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The Birmingham Americans faced the New York Stars at Downing Stadium in New York for week
two of the inaugural 1974 World Football League season on July 17, 1974. This was the first
WFL game played in New York. The franchise had settled on Downing Stadium as a last resort.
Yankee Stadium was closed for renovations right after the Yankees finished the 1973
season in October, and it would not reopen until 1976. Shea Stadium was fully booked
as the Yankees shared the park with the Mets, as well as the NFL's Jets and Giants.
Giants Stadium, the future home of both of the NFL's New York football teams, was still
under construction and it wouldn't open its doors until 1976. So the Stars were left with
no other option but Downing Stadium, a 22,000 seat track and field facility that was built
during the Great Depression. The Americans were managed by Jack Gatta, and the Stars
were managed by Vito Perelli. This audio recording is from the New York Radio broadcast featuring
announcers John Sterling and Matt Snell.
Ladies and gentlemen, your sportsvel circumcision team is over.
As you know, the most vulnerable joint in professional football is the knee.
And I think that by having a rule such as this where a guy can get a running start,
I think they're going to lose a lot of players, and this might be one of the rules they have to change.
Yeah, I had a friend of mine, as a matter of fact, from the Colts who ended his career the same way,
and he was very young, Steve Stonebreaker. He was cracked back by a Chicago Bear,
and he really never was able to play the game.
Some of the good rules, you're allowed to complete a pass one foot in bounds.
That's like the college rule. And there also is an extra period in the WFL.
It is not sudden death, but tie games are played off with two 7 1⁄2 minute sessions in an overtime,
and then if the tie isn't broken at the end of the two 7 1⁄2 minute sessions, well then it's a tie game.
That also means that some players, Matt, it's going to be an awfully long game.
I think, John, coupled with extra periods at the end of the game plus the 20 game schedule where every game counts,
I think it's going to get to be a very weary season, especially for some of the old vets.
But as you said, by only catching the ball in bounds with one foot, I think it's going to lead to a lot more completions.
I think that I was just looking at the field here, I noticed that outside of the out of bounds line,
they have another stripe about three feet from the sideline.
This will help a lot too when you get a lot of players who used to get hit right on the sideline.
Now the player approaching will know that the guy is going to be out of bounds.
So this will help some too, as I said. They are experimenting a lot.
There are some things that they tried to throw in and I think they are just going to see how they work out.
But after this first season in their belt, I think they will sit down at a league meeting and make a lot of changes.
And of course, probably the greatest rule change in the WFL concerns touchdowns.
In the WFL, a touchdown is seven points. There are no extra points kicked.
There is an action point for the eight point and that's either a run or a pass from the two and a half yard line.
There are no more automatic extra points. So a touchdown is worth seven.
And then they have the action point from the two and a half.
Those are some of the rule changes. Now during the season, Matt and I will catch you up on how the rule changes apply,
how they will manifest on the field. Those are just some of them very roughly.
From here there are others we didn't cover.
We are going to talk about the personnel of these two teams, the New York Stars and the Birmingham Americans.
And we will get to that right after this message from Dodson.
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YMCA New York at Radio 57 where you hear Ken Fairchild every morning from 5.30 to 10.
John Sterling, Matt Snell, Downing Stadium and the New York Stars pregame show before the first Stars home game.
Right now they're introducing the defensive alignment of the Birmingham Americans,
which would indicate that the Stars have won the toss and will receive.
Looking over some of the personnel, first of all for Birmingham, their personnel was rated maybe the best in the league.
It's tough to rate. There are no preseason games. Birmingham has won their only regular season game.
They have a pretty good backfield with Myra, Paul Robinson and Charlie Haraway.
John, you're right. I just said looking at their offensive backfield.
Of course, I'm very familiar with Charlie Haraway. I know him very well.
He had a lot of good years with the Redskins.
Paul Robinson had some fantastic years with the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Indians traded to the Houston. But you've got guys here with I think nine years experience with Haraway
and anywhere from seven years with Paul Robinson.
George Myra, I don't know. George Myra came out of school the same year I did.
We played in the North-South game together, their All-Star game together.
George just never has been able to find himself. He has a problem being a little short.
But I think their offensive line, too, they have some very big people.
I see Paul Conster. Paul played for years. O'Donnell played for Buffalo for years.
Just a few other people I think that are not known to other teams.
I would have to read their personal schedules looking at his chart as one of the best in the league.
The good blocking of Haraway is also going to help Paul Robinson at running back.
Robinson was the AFL Rookie of the Year a few years ago.
And you're right about the offensive line with Conster, Joe O'Donnell,
and probably the number one college pick that the WFL chose, Buddy Brown, who plays left tackle.
And he's a big one at 245 pounds.
Conversely, Matt, maybe the strong point of the Stars is their defense,
especially the defensive line with a couple of your teammates, Jerry Philbin and John Elliott,
who seemed in the one game that I've seen of the Stars in better shape.
They seem to have overcome some of the injuries they've had.
With Larry Estes and Lloyd Voss, it's a pretty good defensive line.
That's right, John. I think John Elliott, of course he hurt his knee with the chest two years ago.
And he was a little slow returning, so they didn't see eye to eye on getting together on a contract.
Jerry Philbin came out the same year I did. He played a lot of years.
He tends to be accident prone. He has had a lot of injuries.
A number of things have happened to him.
Lloyd Voss, I've known for years. He's a very good one.
Big guy, 6'4.5' 265.
Larry Estes has been around from our corner.
I think the strength in the Stars defense is up front.
They have a lot of rookie linebackers, and their whole defensive backfield is rookies.
They're going to need those experienced guys up front to hold this thing together,
especially when you get down in late October and November when a lot of people are tired,
a lot of people don't want to go out, the weather tends to be cold.
Those front fours are going to have to pull them together and keep those guys going.
Ashley, that's really one of the question marks on the Stars.
The five linebackers they have are all rookies, and the same is true for their defensive backfield.
Those are some of the thoughts on the Stars and Birmingham Americans,
and we'll get back with a final thought on the pregame program right after this from Dotson.
Howdy, this is Steve Allen inviting you to drive a Dotson to help send a kid to Y Camp.
Test drive any new Dotson between now and August 31st at a participating dealer,
and Dotson will donate money in your name to the YMCA Campership Fund
to help send thousands of needy boys and girls to camp.
A couple of years ago, test drives at Dotson dealerships earned enough money
for the U.S. Forest Service to plant a quarter of a million trees in national forests.
That same number of test drives will send 5,000 needy boys and girls of every race, creed, and color to YMCA Camp.
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The New York Starless pregame show has been brought to you by our local New York, New Jersey,
Fairfield County Dotson dealers who invite you to stop in and test drive a Dotson
and help send a kid to camp. This is WMCA New York. Stay tuned for Starless Football.
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At Downing Stadium on Randall's Island, the New York Star is for that of sports exclusive.
World Football League action tonight, the Stars meet the Birmingham Americans.
New York Starless Football is being brought to you by Carling Sports.
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All our sponsors are proud to bring you the exciting play-by-play sounds of New York Starless Football.
All season long right here on Dialogue Radio 57 WMCA.
This is John Sterling and Matt Snell at Downing Stadium, and right now, our national anthem.
We'll get back with more action right after this message in 60 seconds.
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New York Stars football over. WMCA is presented solely for the listening enjoyment of our audience.
At any reproduction or rebroadcast of tonight's game without the express, tenter-ridden consent of the New York Stars.
And WMCA is prohibited.
This is some way to break my buddy Matt Snell in the broadcast business.
We're doing this game on a telephone as we do not have phone lines and our console is broken down.
I hope you enjoy the game anyway.
The Stars, the Birmingham Americans, set to go at Browning Stadium. The Marine Color Guard has marched off.
Earl Sark will boot it off. Remember now from the 30-yard line.
That's one of the changes. Dave Richards is deep. This ballgame's underway.
A low boot going downfield. Richards fields it on a bounce at the 6 and fumbles it, picks it up at the 5.
Richards at the 10, cutting to midfield. Now trying to go wide on the inside.
He's up to the 17 and knocked down at about the 18-yard line.
Dave Richards all over the field as Matt the ball just wouldn't bounce right for Richards.
John, I thought that for a moment it was probably the greatest thing that ever happened to him.
Sometimes when that ball bounces it tends to freeze the people coming down the field.
But the New York Stars showed a lot of, I mean the Birmingham Americans showed a lot of class.
They came down, they broke down, they played their positions.
And as he danced all over the field they were able to keep in their lanes and make the type.
Richards a very exciting back and Matt he must have made 13 moves in the space of about 5 yards.
Richards from Miami of Ohio, 5'10 and 185. There was a penalty against the Stars.
We haven't seen the signal but it looks like a holding penalty it is.
And the ball will be on the 9-yard line so Matt that's where the Stars will put in play in the first home game ever.
They have first and 10 in their own line. Bob or Manny is split out wide to the right.
Sowers and tight on the left side. The quarterback is Tommy Sherman.
Sherman on the gear of fake kick. Play action firing out and it's incomplete as he just overthrew Gladio on the 23-yard line.
Good play action fake by Tommy Sherman. He overthrew Gladio.
Well you know Gladio could have taken that a little deeper John.
I guess he wanted to just find the open spot. He went down about 10 yards and broke through the sidelines.
He just, you know you say, led him a little bit too much into the sideline.
But it was a good idea to come out throwing. It's going to be an exciting game I think.
One of the Stars first string wide receivers, Al Young injured not playing. Sower out left for Manny right.
Here is the give now up the middle to Gladio. He crosses the 15, just about the 16-yard line.
A gain of about 7 yards. A delay handoff to Gladio and a gain of, as they put the ball back at the 15, gain of about 6 yards.
It's 3rd and 4. Just the beginning at Donning Stadium, John Sterling, Matt Snell.
Stars and the Birmingham Americans. We'll set some of that defense for you a bit later.
One of Matt Snell's old teammates playing the left corner against her Manny.
Alright here is Sherman now and there's a fumble and the ball is dead at the 15. Caught by Birmingham.
The fumble goes over to Birmingham and Birmingham is in good shape on the 15-yard line.
I think it's a classic of early play as you said John without having any preseason.
They're trying to be a little bit too fancy I think with not having enough experience under their belts.
He tried a little play action and he went to handoff back to Gladio and of course Gladio couldn't find the handle.
I think as the game goes on you'll find out that they'll work more together and won't mistake such as they.
Fumble recovery by Clarence Washington. Here comes Birmingham as they line up in a power eye right.
They're out of the power eye. Dennis Holman is flanked out wide right.
The quarterback is George Meier the veteran. It's a give now to Paul Robinson going right.
He's hit behind by Jerry Philbin and knocked back to about the 18-yard line.
Philbin coming from behind caught Robinson as he was stacked up on the left side of the Stars line.
Philbin caught him from behind for a loss of three yards. Good play by Jerry.
That was a typical play by Jerry Philbin. He's been around 10 years and Jerry read that one perfectly.
He went to play it a pulling guard and he just destroyed that backfield and he just weeded him out until he got to Paul Robinson.
Just took him in the ball.
All right Jenkins out left. Out right is Dennis Holman. They line up in the eye.
Now Harraway Robinson split out of it. Deuce backfield behind Meier.
Second 13 on the 18. Meier to throw. Pitching.
Firing over the middle and it's incomplete. Ball is intended.
Downfield for the tight end Chet Powell. Powell fumbled it away at the two or three.
And I tell you what Meier hit Powell right in the numbers and he just couldn't hang on to it.
That was a typical pass by George Meier as I said. One of George's big faults is he tends to be short.
So he rolled out and he rolled out to his left and he sent Ted Powell down the middle and being in the zone he just pulled up in the open spot but he just couldn't find the handle.
I think it's a little early game jitters.
All right it's third and four for Birmingham now. They're on the Stars 18 after the fumble recovery by Washington.
Robinson Harraway the deuce backs behind Meier.
Now jumping straight back to throw. George looking. Firing to the near sideline.
