Our conference championships are complete and World Bowl XXIII will be played between the two time defending champion Houston Gamblers and the New Jersey Generals. New Jersey had trouble early against Florida but they exploded for 42 consecutive points to reach a league record 7th World Bowl. Houston is also playing in their 7th World Bowl, having won the previous 6 while New Jersey has won just 2. The Denver Gold nearly beat Houston, coming from behind to tie the game before Earl Castro won it at the end.
Speaking of ending, one streak or another will come to an end after the game. Either New Jersey wins to break the 12 year American Conference World Bowl winning streak, or Houston wins to become the first back to back to back champions in league history. We have had 5 back to back champions, with Detroit doing it first, then Memphis and Houston did it twice each. This current Houston team is the first one of those previous 5 to even make it back to a 3rd straight World Bowl. New Jersey once made 4 straight World Bowls and 6 of 8, but only won 2 of them.
Houston Gamblers 23 Denver Gold 20
Houston got the ball first but it was Denver scoring first as the Gold forced a Gamblers punt on the first drive. Andrew Brewer led Denver 75 yards in 10 plays on their first drive, taking a 7-0 lead on a 13 yard TD pass to James Riley. Houston RB Donald Turner ran for 92 yards today but he fumbled the ball on Houston's second drive. Luckily for the Gamblers, Jim Dallas recovered it and a few plays later, Tony Dean tied it up with a 10 yard scoring toss to Jett Black. The first quarter ended 7-7 and Houston's Earl Castro made it 10-7 with a FG early in the 2nd. Denver was offsides though, and Houston took the points off the board, opting for a 1st down instead. A few plays later Tony Dean made his coach look like a genius when he found Donald Turner with an 11 yard TD pass and a 14-7 lead. Max Ellis then lost a fumble for Denver, allowing Houston to add 3 points to their lead thanks to an Earl Castro FG that counted. Later in the 2nd qtr, Brewer threw an INT to set Houston up in Denver territory but Tony Dean returned the favor once the Gamblers reached the red zone. Robert Deacon would close out the first half with a FG to pull Denver within a TD at 17-10.
Fast forward to the 3rd quarter and Max Ellis lost another fumble for Denver, which led to another Castro FG, making the score 20-10 Houston. Not much else happened until the middle of the 4th when Denver faced a 4th and 9 from their own 34. Andrew Brewer found Erik Younker with a 12 yard first down completion. Later in the same drive, they faced another 4th and 9, ran the same play as before and Erik Younker got the first down. Eventually, Brewer got the Gold into the end zone on a 3 yard pass to Brian Turner, making the score 20-17 Houston. There was just 2:03 left in the game, so Denver tried an onside kick and recovered it, with Brewer converting yet another 4th down play, allowing Robert Deacon to tie the game with a 48 yard FG.
Tony Dean would get the ball back with 1:16 to play and it doesn't take much imagination to guess what happened next. Mr. MVP led Houston down the field, completing 4/5 passes, setting up Earl Castro for a 56 yard FG try that would send Houston to their 7th World Bowl. Castro's kick split the uprights as time expired and the Gamblers are going to the World Bowl seeking their 3rd Championship in a row.
New Jersey Generals 56 Florida Blazers 10
This game started out sloppy as Florida's Willie Graham threw an INT on the Blazers opening drive but Don Ferguson returned the favor. Florida held onto the ball on their next drive but had to punt while Ferguson threw another INT as the Generals fans started to boo. The opponent might be different but the New Jersey crowd has seen this movie before and they were in no mood to watch Ferguson throw interceptions in the conference championship. Florida took that turnover and got a FG out of it for a 3-0 lead before Ferguson turned the boos into cheers with a 5 yard TD pass to Eric Davis. The 1st quarter would end with New Jersey leading 7-3 and Ferguson made it 14-3 with a 4 yard TD pass to Happy Gilmore early in the 2nd. Later in the 2nd, Ferguson threw his 3rd INT and Florida turned that into 7 points on a Jeffrey Morris 8 yard TD run, cutting the lead to 14-10. The crowd was getting restless again but Ferguson hooked up with Duncan Meyer for a pair of TDs before the end of the half. The first one covered 63 yards, the second 44 and New Jersey took a 28-10 halftime lead.
The 3rd quarter was uneventful and Florida missed a FG to start the 4th. Don Ferguson then led a New Jersey scoring drive, finding Redd Foxx for a 10 yard TD pass, his 5th of the game. Willie Graham then threw an INT, allowing Ferguson another scoring drive that ended with a TD pass to Redd Foxx. That made the score 42-10 and New Jersey cruised to the win as the rest of the quarter saw 3 INTs, 2 by Willie Graham, Don Ferguson's 7th TD pass and a 55 yard TD run by David Koresh.
Don Ferguson finished 30/49, 475 yards, 7 TD and 4 INT. The Generals had a 100 yard rusher in David Koresh (145, plus 57 more receiving for 202 combined) and a pair of 100 yard receivers. Franklin Cherry caught 8 passes for 181 yards and a TD while Duncan Meyer caught 3 for 122 and 2 scores. Defensively, New Jersey forced 4 turnovers and held the Blazers to 204 total yards.
