Scoring fell back to "normal" levels as we had just 3 games with 40 or more points with only Portland scoring more than 28. I could keep beating the dead horse or just move on to the games, so...
New Jersey was without their top 2 RBs among others but they still led Washington 24-10 after 3 quarters. QB Tristan Arnold then had a pair of 10 yard TD runs in the final 5 minutes to send the game to OT. Arnold threw an INT on the Federals second drive of OT and Al Borland gave the Generals the win with a 47 yard FG. Memphis outlasted Arizona in a back and forth game. Showboats QB Erik McNamee didn't run today but he threw 4 more TD passes, giving him 10 the last 2 weeks. McNamee finished 27/35, 321 yards and his 4th TD pass came inside the 2 minute warning to give Memphis the lead. Arizona had a nice balanced attack all game long, but they couldn't move the ball late after they lost the lead. Houston jumped out to a 14-0 lead but Georgia fought back to tie it late in the 3rd. The Gamblers took the lead early in the 4th, but Robert Hernandez threw 2 TD passes as the Force upset the champs. Hernandez finished the game 23/33, 335 yards, 3 TD and 1 INT. The good news for Jacksonville is they didn't turn the ball over. The bad news is they only had 124 offensive yards and couldn't stop the Portland offense. Emanuel Fugate threw for 311 yards and 2 TDs while the Portland RBBC ran for 191 yards. Detroit got 2 TD runs from James Fischer and QB Gabriel Flanagan was the only Wheels QB to appear in the box score for the first time in I can't remember how long. I like it, having QB2 come in for a few plays helps nothing. The Wheels held Pittsburgh to 110 total offensive yards in the win. Michigan had no problems with Oakland today, holding the Invaders to 66 total yards. The Panthers had 103 rushing yards from Lawrence Schroeder and 98 from Walter Simmons.
That's it for games involving teams scoring 20 or more points. Los Angeles got a Ronnie Nix TD run and 3 Mario Price FGs and the Express defense held Philadelphia to 144 total yards in the win. Denver got Andrew Brewer back but the San Jose defense kept the Gold out of the end zone and Jake Plummer's 3 yard TD run in the 1st qtr was the difference as the saberCats beat the Gold. New York dusted off the running portion of their playbook and QB Damien Olearly was much more efficient as a result. The Stars ran 36 times for 150 yards while Oleary completed 16/20 for 142 yards. Orlando got 308 yards and 2 TDs from Trey Lyons and an impressive 96 yard drive late, but it wasn't enough to beat New York today. Tampa Bay reached the red zone 5 times, coming away with nothing but FGs, but the Bandits defense held Florida to 183 offensive yards, forcing 2 turnovers and recording 3 sacks to defeat the division rival Blazers. Cleveland beat Southern California in a kicking contest where neither QB topped 90 passing yards. Somewhere, Captain Defender, aka The Admiral is smiling. Chicago beat Honolulu for their 2nd straight win after starting 0-6. The Blitz sacked derek Henry 5 times, intercepted him twice and kept Anthony Davis in check. Shreveport got out to an early 14-0 lead on a George Marcil run and TD pass, but Charlotte got within 14-8 on a TD and 2 point conversion. The Hornets tied it with a pair of FGs before halftime. The Steamer broke the tie with a FG early in the 4th, and it turned out that was the game winning kick. Familiar story for Oklahoma, they ran the ball well but couldn't pass. The Outlaws defense played tough, but San Antonio was able to put the ball in the end zone once to win by a TD over their division rival. Boston had a balanced attack, running for 188 yards and passing for 184, with a good chunk of that coming on a 74 yard Adam Scales TD pass to Gregory Williams. The Breakers held New Orleans to 230 yards in the win. Birmingham scored the game's first TD early in the 4th to take a 10-9 lead on Baltimore. The Stars defense clamped down after that and William Ferguson's 4th and 5th FGs of the game gave the Stars the win.