It is intercepted I believe. It is no it is not intercepted.
Hanging on to the ball was Wendell Wilson the right corner and they ruled that Wilson trapped it.
And of course the Stars 1 of our call turned the ball over to him.
Now on fourth down Earl Sark will cover the ball game and try a field goal.
Ball on the 18. They'll probably kneel down at about the 25.
It will be a 35 yard field goal with the goal post back on the end line.
Meier will hold. He's going to kneel down at the 25.
Sark will chime from there. He kicks straight ahead. Not soccer style.
Stars almost offside. Now the snap ball down. The kick is up. It's in the air. It's long.
And the kick is good.
So he has the first score of the game. As they come up the field the score is Birmingham 3.
Stars nothing. A timeout on the field. More Stars football in just 60 seconds.
Hi. I'm Jim Bay for Carling Sports.
The other day a veteran of the other league was asked which team would give the Super Bowl champion dolphins the most trouble.
He matter of factly replied the World Football League.
I guess it's a sign of the times. A time for some changes and you'll see them all in the WFL.
A professional league from top management level to the bottom field level where the going gets tough.
It'll be a happy association between you as a fan and the WFL because the rule changes are meant to make the game more entertaining and exciting for you.
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35 yard field goal. Birmingham leads at three nothing. 13 14 left in the first period after the fumble recovery by Washington. Here's a kick by Stark. It's a short kick.
Up to the 30. A good run back by the little guy Bob Romani.
And you almost can't find him. He's about five seven. I think that a 20 game season he's got to stay out of that flanker position because he could really get hurt.
But it was a good run back and I think Bay Perrelli should really be proud of his start to come out of that with only a three point scoring play.
Alright the stars down three nothing. Really the beginning of the quarter.
After many outright here is again up the middle of the richards falls for a yard or two. He's in a line of scrimmage fell for about a yard. The initial hit by the left side linebacker Mike Trueaxe number 58.
Trueaxe a rookie out of Tulane. They have two linebackers Matt. Both rookies out of Tulane. Mike Mullin and Mike Trueaxe.
And then the next teammate of Matt from the Jets and Matt happy to see the world footballing. His second down about seven at the 43.
The quarterback Tommy Sherman juice backfield behind him. The game now to Richard. Richard explodes across the 45.
About the 48 yard line. Quick step and he burst through a very small hole. Up to the 48. It should be third at about two.
John is a typical one of those little stutter step plays and as you said he's got a lot of moves he put down about five before he got to the line of scrimmage.
But I think that they're going to have to open up and throw the ball because that defense you can see them creeping up the linebacker right on the line and the secondary starting to come up.
So they're really going to have to open up and throw the ball.
Here's a big play with the Stars. Third at about two from the 48. The game to Gladio. Swinging wide right. Gladio first down as he gets across midfield and down on the Birmingham 48.
Gladio does not have all the speed in the world but he was able to just turn the corner Matt to get the first down.
John that's one of my old favorite plays. Just line up in that hard backfield and run off tackle and he got some real good blocking.
A guy like Gladio who doesn't have tremendous speed which I never had. That play gets you to the line quick and all you got to do is just pick the holes and just get your head down and get as much as you can.
Yeah but you about 30 pounds. You can gladio.
Alright Stars on their first down tonight. They trail three nothing early moments. First quarter. They're on the Birmingham 48. Sherman is the quarterback. Tommy now dropped back.
Tommy look. He's going to look. He's going to fire long. It is complete direction. Richard. 30 yard line. Richard is hitting north down to the 25.
Dave Richards out of the backfield found a dense spot in that zone. Balled the ball at about the 30. Ran to the 26 yard line.
New York Stars first down at about a 22 yard pass completion.
They just splinted their closed end of their field and I think I get the ball to Richards more often. He's got a lot of moves and to get him that secondary well he can take it all the way for you.
Richards made a couple of great moves after catching the pass of the 30. Went past a couple of guys hemmed in at the 26. First and 10 Stars 26. Play action. Sherman a throw. Looking looking long but he has him. He has him. He's down. Went out of bounds at the one. No he went out of bounds at the one.
No touchdown. And I'll tell you something Matthew. Now you have seen Tower because you're a teammate. He turned some cornerback right around and went outside and was alone and his momentum took him out of the one.
George looked like he hasn't lost anything. They rolled that zone to the other side and George was one on one and I've never seen a defensive back yet that can cover George one on one.
He ran one of his old favorite post go outs and as you said he turned that defensive back all the way around. If they don't roll the zone to George you'll kill them all night.
All right Stars first and goal of the one. They've been working on this all week. They have some problems inside the five as Jacksonville. Here is the fake by Sherman bootleg touchdown Stars. Beautiful bootleg by Tommy Sherman. The fake to riches going right.
Sherman bootleg at left and looking like who was the famous bootlegger in football. I mean Frankie Alvarez. And a touchdown with the Stars at seven three. I think they were all looking for them to run off tackle. Glad you made a good run back up there. They decided that drive.
I think he got that defense to lean in and they faked that off tackle play to him and as you said Sherman rolled out. He was all by himself not even a linebacker stay at home.
I hear comes the action for that was a 60 yard star job and six plays at least seven three. The action point from the two and a half.
Sherman to get to Glasgow. Got the action point and the stars lead at eight to three. Glad you're cutting left.
Opening and through got the action point. So there's a time out on the field where the score the stars eight.
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John Sterling, Matt Snell at Downing Stadium. The stars lead at eight three. The 60 yard drive and here is the kickoff now with Rejecke a really short kick. Really short.
Taken by Jimmy Edwards. Edwards 30. Edwards is hit. Edwards is knocked down to the 33. And I'll tell you the stars are very fortunate because Edwards did not get a good run back. He didn't get any blocking at all.
And that was a really short kick by Rejecke. The tackle by Bill DeFlavio of the stars. John I just want to say something to the fans. I wish this would be on television because number 61 from the Birmingham Americans the defensive tackle 62250 from Houston a rookie.
He laid the stars kicker out. So this kid is going to have to learn as he kicks off to keep his head up and look downfield because he's only about five foot nine about 175 pounds and he wasn't looking and he just got knocked cold.
He's got to learn. You know those little place kickers they kick it off. They got to get off the field before they're in deep trouble. Pete Rejecke was helping the sideline.
Birmingham will put it in play on the 33 first and 10. 1021 left first quarter. The stars lead at 8-3 over Birmingham. George Morrow the quarterback in motion is Denny Duran.
Now on the option to Duran he can throw. He's a quarterback. He's going to be hit in the backfield and it's ball is pressed away by Filton. It's stars ball.
They try to double reverse the Denny Duran a wide receiver who's also a quarterback. As he lanes the pass the ball is taken away by Filton. Stars ball on the Birmingham 23 yard line.
John that was a typical play by Jerry Filburn all these years of experience. When he saw that double reverse coming he knew that little guy wasn't going to do well.
He just tackled him up high and just ripped the ball away from him and started down the field with it. But as you know those linemen don't know how to run. He could have waited for his first score.
Well the stars in business on the 23 first and 10. The quarterback is Sherman. Juice Backfield riches in Glantzio behind Sherman. Tommy barks it out.
The give now to Glantzio. Right side. He falls forward as he's hit. Gets to about the 20 yard line. A gain of three. It'll be second and seven from there.
Warren Capone the middle linebacker made the stop. Man I'll tell you something. This ball game has not lacked for action.
They've only played about five minutes. There's been all kinds of action. The stars lead at eight to three. They get the five point lead here in the first quarter.
Nine forty seven left. Second and seven. Ball at 20 yard line. Sherman the quarterback. Alright split the backs behind Sherman now.
Now in motion goes Dave Richards left. The give to Glantzio. Glantzio left side 20. Hit and knocked down at the 17 yard line.
The tackle by Vic number 70 Tiny Andrews. And I'm well acquainted with Tiny during the Morgan games. He's a star at Morgan State at Tiny. He's a big guy.
He is playing light at 265. I worry a lot about Tiny on your broadcast too as you said. He's 6'3 245 and that's light for him.
But he's a great one and as you said this game hasn't lacked for action. I think that's where they're going to find a lot of fan appeal when they give them all the score and a lot of fast action football.
Alright here's a tough play. Last man about. This third and fourth and in between play. Sherman now takes the hand off. Rolling right.
Sherman looking. Sherman 20. Sherman 15. Sherman is hit at the 13 and he should have or be very close to the first down.
That's a tough call Matt. The in between calls. You pass. You run. Sherman looking to pass. Rolled out right and got very close to the first down.
Well John I just said it's a tough call but I think if Sherman would have rolled towards his mark he would have had a better chance of making the first down because he came very close and by being completely on the opposite side of the field he could have just put his head down and got the first down.
But he didn't know exactly where he was and what he needed and as you know those quarterbacks are noted for running but it's good to see one of them roll out because it puts an added dimension to the game and a lot of pressure on that defense because now they have to decide are they going to stay back and play pass defense or are they going to come up and stop the man from making the first down.
And Sherman did a great job. They strung it out and one of the linebackers made the tackle.
Well Matt of course if you are a quarterback and you put your head down and tackle you may not quarterback anymore. Sherman has got the first down apparently.
That was the preliminary signal. We can't say that they have the chain because that's not chain. That's called a thicker rod which someone tried to explain to me and I don't understand it yet but anyway that's what it is.
And the Stars have it first and 10 on the Birmingham 17 yard line. They lead in the ball game 8-3 with 8-53 remaining in the quarter.
Manning out right. Sauer out left. Sherman the quarterback.
All right Sherman box it out now. In an high formation richards he gives out to Gladio the front man up in the middle at the 10 at the 5 and down to 2 yard line.
Gladio the big hole ripped straight ahead and went down to the 2. Gladio is really running well tonight man.
John Gladio really looked good on that play. He doesn't have all the side of all his speed but as you said he got a good block of the line of stripping and when those defensive secondary made the tackle he just put his head down and he bust right between two of them.
So I think John is going to have a real good game. Birmingham is going to have a tight of their defensive secondary. The Stars are going to run them off the field.
First and goal Stars on the 2. Manning out to the right. Sauer inside. They give down to Gladio at the goal line. He gets to the goal line and it's over.
Bob Gladio hit at the goal line fell forward over and the Stars now lead 15 to 3. Gladio good straight ahead power. So Gladio gets a touchdown.
And now for Sherman rolled in for the first touchdown. Gladio had the action point. The ball is in the 2.5. 23 yard march on five plays after Jerry Sullivan stole the ball from Jenny Jharon.
Alright now the quarterback is Sherman. Manning goes out to the left. Now Sherman rolls. Sherman looks. Sherman is hit. Dances away. Fires in the end zone and it is complete.
Fires in the big tight end for the action point and Farsen spikes the ball. Farsen the huge tight end gets the action point and the Stars now lead 16 to 3.
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Well John, I can't understand what the defensive back from Birmingham was thinking about. As you know Farsen's 6'6, 240.
And the defensive back they had one in front of him and one behind him. And the one in front went high in the air and tried to intercept the ball.
And I don't understand why he was trying to intercept it instead of just knocking away because there was no place for him to go with it.
But he made a mistake and you're going to see mistakes like this over the years. And I think as they mature a lot more you'll see that their backs will get a lot better.
The Stars in about a little less than 7 minutes have scored two touchdowns and two action points.
Here is a kick. It's a short one by Rajeky. Picked up by Edwards in the 20. 25 Edwards getting to midfield.
Edwards at the 37 yard line has hit a knockdown at the 39 as he ran to the middle portion of the field.
And the stop was made by Jimmy Sims, the rookie strong safety from USC. Ball be marked on the 39.
I think again Matt, the Stars are lucky that Birmingham doesn't have better field position. Those kicks are really short.
Well John, as you said, Rajeky got a lesson on the last kickoff and one thing about it, he had his head up this time.
And I think he sort of shanked the ball. But again, the guy that hit him before did a lot to shorten that kickoff.
