which led to an Atkins 53 yard FG.
Time was running out and each defense kept frustrating the offenses until Melvin Driggers connected with Guadalupe Navarette for an 8 yard TD to give Portland a 22-7 lead with 2:43 to play. The 2 point try failed, then things got crazy. Trying to mount a comeback, Plummer connected with Bill Clinton on a long pass play that seemed destined for a TD but Harry Moorman caught him from behind just before he could cross the goal line. San Jose was still in pretty good shape with a first and goal from the 1, but Mark Sumner intercepted Plummer to keep the score 22-7. Melvin Driggers took over on his own 3 and for some reason, he threw a pass. It was intercepted by Jae Travis, setting up another first and goal from the 1 for San Jose. Two plays set them back to the 10, but Plummer finally cashed in the TD, finding Dave McEntee for the score. The 2 point conversion was no good but the onside kick was and the SaberCats still had a chance. It wasn't much of a chance, down 9 with time running out, but those chances went from slim to none when Plummer threw his 4th INT of the game.
