Home teams are now 7-1 in this year's playoffs, with defending champions Houston the lone road winner. The Gamblers handed San Jose their second consecutive loss after a 15-0 start to the season, and Houston now goes to Denver for the Conference Championship Game. We will have a new team from the National Conference in the big game as 3 time defending conference champs Washington fell to the Florida Blazers. Florida will have to travel to frigid New Jersey to face the red hot Generals offense.
Denver Gold 31 Chicago Blitz 16
Chicago traveled to Denver for the second time this season and were hoping for better results after their overtime loss here back in November. The Blitz got the ball first and punted, then Denver embarked on a 10 play, 80 yard TD drive, taking a 7-0 lead when Max Ellis plunged into the end zone on a short run. Ronald Brown then threw an INT, setting Denver up in Chicago territory. Robert Deacon was wide right on a 33 yard FG attempt though, leaving the score 7-0. Chicago started to move the ball in the 2nd qtr, getting a 32 yard Evan Joseph FG, cutting the lead to 7-3. Denver wasted little time getting those points back as Brian Turner took the kickoff 101 yards for a TD. Inside the 2 minute warning, Andrew Brewer was intercepted, giving Chicago the ball in Gold territory. A few plays later, Dale Davis ran in a short TD run, cutting Denver's lead to 14-10.
Any momentum Chicago gained before halftime quickly vanished in the 3rd as Andrew Brewer found Steven Riley for a 75 yard TD on the first offensive play, extending the lead to 21-10. Chicago would answer with an Evan Joseph FG but Brewer drove Denver to another TD, a 10 yard score to Gary Cortez. Denver now led 28-13 and the rest of the game saw a FG for each team as Denver advances to the Conference Championship Game.
Houston Gamblers 46 San Jose SaberCats 24
It didn't take the champs long to get on the scoreboard as Tony Dean found Hugh Chance for a 78 yard TD pass on the 3rd play of the game and the Gamblers defense forced a three and out. Charles Saner fumbled the punt though, and San Jose took advantage of the gift when Herman Hayes ran in a TD from 6 yards out, tying the game at 7. Houston would get an Earl Castro FG for a 10-7 lead after 1 quarter, then the SaberCats took the lead on Herman Hayes' 2nd TD run early in the 2nd. As the game wound toward the 2 minute warning, Tony Dean threw his 2nd TD pass, a 15 yarder to Jett Black and Houston now led 17-14. Jake Plummer answered that score with an ill timed INT that gave the champs the ball in instant FG range. Tony Dean wanted more and got it, throwing an 11 yard TD pass to Francisco Russell to give Houston a 24-14 halftime lead.
The second half started like the first half ended for San Jose minus the Houston TD. Plummer was intercepted, leading to a Houston FG, extending their lead to 27-14. We then had three straight three and outs when Tony Dean was intercepted by William Jung. Plummer found Mark Hsu two plays later for a 22 yard TD pass, cutting the lead to 27-21. Dean atoned for his mistake right away with a 75 yard catch and run TD to Jett Black to make the score 34-21 after 3 quarters.
San Jose cut the lead to 34-24 with an early 4th qtr FG, then Houston pushed the lead back to 13 with a FG of there own at the 6:00 mark. Jake Plummer and San Jose tried to come back, but an INT, turnover on downs and another INT led to 3 Earl Castro FGs, pushing the lead to 46-24. San Jose's last drive also ended with an interception and Houston continues their quest for 3 championships in a row.
New Jersey Generals 38 Shreveport Steamer 9
New Jersey got the ball first and was forced to punt but the Generals defense got the ball back thanks to a George Marcil INT. Don Ferguson then found Franklin Cherry for a 54 yard TD pass that would have given the Generals a 7-0 lead but a holding penalty on Tim Brewer negated the score. The drive would end up stalling in FG territory but Al Borland was wide left on a 38 yard kick. Shreveport then went on a drive that took the game into the 2nd qtr and a 35 yard Jeffrey Smith FG gave the Steamer a 3-0 lead. That's as good as it got for Shreveport as Ferguson and the Generals would score on the rest of their possessions today. New Jersey's first TD came on a short David Koresh run, then they got a pair of Don Ferguson TD passes, one to Redd Foxx and another to Happy Gilmore for a 21-3 halftime lead.
On to the second half where the 3rd quarter flew by with just 1 drive for each team. Shreveport got the ball first and George Marcil led a 13 play, 75 yard drive that took 7:34 off the clock. The drive ended with a 2 yard TD pass from Marcil to David Shafer, but the missed XP made the score 21-9. Ferguson and the Generals offense didn't like standing around for half a quarter so they decided to keep the ball the other half of the 3rd. Ferguson led New Jersey on their own 13 play, 75 yard TD drive, taking a 28-9 lead on Ferguson's 3rd TD pass, 2nd to Happy Gilmore. Shreveport had just 2 drives in the 4th quarter, both ending in punts while New Jersey added a FG and a Kurt Cobain TD run for our final score of 38-9.
Don Ferguson was sharp today, completing 36/43, 328 yards and 3 TDs as New Jersey advances to the Conference Championship for the 4th consecutive season. The Generals have lost the 3 previous CC's to the Washington Federals, so would they be facing Washington again?
Florida Blazers 20 Washington Federals 14
The first half of this game was rather uneventful as every drive but one ended in a punt or the end of the half. Florida had a 7-0 halftime lead thanks to a Stephen Hannah 13 yard TD run. The second half started like the first, with each team punting once. Washington finally got on the scoreboard thanks to a 68 yard Tristan Arnold TD pass to Ronald Matthews and we were tied at 7. Willie Graham answered by leading the Blazers 75 yards in 5 plays as Manuel Aponte's short TD run gave Florida the lead back 14-7. Late in the 3rd quarter Florida would get a Gerald Harmon FG to extend the lead to 17-7 and another Harmon FG in the 4th made it 20-7. Other than 1 big play, the Washington offense wasn't moving the ball well at all, so James Dunn decided to bring the kickoff out of the end zone, and he didn't stop until 103 yards later as he crossed the other end zone, cutting the lead to 20-14 with just over 5 minutes to play. Washington's defense got the ball back for the offense with over 2 minutes to play but Arnold couldn't get the Federals over midfield, turning it over on downs. Three Willie Graham kneel downs later and Florida was on their way to New Jersey for a chance to reach their 2nd World Bowl.