By Meyer the quarterback, Birmingham first and 10 on their own 39 at Shale 63. And Moshe Robinson to give to Harraway.
Hit at the line on Scrooge. Harraway fights forward to the 41-42 yard line.
Number 78, Larry Estes, the first man to hit him in line with Lloyd Voss.
That Stars defense, and let's talk about it now. Jerry Philbin at left defensive end. Lloyd Voss at left tackle.
John Elliott at right tackle. Of course Elliott and Philbin form a jet. The right end from the Saints, Larry Estes.
It's a veteran front four. The linebackers are all young, are all rookies.
And that may hurt. Tom Chandler, the right side linebacker. Mark Reynolds, the middle linebacker. Ernie Richardson, the left side linebacker.
On his second and seven, for Birmingham from up the 42 yard line. In motion goes Holman.
Here is a gift to Paul Robinson cutting left. Robinson running room 45. 47-48 yard line Robinson.
The stop was made by Wendell Wilson, the right side cornerback.
And Paul Robinson may very well have a first down. He's very close to it anyway. Robinson's a good one. Matt from Cincinnati.
Paul's had a lot of good years with Cincinnati. He went down to Houston and didn't do too well.
But like I said, Paul's got a lot of outside speed. He has a lot of experience.
And I think if you notice too that the outside wingback was put in motion back towards the line of scrimmage.
And he wiped the defensive end out, which would have been Estes. So I think this is something you have to watch as the game develops.
The third is about one and a half on the 47 yard line. Holman is out to the right. The rest of the end's in tight.
Line formation behind Meyer. The gift to Robinson. Hit a line of scrimmage. Crushed by Estes at about the 48 yard line.
Don't know if he made it. Larry Estes really crunched Robinson at about the 48. And they're arguing now where to place the ball.
George Meyer is there. Estes is there. John Elliott is there. And a lot of arguing going on there. Where to place the ball.
It's going to be very close. Ricky Kane, our sponsor, says they're a half inch short.
He has to have eyes like Superman if he can see that from here. But let's wait and see now.
They place the ticker rod down. That's honestly what it's called, fans. Honestly. And they are a half yard short.
Well, shark went up for our spotter, Ricky Kane. That's amazing. He's got some eyes, man. He's been eating his carrots.
You're right, John, because you know, the lighting at Downey Stadium isn't that great. And for him to spot that they were a half yard short from here, I can't believe it.
But it was a great call. Hi, Dave Richards is the deep man. Wendell Wilson is one of the up men.
Right now Earl Sark stands on his old 35. Preparing to try to punt it away. Little snap. Bummel. Pick up Sark. The boot. Good.
Boot by Sark. All the way down. It will roll into the end zone. And it will be a touchback. He'll take it back on the 20 yard line.
Luckily, the Stars got a good bounce and the ball rolled in. So, 5.44 left first quarter. We apologize again if you're having slight problems during the broadcast.
We are doing it on a phone, live on a phone. We have blind shovels in the booth at Downey Stadium. We'll clear it up by the next home game, so don't worry about it.
5.44 left in the quarter. John Sterling, Matt Snell. The Stars, very impressive thus far lead at 16 to 3. Sauer out left. Romani out right in an iron formation, the Stars.
The quarterback is Tommy Sherman. Sherman now. Long count. Long count. Now the gift to Richards. Richards hit it to the line of scrimmage escapes.
Hit it to 25 and knocked down at the 25. I'll tell you something, Matt. He had a little bit of a hole, a little bit of air, and I thought he ran into Bob Romani who was down blocking for him.
It could be true, you know. He's got so many moves that I'm sure the people down in front of him don't know which way he's going to go either.
But, you know, having played running back for nine years, the size of the Stars running backs, I can't wait to see what's going to happen around that 18, 19 to 20 game. I don't see how they're going to take the cost of town.
All right, hermani, the little guy, is down to the right. Sauer is down to the left. Iron formation. The gift now to Gladio. Gladio, stumbling forward across the 30 yard line up to the 32.
And this should be a Stars first down. In fact, it will be because they started at the 20. Gladio did not have his footing, but he had very good balance, Matt. He kept, somehow he kept his balance and went forward now to the 30.
Well, the thing about it, he's not getting his head up, you know. He's not watching where he's going and he tripped over, I think, his own pulling trapping guard's legs. But he'll learn to get his head up. It's always been one of his problems.
The backfield coach will work with him. He'll be all right.
First and 10 Stars. Sherman, a quick out for hermani has dropped at the sideline 34. That's really kind of a time play, that quick out.
Hermani, a couple of steps down, look out and Sherman throwing the ball to a spot and went off Hermani's hands. Four minutes, 32 seconds left for his quarter. Hope you're enjoying New York Stars action on WMCA.
And now Jimmy Ford has gone in the ball game, replacing Dave Richards. Ford played with the Saints last year. He's a little bit bigger running back than Richards.
They line up in the eye, Gladio and Ford. Here's a give now to Hermani on a reverse. Hermani now 30, 35. Hermani is hit and knocks down a pass for 40. It should be another Stars first down.
A fake give to Ford and they work the reverse play beautifully.
I think Sherman should be given a lot of credit. He's really mixing his plays well. He's running off tackle. He's throwing a little five yard out.
And as you said, that little five yard out seems like such a simple little pass, but it takes a lot of time and work between the quarterback and the receiver.
With a couple of blocks, I think he could have taken that one all the way. But again, this is something that they will learn about each other as the season goes on.
Once again, the Stars are on the move. They've had two straight first downs since taking the touchback on their own 20.
First and 10 about the Birmingham 41. The quarterback Sherman, the give now is to Ford and Ford gets up to about the 42, 43.
Hit by the middle part of the Birmingham defense by 51 Mike Mullen, who is again that rookie linebacker from Tulane.
Truex and Mullen, both rookies from Tulane. Well, there are a lot of rookies here.
The one rookie they don't have is playing on the other side, the right side linebacker Ross Brubaker from the Chicago Bears. Played pretty good football there with the Bears.
Brubaker over on the right side in the middle is Warren Capone. Left side is Mike Truex. Mullen is in there spelling Capone right now.
So the Stars have it with a second and about nine at the 43.
All right, here's Sherman. Give to Ford. Ford high-stepping. Midfield. Ford. And he's hit a knock down there.
High-stepping by Ford across the line of scrimmage gets up to the 50. It should bring up a third and about two from midfield.
I just think he was high-stepping. This is something that Gladio is going to have to learn. There was no hole, but there was a body across the trapping guard.
Full light and fast and his body was extended in the hole. But by picking his feet up and dancing a little bit, he was able to pick up about eight yards.
And that was real good running. I think once Gladio learns this, I think that they will have a real good backfield combination.
All right, the Stars come up now. Third and a long one. Trying to keep it going. Trying to keep the drive going.
Tom Spinks in the ball game now. Wide receiver. He's flying down to the right. Sherman, the quarterback.
Here is the give now to Ford. Ford across midfield and gets down very close. I think he's missed it. I think he's missed it by about a yard.
We'll check out Dickey Lane. The free safety was in there making that tackle. Number 35.
Frankly, the lights are not too great here. It looks a little dark out there. And in the right near midfield, I believe they're a little short.
Now we'll see. They're going to bring in the first down marker. The Dickey Rod, right. But it is the first down marker too. People won't know what we're talking about.
Now they measure it. Actually, it's a very good innovation because it removes all those chains. And they are going to be a little shy.
So the fans, of course, shall go. Maybe really it's not going to do that for midfield. They're going to put it away. They're not going to put it away.
They're going to go for it. You think? All right. Out goes Spinks. Sauer comes in now. He was out for a play.
And they are going to go for it. It's fourth and about a half yard from the Birmingham 48 and a half yard line.
Fourth and about a half yard. Everyone in tight with Sauer out wide right. In motion, Richards.
The Sherman quarterback sink. He's got the first down. And Sherman catapulted in the air over the line of scrimmage and got the first down.
A great move by Tommy Sherman leaping high over the line of scrimmage.
As you said, it was a great call because everyone was looking when that bank went in motion. They thought he was going to probably give it to Gladio off-tackle, which they've been very successful with.
But Sherman kept it in seven. He went high and over the top and it was good. That's where a middle line back has to support.
And you get this kind of experience from people that have played years in the NFL. I don't think he would have made that in the NFL because everyone was looking for it.
All right. A minute 15 left in the first half. Third straight starts first down. First play now.
The gift of Ford hit behind the line of scrimmage. Drag down the midfield stripe. He lost about three yards on the play.
Tommy Ford was hit from behind by number 77, Dick Trower.
Trower might have been with the Jets for a short time. Matt, do you remember him?
No, I can't say that I do, but one thing I know is that he's awful beating and I wish you would have had him because it would have really helped that defense a lot.
All right. It's second down. A loss of about two on the play. Scores second and 11, second and 12.
29 seconds left first quarter. The Stars leading the ball game 16 to 3.
All right. In motion goes Ford out to the right. Sherman now here is the gift now straight ahead to Andy Huff.
And Huff goes across the 46 to the 45 yard line. Warren Capone in on the stop.
The second team backfield is in now. Jim Ford and Andy Huff. And Huff gets it down about the 44.
This will bring up a third and let's see now. Third at about seven yards. They have to get to about the 37.
Rolls on the 44. Third and seven. Three seconds, two seconds, one second. That might be the final play and it is.
There's the gun, which ends the first quarter of play. The score at the end of the first quarter.
The Stars 16, Birmingham three and we'll be back in just 60 seconds.
Straight and true.
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John Sterling, Matt Selle, Bank of Downing Stadium, beginning of quarter number two.
Stars football in WMCA as the Stars lead it 16 to 3 with two touchdowns and two action points.
Birmingham scored first on about a 35 yard field goal by Earl Stark and then the Stars have been moving ever since.
Birmingham has done almost nothing. Sherman has one TD, Gladgeo the other, two action points.
Stars have it now. Third down at about seven from the 44. Sherman back to pass.
Sherman looking long over the middle for Sauer and it is complete. Yes it is. It wasn't to Sauer.
It went to number 83, Bert Askin the reserve tight end. He threw over Sauer's head and it went to Bert Askin complete for the first time.
Like you say John, things are going well for you. They go completely well. Askin was running looking back for the ball.
He looked it into his hand and just as he caught it he was decked. But again that's a lot of concentration.
Matter of fact the man that decked him is going out in the game. So that really shows a lot of poise right there.
Askin from Texas Southern. He's 6'2, 230. Not as big as Parson. Maybe a better pass catcher.
Ball on the 18. Stars driving. That's their fourth straight first down on this drive.
Alright the fumble by Sherman now off the snap and it may be recovered by Birmingham. Let's wait and see.
Birmingham coming on the field with their offense. It may be recovered by Birmingham.
And let's see now. No it isn't. It's Stars football. Sherman fell on it back on the 20.
So just a loss of about 2. We should mention Matt there is a truly outstanding crowd at Downing Stadium.
This stadium may lack 3 or 4,000 being a capacity crowd tonight. You can see some seats empty but very few.
And that's tremendous. This is not the greatest stadium in the world.
The Stars will be here for a couple of years and then the Yankees stadium.
So good crowd for the Stars first home game. Almost capacity. Alright Sherman second and 12.
Sherman looking outside. It is complete. The Spinks takes it out of bounds inside the 10 at about the 8 yard line.
The reserve Tom Spinks playing in the place of Val Young caught the pass away away on the open side of the field.
And that's going to be very close to a Stars first down.
They started at the 18. The ball is inside the 10. And I believe.
Let's see now. They have it on the scoreboard. They have third down signal. It's first down.
And here's the first down. Sherman threw that ball a long way. He has to throw it completely across the field.
That's a tough pass for any quarterback. And Sherman got it there.
Alright first and goal from the 8. Stars driving to their fifth first down now.
In a row on this drive. Juice backfield behind Sherman. Sherman now here is again swinging wide up.
