Bunch holds off, then buries Devils

Iowa scored on the opening drive, controlled the game with defense, then just when the Devils rallied to make it a game late in the third quarter, snowballed into a rout scoring on four straight possesions, the last an 87-yard punt return by WR Hollis Assaway. That was an extra flourish because of L.A.'s number one draft pick, wide receiver C.C. Fly, who helped the Devils go from winless to winning their division. Not only did Iowa's veteran wide receiver Hollis Assaway, who also had 9 catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns, get to upstage Fly, but Iowa's own first-round pick, quarterback Brit Humer did too. Humer led Iowa from last to first in their division, and was also named Newocomer of the Year and Most Valuable Player in the Western Conference. Iowa tight end Dick Cass also had 7 catches for 122 yards and a TD. Fly was held to three catches for 15 yards and one TD.

Panhandlers out-Ghost the Ghosts

Oklahoma finally turned the tables on Casper, beating them in much the same way Casper had surprised mainly Western Conference foes, including Oklahoma, all season. But in the history of the playoffs, it's not such a turn, as the Panhandlers continued the curse of the Ghosts, who have dominated the West and league for more than a decade but have lost in the playoffs far more of those years.

Without a dominating pass attack, Oklahoma followed suit and used oppotunistic defensive plays, including two blocked punts, field position and strategic play-action offense, exactly the formula for Casper and their QB Peter Andy Woolf. Oklahoma QB Lyle DeTyme is in the same mold, but younger, already has a Hyperbowl, and here upstaged Woolf.

Panhandler TE Jim Shortz fumbled on the first play from scrimmage, setting up exactly the Casper formula of the defense getting a short field for the offense. Casper scored in five plays, and Oklahoma chased them them for most of the game, behind 17-6 at half. Oklahom scored twice in the third to take the lead but Casper struck back immediatley, set up with short field on a long kickoff return, as they had also put down the Boulder rally the week before.

This time it was the Panhandlers who had the knockout punch, another rally and 30 points for the game. Shortz made up for his fumble with the final TD catch to put Oklahoma up by two scores. Casper drove to the Oklahoma two-yard line as time expired.

Yankees march through Trash

Nashville came out swinging, scoring on their first two possessioan, a field goal and a 19-yard run by tight end Stiggy Bunz. The game was close as the Yankees had to struggle to get to a drive to tie in the second quarter. But in the third quarter QB Phil Anders, who led Connecticut to the league championship last year, and the Yankee offense took charge of the pace, the Yankee defense cut down the Trash's number of plays, and the Yankees ran away with more of the same in the fourth.

The Yankees held Nashville QB Adam Bomb to just 85 yards passing and no TDs, and picked him off once. With the lack of any passing offense, it was easy to stifle even the dangerous RB Dick Hertz. Anders didn't expect to do as much damage rushing as passing, but the Yankees showed their versatility, as RB Wayne Kerr had a TD catch, and TE Lou Stemper and WR Wayne Wayne Goaway each had rushing TDs. Stemper, whose 75 yards receiving led the game, also upstaged Trash star Bunz.

Natives upend Projects

Veteran RB Dave Rath scored on a six-yard run with less than a minute left to give the Columbus Natives one of the most amazing, if not improbable wins in playoff history. Columbus dominated the Eastern Conference most of the season, then after losing starting TE Phil Awful to injury, were blown out by Manhattan and Amityville to lose the Central East Division to the former. The Natives struggled to beat Maryland in the wildcard game and were given the worst odds of any team in the conference semis, almost no chance to reverse the decision to Manhattan without Awful.

But Columbus got more resourceful with their play-action offense led by QB Bug Zappa, and without really stopping the Manhattan offense, found a way to get in a shootout with them. After the Projects jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, and what looked like another drubbing, the Natives' first shocker was two drives into the second quarter to tie the score. On the first drive, Zappa threw twice to Rath for big gaines, then covered the last ten yards on two keepers.

In the second half, Columbus traded long scoring drives to keep up with Manhattan, both teams trying to control possession, and on defense bending but not breaking. The Natives had a 13-play drive to consume most of the third, finished with a 6-yard pass to WR Hugh Hoo, to answer Manhattan's second half opener. The Projects went right back up again by 10 points, on a 29-yard TD pass from QB Oliver Klozoff to All-East WR Jason Skurtz.

Still they couldn't finish off the Natives. The Natives used RBs Rath and Ray Frollywood on all but two of nine plays leading to the four-yard TD run of Rath, to pull back within three, 24-27. Then came the turning point. The Natives stopped the next Manhattan long drive at their own 22. With a fourth down and five, the Projects gave the ball to East MVP RB Avery Natibooy and the Natives stopped him a yard short.

With their turn, Columbus had a third and ten at their 41, and WR Gunther Pott picked up nine on a reverse. On fourth and one at the 50, Zappa threw eight yards to Frollywood, then on the next play, the big one, to Frollywood again over the middle for 30 yards to the Manhattan 12. After a penatly on the Projects cut that in half, Rath carried it in.