It's World Bowl time again, and the 26th title game in league history features the Houston Gamblers, seeking their 8th World Bowl against the Orlando Renegades. Orlando will be playing in their first World Bowl and are hoping to continue the National Conference's winning streak. The American Conference is 20-5 overall in World Bowl history but it was worse for the National Conference a couple years ago as the New Jersey Generals reversed the trend and won the last 2.
Houston's road to the World Bowl began with a Wildcard win over Honolulu, then a Division Round win over Portland before they beat Oklahoma to get here. Orlando started their journey with a Wildcard win over Georgia, then a Divisional Round win against Shreveport put them in the Conference Championship where they sent Washington home.
As I type this, both teams are being whisked away to an as yet undisclosed location to play the World Bowl. How do the fans buy tickets to a game they don't know where it's at until it's over? That's a question for another day, so let's now answer the question of how Houston and Orlando won their games.
Houston Gamblers 16 Oklahoma Outlaws 10
Oklahoma got the ball first and drove 10 plays for a FG and an early 3-0 lead. Houston's first drive ended on downs after a 4th and 1 at the edge of FG range failed, keeping the score 3-0. From there we had a three and out for Oklahoma, an exchange of interceptions and a three and out for Houston. This took us into the 2nd quarter and Oklahoma faced a 4th and 1 from the Houston 19. The Outlaws opted for the FG but Gerald Harmon was wide right, keeping the score 3-0. The rest of the half was uneventful and Oklahoma took that 3-0 lead into the locker room.
Houston got the ball to start the second half and had an 11 play FG drive to tie the game at 3. That drive took half of the 3rd quarter and Oklahoma's Raymond Settles threw his second INT on the Outlaws first drive of the second half. That one didn't hurt either, but after a three and out, Settles threw INT #3. This one hurt as Houston took over at the Outlaws 25 and Steve Austin ran in a 9 yard TD to give Houston their first lead of the game.
The 4th quarter began with Houston leading 10-3 and Raymond Settle's 4th interception led to another Gamblers FG and a 13-3 lead. On the Outlaws next offensive play, Settles found Glenn Sprinkle for a 75 yard catch and run TD to bring Oklahoma closer, trailing 13-10. The next 3 drives were all punts and Oklahoma had less than 2 minutes to get the tying FG or go ahead TD. It took all of 1 play for that to come crashing down as Settles threw his 5th INT of the game. Houston would add an Earl Castro FG, leaving just 13 seconds for the Outlaws to attempt to pull out a miracle win. It didn't happen and the Houston Gamblers advance to the franchise's 8th World Bowl.
Orlando Renegades 24 Washington Federals 10
Orlando took an early 3-0 lead on their second drive of the game and most of the first half was a defensive struggle. Toward the end of the 2nd quarter, Marcus Ricketts lost a fumble, giving Orlando the ball in Federals territory. A few plays later Trey Lyons fired a 25 yard TD pass to Rufus Williams, giving the Renegades a 10-0 lead they would take into halftime.
Washington came out of halftime determined to get back in the game and they went on a 12 play drive that ended with Jeff Rosado's 1 yard TD run, cutting the lead to 10-7. Orlando answered with a 9 play TD drive of their own. Trey Lyons threw his 2nd TD pass, this one 23 yards to David Beegle and a 17-7 lead. The Renegades defense forced a three and out before Lyons led a 10 play TD drive. Anthony Milan's 6 yard TD run gave Orlando a commanding 24-7 lead early in the 4th. Washington couldn't get anything going until they got a FG at the 2 minute warning to get within 14 points and they recovered the onside kick. The Federals turned it over on downs and the Renegades killed the clock to advance to the franchise's first ever World Bowl.