And that's a drive. Touchdown Andy Huff. The former Fighting Irish Notre Dame Andy Huff goes off the left side.
And the Stars lead it 23 to 3.
The thing that sent that text out of it. John with that last completion.
You can see a lot of George Sauer and Vane Pirelli former New York Jets players.
You can see a lot of it in their offensive formations.
And that last passing completion was what George Sauer normally calls a corner go out.
George goes down. He breaks on the post. Breaks to the outside and takes it on the sideline.
And they say the defensive back fell down. But Andy Huff really did some great running taking that ball.
And the corner back came up as important. He just ran right over.
Alright here comes the action point from the 2 and a half.
Here is Sherman. The quick pitch to Ford. Ford is hit before he gets to the goal line.
Don't believe it will be good. Boy the Stars are mad because rolling into the end zone was Ford.
But they're not going to call it good. So the Stars fail on the action point.
The Stars though completed an 80 yard drive in 13 plays on Huff's 8 yard touchdown run.
And with 13.26 left in the first half the Stars lead it 23 to 3.
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The Stars lead it 23 to 3. 13.26 left in the second quarter.
And I don't think anyone really expected this kind of a run. Of course the game is a long way to go.
Then again everything is new in this league. No one knows really what to expect.
Well as I said you know you have a Bay Perrelli and George Salmo for years with the Jets.
And I think the defense is playing real well.
And I think that the Stars are really high and flying for the New York Band.
And I think the plan is that there's a great crowd. As you would say there must be about 15 to 16,000.
Alright Low Kick ball with Jackie hit by one of the up men.
Falling on now by Trower. Ball is loose. Let's see who recovered it. Ball is loose.
It is. Let's see. It is New York Stars football on the 35.
One of the up men, Dick Trower number 77, had that ball. Hit him in the chest. He lost it.
And the Stars recovered on the 35. And it also went off Ernie Richardson number 63, the linebacker.
So the Stars have the ball again. And they've had almost a run.
Recovering it was Bill DeFlavio. That's his second recovery of the ball game.
And so the Stars will put it in play on the 36 yard line.
And man the Stars are just doing it all. It is unbelievable. They lead 23-3.
Sherman on first. Looking to pass. Firing deep for Sauer. He over throws him in the 10.
And I'll tell you something. George has the whole middle of the field.
Well if you noticed John, the safety blitzed. And George having been around for nine years with the Jets and the Vaporale,
they have put the innovation and the Jets used so effectively with George in your name.
George when he thought that safety disappeared he just broke his pattern.
He got what he was supposed to run and broke over the middle right where the guy left.
Sherman unloaded the ball but he was just a little bit too long with it.
And they would have had six more. Sauer, seven more right. That's the action point.
We're going to get it straight. Okay. Sminx out to the right. Sauer out left.
They split the backs behind Sherman. Now the tight end goes out in the slot right.
Slot right formation Stars. Sherman now, the gap on the John going nowhere at all is Andy Huff.
He's dragged down at about the line of scrimmage. At about the 36 yard line.
They're tackled by number 77 Dick Trower along with number 51 Mike Mullen and 61 Butch Brezina.
Alright leaving the Stars lineup now is Gladio. Bobby Gladio goes out.
It's going to be a third out now at about ten. Third and ten for the Stars on the 36.
Now if the Stars don't complete this play, we'll talk about the field goal and what a long field goal this is.
It's much longer than you think. Alright Sherman on third will roll right.
Looking to throw. Firing on the middle. He's got it complete.
It's complete now to Ray Parson rather to the reserve side and Bert Askin.
And Askin has the ball down to the 20 yard line. So it will be another first and ten for the Stars.
Askin found a little jet spot in the zone. He just rolled up and came back and caught the pass and he was free Matt.
As you say in the World Football League they're stressing zone play.
And you can see some of the innovation that it gets Askin when he found a hole in the zone.
Instead of going deep and covering himself he just pulled up and Sherman ready to bring the ball right in there.
Alright it's another first down for the Stars. Stars are really something. Here's the gift to Huff.
Up the middle. Huff in the 15. Huff running tough.
Get down to the 12 yard line. Andy Huff. He just pulled someone over the 15 and went down about the 12 yard line.
He's still about eight. And the Stars on the march again will have a second and about two from the 12 yard line.
Huff is a tough one. Rough tonight Matt.
John I think what you've seen is that Birmingham is getting a little frustrated.
And you say personnel wise they should be really overpowered the Stars.
But the Stars come to play and Birmingham now is starting to think about the game.
Alright it's second down from the 12 yard line. Second about two. The quarterback is Tommy Sherman.
Sherman is far left. They're giving it to Huff. Huff hits a stone wall and is firing down just about the line of scrimmage.
So they call Huff on the right side. They're running a lot to the right side or the left side of Birmingham.
And the tackle was made by Warren Capone the middle linebacker.
10.55 left in the second quarter. The Stars leading it 23 to 3.
The moment before when the Stars had a third on the 36 we talked about the field goal which is almost automatic in pro football from there.
But it isn't in this league because that would have been a 53 yard field goal.
Alright on to the right side is the rookie Tom Spinks the wide receiver. Out left is Sauer. Third and about two.
Sherman the give to Huff. Huff cutting now left. Gets over the 10. About the nine.
It'll be another Stars first down. First end goal from about the nine.
Also Stars are just rampaging tonight before this really big home crowd.
The first home game in Stars history. It is a first down.
First end goal from the nine.
First and goal from the nine.
Now here goes Spinks out to the right. He's playing in the place of Alec Young.
Sauer is in tight on the left side. He's backfield behind Sherman.
Sherman now the gives out a Huff going wide right. Five yard line. Four. Hit it. Knocked down.
Shire the goal line at about the two yard line on the far side of the field.
Which from here is about a mile and a half away.
Stars have 11 first downs in the game. Birmingham has no first downs.
And it shows on the scoreboard.
Fongle was by Capone. Capone's playing a pretty good ball game.
The ball's on the two. It is second and goal from about the two.
Second and goal from the two.
Stars driving for another touchdown.
They lead in the ball game 23 to three.
Alcwaad, Reiner, Sauer.
They have two tight ends in the ball game. They split the backs behind Sherman.
Here is a gift to Huff. Huff is hit behind the line of scrimmage.
And down at the three yard line.
A good defensive play. Way across the way. Tough to see the number from here.
Fifty-five again. Warren Capone. That was a good play man.
Warren read that perfectly. They went with two tight ends and they put George on the right.
I don't think Warren didn't have anyone to look out for.
He just shot across the line and destroyed their interference and took off down.
Let's see if Sherman goes to play action here.
Third and three. Sauer out to the left.
Two tight ends in.
Juice back field. Sherman. Sherman raises. Throws to Sauer.
Oh he jumped in the end zone.
Sauer down and out and he left his man and George drives it in the end zone.
That is a no-no for George and very surprising frankly.
Well as you said the lights aren't a great issue.
George used to wear contact lens when he was with the Jets.
So I have a feeling that it was a combination of the lights plus being early in the season.
George just isn't quite ready. But later on in the season you'll see him make those kind of catches.
Alright. George will try and feel a goal.
Rejeckey out of a Sherman hold at the 10 yard line so it's a 20 yard field goal.
20 yard field goal Rejeckey try out of a Sherman hold.
Ball is down. The kick is up. The kick is good.
And as they come up the field with a ton out on the field to score the Stars 26.
Birmingham 3. More Stars football in just 60 seconds.
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Alright here's the kickoff at Downing Stadium where Jackie boots it long this time.
Jimmy Edwards in the 10. Edwards 15. Edwards 20 slips.
Edwards now near the 30 running cross field. Edwards gets a block at 40.
He's in midfield 45 of the Stars and 45 of Birmingham down in the 47 yard line.
A good run back now by Jimmy Edwards and Birmingham now has good field position at the 46 yard line.
It's their own 46 and there's 811 left in the half. The score is 26 to 3 Stars.
That's a pretty good run back.
I think a lot of the Stars did what is known as a no no when going out on a kickoff.
A lot of them committed themselves and went down on one block and the big thing on a kickoff is to stay on your feet.
Alright Meyer the quarterback now the pitch to Paul Robinson coming wide right.
He's hit and he is still in a speed knock down in midfield.
Stars linebackers in pursuit there. Number 58 Gary Champagne and along with Tango Lloyd Voss were there.
Gary Champagne. All their linebackers are rookies.
Mark Reynolds, Tom Chandler, Gary Champagne, Ernie Richardson and Dana Carpenter.
They're all rookies and of course that defensive backfield is very young too.
Steve Dennis of Grambling, James Sims USC at the safety.
Swendell Wilson of Yankton and Charlie Boston of Western Illinois. They're all rookies.
They got nine rookies back there.
In motion is Holman to the right.
Alright Holman now split out wide right.
How are we in motion? The gift to Robinson. Robinson dives across midfield.
Is down on the 48 yard line.
Not nearly enough for a first down. We'll bring up a third and about four.
Matt now we'll see whether Meyer is going to start throwing the ball.
Meyer has not thrown the ball a lot and he's losing by about three touchdowns.
Well I think I predict you're going to see two different games.
The first half belongs to the Stars but I think Birmingham will go in and it will come out completely regrouped.
But the big thing about it is he's got to start throwing the ball.
When you're down 26 to 3 you can't afford to keep running the ball on the ground.
Alright here goes Meyer back to pass. Meyer flips it out of the back of the hair away incomplete.
Off hair away his hands.
He was covered by the linebacker Gary Champagne and coming up the sideline was the left side cornerback Charlie Boston.
And if that ball is hung up a little more Boston might be away.
You want to get tickets to the Stars game. They have almost a solid crowd tonight at Downing Stadium.
The next Stars home game July 31st at 8 o'clock against Jacksonville.
Tickets at Ticketron.
And honestly there's a lot of action here. Meyer 0 for 3 in passing.
Only three attempted passes. Of course they haven't had the ball that much in them Matt.
That's one of the reasons.
Sark to do the punting.
Back is Hermani.
Here is the boot by Sark.
It's low, almost blocked.
Hermani will let it bounce.
It's going to roll inside the 5 down on about the 2 yard line.
So Birmingham and Earl Sark roll it dead on about the 2 or 3 yard line.
A good punt by Sark.
And it's 26-3 here with 6-40 left in the period.
That's a great point by Sark.
That was a great pun. And my old friend Cecil Leonard, I was glad to see him down there on the 2 yard line.
That was on the 2 yard line.
You know Cecil has been around a long time.
And as I said the veterans in this league are going to make a lot of tunes.
They're going to make a lot of great plays.
And I think they're the ones that are going to make this league a go and make it exciting for their fans.
Ice stars now taking over near their own goal line. The give up ahead is to Ford.
Cross the 5 up to about the 7-8 yard line.
A straight ahead plunge by Jim Ford.
And they get the ball right out of the end line anyway area.
Get a little running room, a little breathing room.
Ball is on number 7.
A gain of, well, just about 5.
Capone again on the stop.
Warren Capone is 6-1, 2-15, a rookie out of LSU.
A lot of those linebackers, man, I have a feeling were passed up by the NFL.
I thought they were maybe too small.
But the ball is a pretty good linebacker.
Cromany out right, Sauer out left.
Ford is up the backfield behind Sherman.
All right, now here is the give to Hough.
Running hard up to the 10 and hit and knocked down in the 10.
Shine on the first down by about 3 yards.
Bring up third and three from about the 10 yard line.
Matt just made a good point.
We only have one fold to share.
That's why Matt and I can't talk at the same time, which would be difficult anyway.
But Matt is talking that Warren Capone is about the same size as Leroy Jordan of Dallas.
A small middle linebacker was all pro last year.
All right, Sauer is at a third down play with 5.25 left in the first half.
Third down at about 3 from the 10.
In motion goes Ford.
The give, no, Sherman keeps.
Sherman off tackle.
Sherman first down across the 15, up to the 18.
Sherman a keeper off tackle, a beautiful play by quarterback Tom Sherman.
So John, the thing that amazed me and I think is a lot of these quarterbacks get a lot more experience.
They'll start giving that ball to the running backs.
But Tom is not afraid to call his own number.
And that's good because it adds a new dimension to the game.
As I said, when you have a quarterback, that can't run.
And Tom really looked good on that play.
He put his hand down.
He dove for that first down.
He meant business.
There's the WMCA in New York.
Where right after the game, you'll hear Barry Gray.
All right, Sherman first and 10.
Sherman down on the give to Ford.
Ford nowhere at all.
Stacked up at about the 19 by the middle of the Birmingham line.
4.35 left first half.
John Sterling, Matt Snell, Johnny Stadium.
Stars are really shining tonight.
They lead 26 to 3.
Only one penalty in the game and that was on the opening kickoff, as I recall.
Good execution really by both teams.
Only one penalty in the game and that was a holding penalty on the Stars on the opening kickoff.
All right, Sauer comes out here to the left.
Spinks across the way on the right side.
Sherman a pass in the pocket.
Looking.
Now he's going to run out of the pocket.
20.
25 Sherman.
30 Sherman falls on at the 35 yard line.
After he got the first down, Sherman found a very nice soft spot to fall.
At about the 34 and Sherman is looking extremely good coming out of the pocket.
Well, you know, as I said, John, I hate to repeat myself, but when he went back then, he set up the pen.
The man was covered.
He pulled that ball down, tucked it away and he did a real good run in there.
I was glad to see him pick a good spot to lay down because the quarterback is not supposed to really be a run.
He's supposed to think out there and give the ball to other people.
No, especially in this league.
He's got 18 more games to play, right?
All right.
3.30 left and a half.
Stars again, John.
Good all-stars tonight.
Really has.
Sherman, the quarterback, first and 10, long the 34 of the stars.
Sherman, long count.
Sherman, the gift of Ford.
Ford, 35.
Falls forward to about the 38, 39 yard line.
It's a nice forward.
Ford hit and the line of scrimmage escaped.
Very sloppy tackling on the interior line at Birmingham.
Maybe that's their weak spot, the defensive line, man.
Well, I don't know, but as I said, I think that you're going to see two different games.
I think when the Americans go inside and sit down and talk about this, I think the coach is going to say to them, you know,
when you come up to meet these running backs, lock, you know, sit your shoulder and lock your arms and just bring them down.
Don't try to kill them.
And I think Birmingham, you're trying to kill people.
All right, second and five stars in their own 40.
Sherman, the pitch out wide right, Ford.
Ford running room 40.
35 yard line, 45 yard line.
Roll out of bounds up near the 48 yard line.
Ford getting the quick outside pitch by Sherman going right.
Turn the corner.
And that should be another star's first down.
Unofficially in the booth, we have the stars with 13 first downs and Birmingham with none.
And that gives you an idea why the stars lead 26-3.
Two minutes and 40 seconds remaining in the first half.
Stars have the ball.
As they mark off a five yard penalty face man against Birmingham on the play, they get an additional five yards.
And the ball is marked now to the Birmingham 47 yard line.
Stars in business.
Spinks out wide right.
Sauer out wide left.
Sherman in the pocket to throw.
Sherman looks.
Fires for Spinks and it's complete and out of bounds.
Let's say they rule complete.
Yes.
And you only need one foot in this league, man.
That's something we've got to look for.
And Spinks has the one foot in on the far side line, went out of bounds.
And the stars are marching again.
Almost everything Sherman calls is working.
Again, I think, you know, as I said, Birmingham is frustrated now.
And they're not getting a good rush out of the front four.
The linebackers are not tackling.
So what they're trying to do is to blitz one of their safeties.
And every time that they blitz in, the stars have had the right call.
He's a pass to one of the outside receivers, but he ran a wide pitch.
So I think Birmingham's got to really get their defense coordinated.
By second and one on the 38.
Sherman a pass on second and one.
Fires over the middle.
And it's complete to Haskin.
Haskin is down on the 20 yard line.
But another star is first down.
Haskin to completion.
Ball came loose after the whistle.
But that ball being marked right down on the 20 yard line.
It's funny, he has not been the starter, Matt.
Ray Parsons has been the starter.
But Haskin may be taking that job away.
He has caught three passes tonight.
And it looks like an excellent pass receiver.
You mentioned that a couple of times.
He's been decked after catching the pass and he's held on.
Warren Capone comes out of the ball game now.
I'm in a linebacker.
He's made a lot of unassisted tackles.
There is a timeout.
In fact, with a timeout on the field, the score is the Stars 26.
And Birmingham 3, more Stars football in 60 seconds.
Hi, I'm Jim Bay for Carling Sports.
It's human nature, I guess, that people doubt ambitious ideas.
You can imagine the what another football league comments when the World Football League was born.
Friends, the WFL is here to stay.
And I think you'll agree the trio of Super Bowl champion dolphins made it a swim proposition when all the doubters were saying sink.
They're signing as Northmen of Toronto, before the team became the Southmen of Memphis, made the league viable.
Believeable.
Fact is, the WFL could very well boast, today the States, tomorrow the world.
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Hi, John Sterling, Matt Snell back.
Stars have a first and ten on the 21 after the completion from Sherman to Burt Aston.
Stars lead at 26-3.
Three touchdowns, two action points.
And a field goal by Rajeky.
First and ten, Stars driving again.
Birmingham 21, two minutes left in the first half.
Here is a gift to Huff right side.
Huff fumbles the ball, fumbles the ball, it's rolled out above.
Birmingham may have recovered across the way.
The fumble by Huff, and yes it is.
Birmingham ball on the recovery of the Huff fumble.
That stops the star drive.
You know, Huff really, I don't think he ever really had to handle that ball.
But the thing about it is that he made the mistake of trying, instead of trying to just fall on the fumble and keep the ball,
he tried to pick it up and yes that football takes funny bounces.
I know for nine years I don't think I ever recovered one of my own fumbles.
As they say, the football is oblong, not round.
It takes a lot of bouncing.
Okay, a minute and 59 left in the half.
Stars now leading 26-3.
I'm sure the Americans would like to get on the board before this half.
In fact, George Meyre now comes over to speak to Jack Gotta, the Birmingham coach.
Meyre now comes right back.
Meyre has grown very, very seldom tonight.
I think only three passes attempted.
He has not completed a pass.
And honestly, man, I don't want to second guess here and coach from up here,
but with three rookie linebackers and four rookie defensive backs,
you'd think of Meyre trying to go to work on them a little bit.
Well, George has a minute and 59 seconds left and I think that if he's going to go into this,
he's going to have to open up and throw, even for his own confidence,
he's going to have to throw the ball and decide that the second half will come out throwing
and get back in this game and really make a goal of it.
By the way, conversely, Tommy Sherman of the Stars has gone eight for nine for 110 yards.
Not bad at all.
Sherman also has run probably now for about 30 yards or so.
Okay, hope you're enjoying it.
We're on WMCA New York Stars football.
And this is just first of all the home games
and who knows how many more games we'll bring you during the season.
The response, frankly, has been very, very favorable from our advertisers.
We're very happy to have them aboard.
Hope you enjoy Stars football.
Again, as Matt pointed out before,
the Stars have quite a crowd here for their first game.
If Downing Stadium holds 22 or 23, they probably have about 18 or 19,000.
And it's evenly apportioned throughout the stadium.
There really aren't any empty spaces, well, far across perhaps,
like beyond the goal line.
There's a section without many people sitting in.
That's about all.
The rest of the stadium is pretty well-filled.
John, I think a lot of people probably came out out of curiosity,
but I'm sure if they go back and tell their friends about the game
and if they read about it and if the Stars keep playing this grand ball,
I think you'll see this stadium full for a lot of their home games.
All right, Myra now on first and 10, ball on the 21, Myra to pass, Myra in the pocket,
flips it out here, complete for the tight end Powell, Powell 25.
Powell is run out of bounds at the 27.
They ruled over that he did not go out.
They want the clock to start now.
Powell and Ernie Richardson in a brief fight broken up.
Powell and the rookie Ernie Richardson from Jackson State,
the left-side linebacker, swapped a couple of punches,
which really are very ineffective in football with the helmets and the mouth, the gear and all.
Birmingham is going to take a timeout, so Matt, we have another chance.
Myra did go back.
The complaint about Myra in the NFL was that he was just too small to see over the charging line,
and also he threw the ball so that's a little hard, but Myra has a pretty good arm.
I wonder if Birmingham has thought of rolling Myra out and kind of the rolling pocket,
trying to get him a better view of the receivers down the field.
John, I think so because, as I said, George came out the same year that I came out of college,
and that was one of the faults with him, but I think you'll see a lot of move in pocket,
what Kansas City may say was in his league, and I think when George rolls out,
he opens up the lane so he can see.
Ball on the 29, it's second and two, a minute 46 remaining.
Myra trying to use the clock, looks and fires across the field.
It is complete to Dennis Holman.
Oh, he jumped the ball.
Holman jumped the ball.
He was really hit across the way by Wendell Wilson, and Holman crossed up the ball,
and it will be a third down.
Now Myra's got to get the first down.
It's third and two, and he's got to go get the first down.
Ball is sent down to the 29-yard line.
By the way, Sherman in the ball game talked about his passing of 110 yards.
He has six carries for 39 yards, including a touchdown on the rollout.
And the beautiful bootleg keeper went around the left side for the first star's touchdown.
All right, Birmingham, third and two.
Myra in the pocket.
Myra throws across the middle.
It is dropped.
It is incomplete.
Ball is dropped.
It was intended by Charlie Harroway on the 35-yard line.
Harroway dropped the ball, and this will bring a fourth down.
Ernie Richardson was covering on the play, and so the stars will get the ball again.
That little guy, Bob Hermani, jumps back in single safety.
Look at the size of him.
He's like a little water bug out there.
Now Hermani is going off the field, and there is no safety.
The stars are going to do the putting.
Stars are lined up without a safety.
They're going to let the ball die, in other words.
Harroway just wants the ball to die.
There is no deep man for the stars.
Here's the snap and the boot, a high boot.
There's no one there to get it, though.
The ball will hit at the 45 of the stars.
Take the stars bounce and the jet admits it at the 40-yard line, rather.
Hit at the 35 and bounce back to the 40-yard line.
Now the question for you, Matt, is did they forget to put someone back there,
or did Barroway just want to punt to go without a fumble?
I think with a minute and 23 seconds left to go, and when you lead 26-3,
I don't think they really thought they would punt the ball.
And even if they did, all he's looking for now is to run the clock out,
go in at halftime with his big lead, and come out and play a good second half.
But I really think that I'm amazed at how well the stars are playing,
as soon as they've only had one game to scout Birmingham.
So they have them really down, and I think Birmingham is going to have to really go in at halftime
and come out with a whole, almost totally new offense,
and they're going to get anything going with George Hess to throw the ball to.
All right, the stars are going up now, a minute and 23 remaining, the ball on their own 40.
Here is now the gap straight ahead to Huff, midfield, Huff roaring down to the 45.
Unbelievable, Andy Huff with a great first step in the hole,
and he roared through the secondary, going all the way down to the 45,
a 15-yard game by Huff, and he is easily the most impressive back in the game tonight. Andy Huff.
John, as I said earlier, Andy really kept his head up,
and he just had a crank in there, but he just squirted through it,
and he said he was into the secondary, and he was really running well,
and if he had a little more speed, he could have taken that all the way for a long touchdown.
Say what, Huff's got a pretty good first step, 16 first downs now for the stars.
Here is again to Huff off the right side, nowhere at all, maybe a yard,
down to the 44-yard line of Birmingham, hit by the left side.
Huff games, maybe a yard, 30 seconds remaining.
Now we'll see, man, how daring the stars are.
They're 30 seconds left, a little less than 30.
Stars have the ball on the 44-yard line. It's inside the 45.
We'll see if the stars want to gamble at all.
18 seconds remaining. Sauer out wide left.
Tommy Spinks out wide right.
Sherman will pass. He's in the pocket.
He looks. Firing for Spinks! It's overthrown out of bounds.
Stops the clock though with eight seconds.
It stops the clock with eight seconds.
And so the stars will get one more play in.
They're down to 44. As we look at our statisticians,
to my right, Birmingham does not have a first down.
They have no first downs.
The stars have 16 first downs. Birmingham has none, unofficially.
And the stars lead a 26-3.
All right, here may be the final play of the half, depending on what the play is.
Sauer out wide left. Spinks out wide right.
Sherman the quarterback, 44. It's a draw play.
Huff of the 30. Huff of the 25. Huff of this hit and knockdown of the 2019 yard line.
Andy Huff, the stars one time called. They got it with one second.
Draw play, and Andy Huff again roars through.
You know, you're so right, man. If he had a little more speed,
it'd be a kitty bar the door. He'd be gone.
Yeah, he really, really ran a beautiful draw play.
And he said everyone was expecting him to either just run an off-tackle play and kill the clock,
or he'd just throw a pass out of bounds and try another play.
But he ended up draw play off to Huffman, but he really squared it through there.
And a little more step, a half a step more, he's taking that one all the way.
Really, you really did a great call on Sherman's part.
Stars were able to stop the clock with one second unofficially on the clock.
Scoreboard clock at the closed end of the stadium.
Rejecky is in. Peter Rejecky, the ball's on the 20.
Sherman should kneel at about the 27.
It'll be a 37-yard field goal into the closed end of Downing Stadium.
Now, you know what they call Rejecky? He's from Germany now.
What are they called?
They call him the Booton Tooton.
Peter Rejecky, the Booton Tooton, will line it up at about the 27.
He's soccer-style, right-footed kicker.
Handy Huff, by the way. He's nothing very big. He's full-back. He's 5'11", 200.
And boy, is he impressed tonight. In fact, two young stars have really impressed.
The reserve tight end, Burt Askin and Handy Huff has been running behind Gladio.
All right, here comes the final play of the half.
It'll be a 27-yard attempt.
Sherman will hold at about the 27.
And then it becomes a 37-yard field goal.
Ball to 27-yard line. Goal post, 10 yards back.
Ball is down. Kick is up by Rejecky. It has the distance. It is! It is good!
Final play of the half.
Peter Rejecky knocks it through from 37.
And boy, they're getting a standing ovation.
The Stars are getting a standing ovation at Downing Stadium.
A standing ovation as the Stars go off the field.
And at the end of the first half, the score, the New York Stars 29, the Birmingham Americans 3,
the New York Stars football in just 60 seconds.
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Part of black label beer.
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It's got taste that comes through.
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Beer after beer after beer.
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With a taste that comes across straight and true.
Beer after beer.
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You haven't noticed it as the half ended after Rejecque's field goal was good.
These fans got up a game of standing ovation.
And New York is a very, very tough crowd for anything in show business.
You're right, John.
And having played you for nine years, I can really attest to that.
But one thing about the New York fans is that they're very appreciative.
And the New York Stars are really impressed with a 29 to 3 halftime lead.
And I think that the Stars are doing their own best advertising.
They've got almost a capacity crowd here.
And with the brand of ball that they're playing, I think a lot of people are going to go back
and really tell their fans, you should go out there and just see the game.
And there's a first thing here, John, I've never seen before.
For the halftime show, we've got a soccer match going on.
And this really should be interesting because the fans come out to see football
and they're going to end up seeing some soccer at halftime.
And I think it's going to be very interesting.
And I think with the innovations in the league
and with the different things that the Stars are going to do to bring the fans out,
I think it's really going to turn out well.
I think as the year rolls on, you'll see more and more fans out here
because the football is very exciting.
We're going to give Matt and Snell a rest.
You've heard of a woman assistant general manager.
We're going to meet one in just a minute, Dusty Rhodes,
who when I knew her played the outfield for the New York Giants a few years ago.
But we're going to talk to Dusty Rhodes in just a moment.
There'll be more of New York Stars football right after this message in about 60 seconds.
People who fly a lot on business say TWA has the most comfortable planes.
They're comfortable because you're never more than one seat from an aisle in 10-11 coach.
They're comfortable because the TWA twin seat lets you fold down the middle if nobody's there
and sit two across instead of three.
And they're comfortable because our 747s have specially contoured seats
you can sit in for hours without getting fidgety.
A comfortable flight is really what TWA ambassador service is all about.
We're back in Downing Stadium on Randall's Island
and it's an unusual evening to say the least.
Here is a, you know, I would call you, I would call you a beautiful girl,
but you're not supposed to do that now, I don't know, I think it's changed.
Dusty Rhodes is the assistant general manager of the New York Stars.
That's not a put on either.
Dusty has a background in sports because I know Dusty from her days with the Boston Patriots
and Dusty is I believe a Boston gal and now you're down
and there's so much work for Stars that has to do with getting the stadium ready,
getting the team ready, getting the uniforms ready, getting the equipment for the media ready.
And Dusty, I'll tell you what I told Bob Keating on the show last night.
People have done an unbelievable job.
This is a first class thing and you're working with a tough facility in Downing Stadium.
But I congratulate you, this is quite an opening night.
It's super, it's just fantastic.
Granted, someone just asked me, are you tired Dusty?
And I said no, you're only tired when you're losing and I'm absolutely exhilarated right now
and just hope that the second half is as rewarding as the first.
Dusty, what were the problems, the biggest problems in getting, for example, this stadium ready?
Well, the work has a problem and a lack of football stadiums
and of course the Giants have moved out of town
and the Jets can't get in the shade until about the sixth or seventh week of the season.
The Stars needed a stadium and the best they could find was Downing Stadium.
Well, I was kidding Bob last night.
I played a baseball game here a few years ago in school
and he said, well you won't recognize the place.
And you know, this is a really nice little stadium.
I mean, obviously this isn't what you want for the future, but this is a really nice little stadium.
What's the work you have to do to get this ready?
Well, Bob Keating has been working very long and very hard on putting this stadium together
and he's done a beautiful, beautiful job with the cooperation of the city.
Without them, of course, they've just made it all possible.
We had some delays right in the beginning because I think a lot of people thought we wouldn't be here and we're here.
I think it surprised a few people.
Also, of course, the league had to get the players from one source or another.
They've all gotten the players.
I think a lot of people around the nation wondered, well, are they going to be playing football?
What's it all going to be about?
The first week I think surprised everyone.
And I think the WFL, which is going to have growing problems, but I think the first week kind of made them.
Fifty-three thousand people at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia,
which outdrew the Philly Dodger game across the street at Veterans Stadium,
which Veterans Stadium is a Taj Mahal compared to JFK Stadium.
Veterans Stadium is lovely anyway.
And then the great crowd that you people had down in Jacksonville, 59,000 to see the stars and Jacksonville.
And that really had to make the WFL.
It certainly did.
People believed then that there were people interested in the WFL.
They came out to see us.
They didn't come out to see us because there was an NFL strike.
The NFL strike hadn't even started.
I said to May Perlis on the way down on the plane when we got into the Gator Bowl and he looked up and saw 60,000 people.
We've come a long way since a little back room in Boston.
That's right.
Stars have their offices now in Madison Avenue, very nice offices.
There are people listening to FT tonight who didn't know much about the WFL or now they believe it's going to happen.
And they saw the network TV game last week and they're going to see the one tomorrow night, whenever.
Stars playing in Philadelphia next week is going to be a network TV game.
It's going to be on Thursday night in New York City.
And it sounds like an obvious chill thing, but this is a business and you're here to sell tickets.
Now you have seats available tonight.
Where do people get tickets?
How do they get good seats for the Stars game?
Are there good seats available for the Stars game, for the remaining nine home games?
Well, I think if you were to look around here now, you would see that there are seats available.
And though you see them in the end areas and down by the seat of 20, there are plenty of seats still around the 20 and 25.
And these seats are available if you would go to the Ticketron outlets nearest you or come to the Stars office, or if you just want some information, feel free to call us at 355-1213 and we'll be happy to avail ourselves to you.
Now one of the things that you see in the WFL press guide, the reasons for getting season tickets is because, in fact this was mentioned on my program the other night, Dusty.
Someone said, we have season tickets now to the Stars, and he said, I happen to know in a couple of years we're going to have those season tickets in Yankee Stadium.
Then you look in the WFL press guide and they have a list of the players who are coming into the WFL next year and the year after.
It's really an impressive list.
I think the thing is that it can't be by those who want it for some reason to wish it away.
The WFL really is here to stay and this game in town is going to prosper and it's going to prosper here in New York City too.
Have any doubts at all that the New York football fans want another team?
New York football fans want a winning team and I think if they were here tonight with us they would see the most exciting football.
I can say that after 25 years of watching football that this is a very exciting game.
New York wants a winner. We have a winner here and we want you here with us.
I'm sure a lot of people listening want to find out about you.
There are very few gals who, if you think we're crazy talking here during the football game we're not.
They're entertaining the fans at halftime with a rugby game and if there's a rougher sport than football it may be the sport they're watching now, rugby.
That's what's going on in the background.
I tell you what, I'd be exhausted if I did play-by-play rugby because they don't stop for anything.
Jesse, let's find out about you.
There are very few women who have made it to higher echelon in sports.
There are a lot of gals who are sports fans and how did you do it?
How do you chronicle the success you've had in moving up to sports?
Has sex been a problem and that people would say, well, you know, gal, we don't want a gal.
In this case, assistant general manager.
It hasn't been a tremendous problem because I, being a woman, have had to learn all the facets of the business
and naturally we didn't hold any executive capacity until now,
which once again the WFL has opened its doors to many people, 37 of our players out there plus women.
And I feel very fortunate that I was in the lower echelons for quite a while
because I learned every facet of the business which helped in organizing this team from the outset.
Now, Dusty, what's the future? Are you going to stick with football?
Still only win the World Bowl a couple of times.
Okay, that could be this year, you know, though, especially with the stars are playing.
Too bad we've had some mechanical problems tonight, but I understand that even though the mechanical problems seem overt here in the booth
that it hasn't worked out, that things are going well on radio.
On behalf of WMCA, once again, it's a pleasure to be associated with you.
Well, you're the prettiest assistant general manager I've ever seen.
Thank you. That's Dusty Rhodes.
And Matt Snow and I are really happy to be affiliated with the stars.
And boy, they can play every game like this is going to be a pure pleasure.
Halftime at Downing Stadium, the stars leading by a score of 29 to 3, as they have absolutely done it all.
They have just pulled the first half against the Birmingham Americans.
And we will be set for the second half kickoff and have some of Matt Snow's observations of the first half in just 60 seconds from right now.
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It's got taste that comes true.
Straight and true.
Beer after beer after beer.
If you like a full flavored brew, Carling Black Label is your kind of beer.
Try one. Then you'll be saying Mabel, another black label.
If you like a beer with flavor, mention my name.
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This is WMCA New York.
Downing Stadium, as the stars have come out, Birmingham's yet to make their reappearance.
The stars lead at 29 and 3 after an opening field goal off a star spumble by Birmingham, a 35 yarder by Earl Stock.
Then the rest of the half was completely controlled by the stars who marched up and down field.
Birmingham didn't complete a pass. They didn't get a first down. The stars had 16 first downs.
Matt, I know that you were talking here in the booth off, Mike, that you think the second half may be a little different, huh?
John, thanks very much. But I'd like to make one observation before I get into that.
I know, as you said, Dusty, I knew her when she was up in Boston, and they never had an assistant general manager like that when I played.
I've only been out of football three years. But one of the observations that I made was that I really believe you're going to see two different games.
I think that the stars came out, they were all hyped up for their New York fans for their debut.
I think that they've been playing really above their head.
One of the reporters pointed out to us that they had Birmingham as the class of the league.
But I think Birmingham came up believing a lot of their press clippings.
They look at the New York Stars roster and they feel that, well, you know, we shouldn't even be on the same field with these guys.
But the stars came out, they came to play, they haven't made any mistakes.
Tom Sherman is called a beautiful game. Huff, I think, is having one of his greatest days.
Ford has had a great day, and Askin came in for Parson, and he's just been unbelievable.
But I think that you're going to see a different second half. I think Birmingham went in and got themselves together.
And I think that you're going to see probably a real, real great potential quarterback in Matthew Reed from the Birmingham Americans.
Matthew Reed is 6'4", 225 pounds out of Grambling. He reminds me a lot of Harris that played for Buffalo for so many years.
I think the stars have to play defense in the second half. I know Birmingham has to come out throwing.
But what I hear, Matthew Reed has an arm like a flingshot.
I don't think George Meier will probably start the second half, but they'll probably surprise me because I'm always wrong.
But they have to play, they have to come out throwing. The score is 29-3.
They've only got 30 minutes to get back in this game.
And if the stars run Birmingham off this field, I think Birmingham is going to have a very long season.
It's up to them. I know the court is going to talk to them.
Now, Birmingham is back on the field. The stars are back on the field.
So I'm looking forward to a real great second half, and I think it's going to be just as wide open as the first half.
Okay, thank you, Matt. In doing the Morgan State games over the past few years, I've seen Reed play a couple of times, and he really has a gun for an arm.
He has been very wild in the games that I've seen. He's completed some, but he's completed some to both teams.
So we'll see if Reed comes in. Reed is the antithesis of Meier. Reed is about 6'4, about 225 from Grambling.
And that's where Jimmy Harris was in school, too. He went to Grambling, too, before going to Buffalo on the Rams.
So we're about set for the second half. The stars will be kicking it off.
The stars kicking off, defending the open end of the stadium, kicking to the closed end.
Jimmy Edwards is one of the deep men, along with Steve Williams and Cecil Leonard.
All right, Cecil Leonard, ex-teammate of Matt. Leonard is on the near side. On the far side is Jimmy Edwards.
All right, where Jenke says he's ready.
Here's the boot beginning the second half, a high boot. Leonard will take it out of zone 10.
Leonard, 15. Leonard, 20. Leonard, 25. Leonard, 30. Leonard, 40. Leonard hit it to 40 and dragged down as a 44-yard line.
The stop was made by Jim Sims, a beautiful runback by Cecil Leonard. Up to the 45-yard line, Matt.
You know, it was good to see Cecil take that ball because we used to have some classic practices with him in the former teammate of mine, also George Knox.
Cecil Leonard can really fly. When he popped that one, I thought he was going to take it all the way.
But again, as I said, it's early in the season. A lot of them don't have their timing. They don't have their blocking down.
And I think you're going to see a lot of wide open kickoff returns in the World Football League.
All right, the quarterback is Myra. Dennis Holman out to the right.
The quarterback, Myra, in motion is Harroway. Here's the pitch to Robinson around the left side.
Robinson ahead and knocked down at the line of scrimmage. John Elliott was there on the stop.
John Elliott caught Robinson. They're trying to free Robinson around the left side, and they haven't been able to do it yet.
No gain on that play.
Miner to the quarterback. Got Jenkins out left. He's got Holman out right. He has not completed a pass.
Myra back to throw. Myra rolling right. Fires downfield. It is complete.
To Holman, knocked out of bounds as they cross the 45-yard line of the bars, and the ball will be down about the 44.
Number 26, the quarterback, Charlie Boston in on the stop. Dennis Holman who received it.
And it is a first down for Birmingham. I believe that's their first, first down of the game.
It is their first, first down. All right, so the ball is now in star territory of the 44, first and 10.
Holman in motion right. Jenkins out left. Myra the quarterback. Myra now the game straight ahead to Robinson.
Robinson cracks down to the 40. No more. Gain him about four. It'll be second and six from there.
Gary Champagnen on the tackle along with Lloyd Voss.
And it really seems like Birmingham is running into the strength of the Stars defense, the defensive line.
So the ball is on the 40. It'll bring up a second down, second and about six from the 40-yard line.
Birmingham on the move. They're trailing the ball game 29 to three.
Just the beginning of the second half. Holman out left. Jenkins out right. In motion is Robinson.
Now Myra, the draw play to Harroway. Head of the line of scrimmage and knocked down.
Head of the line of scrimmage by Lloyd Voss. Good play by Lloyd Voss plugging up the hole.
Johnny, you made observation. I don't understand what Birmingham is trying to do.
As you said, the real strength of the Stars defense is in the front four.
And I think that George Myra is making a tactical error.
He should go to the air because those rookie linebackers in the secondary haven't proved yet.
They haven't had to. They can cover these receivers. And George is just not even trying to test them.
Nice. Third down at about five. Ball to the Stars 39. They've got to get it to 34.
In motion is Holman back to pass Myra. Myra in the pocket. Rolling right.
Firing out to the sidelines. Almost intercepted. Almost intercepted by Jimmy Sims.
The strong sign safety. And Sims would have been away. He'd have gone all the way. He'd gone 70 yards on that.
As you said, Johnny, he had nothing but 70 yards of green grass in front of him.
And he just couldn't quite hold on to it. I think, again, it's a little excitement because the ball was thrown right into his arms.
And George, I don't know, George looks like he's totally confused by the way the Stars are rolling in defense and secondary.
By punting formation now for the Americans.
Bob Hermani is back on his own 10-yard line. Sark to do the punting. The snap is good.
Here is the punt. A low punt. Hits it to 10. Rolls down and will be down at about the five-yard line.
It was down by Cecil Leonard at the five.
And so the Stars take over on their own five-yard line.
A 34-yard punt by Earl Sark. First down 10 at the five-yard line for the Stars.
It's the second time they've operated this deep.
In the first half, they move the ball out all the way downfield. I think they missed a field goal try.
Stars lead 29-3, 12-05. Left in the third quarter, John Sterling met Snell.
Sauer out wide left. Hermani out wide right.
The game is to Gladio. Gladio cracks over the five. Hits about the eight-yard line.
A gain of about three. It'll be second at about seven.
Matt, looking over some of those stats, Hermani, Huff gained 71 yards in the first half.
Oh yeah, a tremendous first half. And he said Huff had 12 carats for 71 yards. Left an average of 5.9 yards, 1 TD.
Gladio had 9 carats for 40 yards, 4.4. Sherman, 6 for 29. That was 4.8.
Most of the running backs for the Stars are over 4 point. Where is that?
Ernie Robinson had a 1.3 yard average.
Alright, on second down, Sherman. I formation. Sherman on a keeper straight ahead.
Sherman gets to about the 10-yard line. There's a flag on the play.
There's a second penalty again. There's a big flag thrown in the play.
We wonder if it's a holding penalty on the Stars now. Let's check it out and see.
Let's see now. They are on pilot. It is against the Stars.
And they haven't made it to signal yet. It is holding against the Stars right there.
And Birmingham, let's see if they accept the penalty.
Our offensive holding is 10 yards. Half the distance brings it back to the 5-yard line.
So they'll repeat the down and it will be second down from the original line of scrimmage.
So it's second and 10 from the 5-yard line.
As the Stars break the huddle, Jimmy Ford and Bob Gladio are the running backs.
Carmine is out wide right. Here is a give now to Ford.
Ford barrels up past the 10, about the 11-yard line.
Ford cutting right, got a hole and barreled up past the 10 to about the 11-yard line.
Jimmy Ford will gain 24 yards in the first half.
Sherman was 7 for 12 for 227 yards.
But Tommy Sherman is some half.
Three passes to Afton, two to Spinks, one to Sauer.
That was a big one, a 25-yard instead of the first touchdown and one to Dave Richards.
Alright, so the ball is on the 10-yard line, maybe the 11. It is third down now.
The give now to Ford. Ford hit the line of scrimmage, gets about the 12th, shy of a first down.
And this should bring up a Stars punt.
You're right, John. You know anything I think is going to happen to Sherman here, which I can see at the start of the game,
he seems to get kind of conservative. He's ready to sit on a 29-to-3 lead.
There's 10-30 left in the third quarter.
And I think he needs to put some more points on the board because once you lose your old man momentum, it's hard to get back.
And right at the first half, they played, they had it all on their side.
And if Sherman comes out and sits on this lead, I think this starts to be in big trouble.
Injured player on the field, and so there is a momentary timeout.
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The New York Stars really entertaining the people who came out of Downing Stadium tonight,
a crowd that we estimated about 18,000 on hand, about all 5,000 short of capacity,
which means that for the next Stars home game, which will be July 31st against Jacksonville at 8 o'clock,
you ought to get your tickets. There are tickets available.
And I dare say I couldn't interview more than a couple of people out of the stadium tonight that aren't enjoying the game.
Also, Matt, it's turning into a great night. It's very breezy and very kind of cool breezes coming off the East River,
kind of nice out here.
It's really a pleasant night for football. I know that I was a little leery because it is July,
and it tends to be awfully hot, but the Stars that I'm going for, they are clean at night,
and it tends to get cool because, as you know, Randall's Island, of course, is surrounded by water,
and it really makes for a pleasant thing.
The only thing that I think is going to hinder is when the Stars start drawing a capacity crowd of the 21,000.
You do tend to run into quite a traffic jam because there's only one way onto and off this island.
I know that when the Stars move to Yankee Stadium, the fans really should come out and see this,
and I think they're going to be pleasantly surprised by the brand of ball that the World Football League is playing.
It's interesting. It's exciting. There's a lot of scoring.
I think you will see that they tighten up their defense, and I think it will be really, really interesting here for the league.
Now, the usual player is Dick Trower, number 77, who is the defensive end,
and Trower is going to come out of the ball game now.
All right, the Stars now are pettled away. It's 4th down and about two from the 12.
Jumping back in his own end zone is Robbie Reynolds.
There's Reynolds, first punt of the evening.
All right, good snap. Reynolds hits it from his own goal line. It's a short kick, taken out by Jimmy Edwards.
Edwards is a 40. Edwards running laterally in the 40-yard line. Turns the corner.
Thirty-five, thirty, twenty-five. Edwards down the sideline. Ten, five. He's all the way. No, he went out of bounds.
He went out of bounds up on the 17. Jimmy Edwards.
And the punt was short. The coverage was not there, and the Stars got burned again, as they did in Jacksonville on the special teams.
I think that's where that rule comes in, that you have to be five yards away from the man when he catches the ball.
Of course, there's no fair catchers, and when you have to come down the field and then make sure that you break down five yards away,
it tends to take away from going through and following and making the tackle.
And the Stars tend to stand around, and by the time they got in pursuit, he was going off down the sideline.
That is 12th man Hempton Mott, the old sideline at the time.
Thirty-eight yard punt with a 33-yard return. Birmingham, first and ten of the 17.
Meyer to pass off play action. Fires out here, and it is incomplete.
It's headed for Haraway on the far sideline. It hit Haraway in the chest, and fell incomplete. Tommy Chandler covering.
You know Haraway is a much, much better pass receiver than them. He's mostly a blocker, and hit Haraway right in the numbers, and he dropped it.
Well, I was thinking, if you talk to the people down in the redskins, you'll find out that Haraway's biggest asset to a team is his blocking ability and, of course, his short yardage situations.
I don't understand why George is continually trying to throw to Haraway. He don't catch the ball very well, and I'm sure with the newness of himself to George,
it's a lack of timing, but I guess George will go to some of his other people pretty soon.
Second and ten, ball to 17. Meyer to pass in the pocket. Meyer being rushed, flips it out here, and it is incomplete.
Off the hands of Paul Robinson. Robinson being covered by the linebacker on that song, number 58, Gary Champagne, and the ball again went incomplete.
Balls on the 17, third and ten. Their wide receivers are Al Jenkins, number 80, and Dennis Holman.
He's a pretty good wide receiver. They have barely gone to those wide receivers.
Haraway and Robinson are the setbacks. Holman and Jenkins are the wide receivers.
The tight end is Ted Powell. Holman out to the left. Jenkins out right. Third and ten, 17. Meyer to throw.
Meyer getting the rush, flipping it out on the screen to Robinson. Hit it to 20 and knocked down a three-yard loss.
The stars cover that screen. Number 59, Dana Carpenter, along with Art Riddles, made the stop.
And Champagne was also there. Linebackers got on the floor of that screen, and now the Americans are back on their 20.
They've lost three yards, and they really can't go over the field goal, man.
You brought this up before. It's an awful long field goal for me, and the thing about it, if it goes into the end zone, it's brought back to the point of where you missed it from.
Again, those linebackers are rookies, and they can't play pass defense, but they sure can read a screen and come up with support on the run.
Here's a big fourth down. Meyer rolling out right, looking to throw. Rolling, looking, looking, looking.
Firing down the field. It's complete now. To Cantrelli goes to the goal line and over for the touchdown.
That was Ted Powell. That was number 82, Ted Powell, not Cantrelli, and Powell slipped into a dead spot, caused the ball to five, and life's over.
So Birmingham on fourth down gets a big boost, gets to seven, and Trails in the ball game 29-10.
You know, speaking of Ted Powell, I was talking to some of the jet scouts about him. He's out of Ohio State.
He's 6'2", 220 pounds, got blazing speed, and again, is another typical player that the NFL overlooked.
This Ted Powell is some type of receiver. If he goes through him more, I think you'll see this game get to be a close contest.
On the action point, Meyer, play action, rolling left, throwing, and the end's on. Incomplete. Off the fingertips of Powell, and the ball went awry.
So as they come up the field, there's a timeout with a score of the Stars 29, Birmingham 10, and we'll have more Stars football in just 60 seconds.
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John Sterling Matsmell, the Stars lead has been knocked down out of 29, 10, 9 minutes, remaining in the third quarter at Downing Stadium.
Earl Sork, to boot it off in the 30, the kick is a pretty good kick.
Down about the 13-yard line, pick up there, now they think they reverse, they give it to Hermanni on the reverse.
Hermanni is a 30, run out of bounds at the 33.
Rozzle Dazzle on the kickoff return, they reverse it to Hermanni, run out of bounds at the 33.
That's really fancy, either can go for a touchdown or can bank fire on you.
The man that caught the ball started off field, handed off to another man who pitched to one of the other players going wide.
That's really fancy and makes for a lot of excitement, but I know myself, if I had a 29 to 10 lead, I'd hate to be messing around with a fancy play like that.
The Stars now know they can't sit on that lead, they lead 29, 10, but they've got to move the ball some more.
Sauer and Hermanni, the wide receivers, Sauer, left, Hermanni, right, Jusbackfield behind Sherman, ball on the 33.
Here is a give to Ford across the 35 to the 36, 37 yard line, stopped by the middle of the Birmingham defense.
Jimmy Ford cracking up to the 37, a gain of about four, it'll be second and six from the 33 yard line.
Stop was made by Tiny Andrews. Now Tiny has taken the place of Dick Sauer at defensive left hand for Birmingham.
Sauer left the field, you may recall, a few minutes ago with what looked like a rib injury.
All right, here come the Stars, Linus, Grumits, 37 yard line, second and six.
Sherman, as they run out of the eye, now they switch back to the eye.
Here is the give to Ford, Ford off the right side, Ford running well, Ford on the 40, 35, Ford down 30, Ford 20 by 20.
Ford is running out of bounds inside the 20 yard line, or inside the 30 yard line across the way down to about the 27 yard line.
Ford burst off the right side, cut to the outside, went down the far side line, run out of bounds at the 27, a 40 yard run by Jimmy Ford.
That was really great running by Ford, he just refused to go down, it was a simple power play and he broke two tackles.
When he got to the secondary, John, he really had good speed.
The secondary caught up with him, he thought they had to angle on him, but he could have taken that one all the way very easy.
Stars on the move again. The ball is on the 27 of Birmingham, first and 10.
Now in motion is Glonjo to the left. The give now is to Ford, and Ford is thick and there's a flag on the play.
But Ford is really thick, that fool no one at all. The fake pitch outside to Glonjo, and they gave it back to Ford, and Ford was really thick.
Penalty right there, now we'll wait and see what the penalty is all about.
747 left in the third quarter, Stars lead 29, 10. They've decided now what the penalty is going to be.
But Matt, I'd say it looks like it's on the Stars. Stars have retreated in their huddle all the way back to the 45 yard line.
The illegal procedure, it is declined by Birmingham. The Stars have 19 first downs, and Birmingham has but two.
Stars lead it 29 to 10. So it is second down and 10 from the 27.
Spinks is out wide right, Sauer out wide left. Glonjo and Ford, and now Sherman starts to call the signals.
In motion is Glonjo. Now Sherman rolls right. Sherman looks to throw. Sherman flips it out and spinks.
It is incomplete. I think maybe Cecil Ennard caught that ball, but he was out of bounds with it.
I think it's going to be third down as they nullify, if you say why we're qualifying it, as far across the field.
It's very tough to see there, frankly. So it brings it up to third and 10.
Now Glonjo goes out and the backfield is Huff and Ford. This is the second string backfield to begin with, but they're looking right at the first string backfield, frankly.
Third and 10. Matt, what are they going to call?
Well, like you said, third and 10, so he got to get the first down. So I would say that he would probably go to Sauer in a situation like this.
All right, third and 10 from the 27. Deuce backfield behind Sherman. Sauer is out wide left. Spinks out wide right.
All right, now Starr is in motion. No question about it. The play, the ball goes to Huff, but the play was whistle-dead before that.
Someone raised. Now if you're winning back, you can be in motion, but you have to be outside the tight end.
And he wasn't outside the tight end. That's got to be a five-yard penalty.
Well, I don't know if that was exactly what the cause was. I think the tight end raised a pulse on, although he had some new innovations in the world of football,
I don't think you can have two people in motion. And you had Glazio in motion. You had the tight end in motion.
And as you said, it was now forced down. The penalty was declined by Birmingham.
The Stars really can't afford to go for a field goal here because it would be a kick of approximately 47 yards.
And the thing about trying to field goal in a situation like this, if you miss it, it will come back to where the line of scrimmage was.
It's no longer bringing that to the 20.
Ball to the 25. They're going to go for it. Ball is going to be marked 32, a 42-yard field goal by Rejecki.
A 42-yard field goal try. Now Rejecki has nailed two tonight. Rejecki has two field goals tonight.
And he's going to try now his longest of the night, a 42-yard. If they miss, the ball will come to the 25.
All right, now out of a Sherman hole, ball is down. Kick is up. Kick is long enough. It is. It is.
Is it off to the left? It is. It's off to the left. And so Rejecki's field goal is just wide left.
There's a timeout on the field with a score. The New York Stars, 29, Birmingham, 10. More Stars football in just 60 seconds.
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Second down now, five yard completion by Meyro to the reserve tight end Bishop. Here's the gift to Haraway. Left side hit behind the line of scrimmage and knocked down.
In was the quarterback Charlie Boston but making the initial hit on the play was a number 58 and that's the linebacker Gary Champagne.
And he's another rookie. Gary Champagne is from LSU and he has played a very good ballgame tonight.
The first down play while we were away for the commercial was a five yard completion to Bishop.
The second play, no game with Haraway. They're at the 30. It's third down now. Third and about four from just over the 30 yard line.
It is a long four. Again Birmingham needs it. They're trying to get back in the ballgame. Charlie 29-10.
Just over six minutes remaining third quarter. In motion Cantrell. Back to pass now Meyro. Firing and it's incomplete.
Holman went out. The pass went inside and it fell incomplete. Boston covering on the play. He had Holman well covered.
I think there was a mix up there between George Meyro and his receiver. As you said the receiver broke out. George threw the ball inside.
I think what George was thinking that seeing as how he was so well covered that he would hook inside and just find an open spot.
But again having had no preseason and having worked together only about three weeks. There's going to be a lot of mistakes like this.
But I think that as the season wears on you'll see a lot better time between the quarterback and the receiver.
By just under six remaining in the quarter Earl Sark will punt it away. Standing on his own 15.
Hermannian single safety. The punt is almost blocked. It is blocked. Picked up by the Stars inside the 20 and the 15.
And the ball is going to be wrestled down there at the 15 yard line. So the Stars have three men blocking that punt.
We'll try to find out which one was able to lay his hands on the letter. Ernie Richardson.
That smell has that smelled out beautifully. And the ball is on the 15. They have three men around the ball.
Yeah you can tell they were going for it. They had everyone up on the line of scrimmage.
And of course when you bring everyone from the defensive team up to the line and you go for the block.
It either works well and you get a blocked punt such as that which gives them great field position or else they get the punt away and you have no return.
But again Richardson came through. He blocked the ball not only that but he recovered it.
Alright Spinks goes out wide right. Sauer out wide left. Sherman the quarterback. Sherman back to pass in the pocket.
Sherman looks. In the end zone Spinks is open. Easy. Oh it's incomplete. Off Spinks hand. Over the end line out of bounds.
He gave a pump fake to Spinks. Free Spinks who crossed over the middle and that we knew he was open right here from our vantage point and Spinks just couldn't hang on.
You know I'm constantly amazed you can see the jet office completely. That was what is known as a hounding up.
George Sauer runs that pattern all the time. He goes down about 15 yards fakes it out. Gets the defensive back to minute and breaks right back to the post.
It's really such a fantastic pattern. The defensive backs and Cecil Leonard has seen it for a hundred years and he still can't cover it.
Well we saw Spinks go up and everyone oohed in the booth. Alright here is a fake by Sherman.
Pitching now deep down field it is just at the three yard line. Jump by asking down to the three yard line and so it comes third down.
Sherman's got to be wondering now how else do I throw the ball as he has thrown two pretty good passes here.
Third down from the 15 yard line. It's just outside the 15 between the 16 and 15 yard line. It'll be third and 10.
About 537 left in the quarter. An out wide right of Spinks wide left is Sauer.
Sherman jumps straight back. Sherman to throw in third. Firing outside. It's incomplete. It's inasempted.
Here comes Birmingham upfield. Birmingham in field will try to figure that out who that was.
It looked like the safety on the left side. It may have been Larry Willingham who went and sent to that ball and he was almost away.
So Birmingham gets the big interception and well another ball has missed field. I believe that was Willingham.
Well I know Sherman wanted that one back time he let it go because the safety was standing there just waiting for it.
But one thing about Sherman he wouldn't have made the tackle. He threw the ball a long ways across field and the safety was just standing there.
He was lucky that one didn't go all the way for the score.
So the interception at midfield Birmingham now has a big turnover with 528.
Stars almost had a touchdown on the board. Now they copped the ball up. Midfield Myra. The give now Robinson.
Nowhere at all. Headed midfield and down. And I mean he was really down. The tackle again by Lloyd Voss.
And once again the mystery continues why Myra is running into the middle of the Stars line.
The Stars defensive line Jerry Philbin, Lloyd Voss, John Elliott, Larry Estes. That's a very good experience defensive line.
Second out and ten now. Jenkins out wide left. Out wide to the right is Dennis Holman. Myra is the quarterback.
All right George in the pocket. George rolling out right. Looking firing down field. It's going to be caught by Holman but out of bounds.
Holman caught it right in front of us on the near sideline out of bounds. He is being played by Jim Sims along with Steve Dennis the two safeties.
The quarterback obviously has a short zone there and the safeties have deep responsibility.
Well again George as I said he's short he can't see so he flooded the right side and he rolled to the right side.
He put a lot of pressure on Richardson the weak linebacker not having had a lot of experience.
Richardson didn't know whether to come up or go back. You know Charlie Balson was leaning back when he was beat but he was lucky to sideline up the mountain ball was thrown out of bounds.
All right third and ten. Myra quarterback has had a dreadful night. Myra in the pocket. Myra rolls right now. Fires down field.
It's completing to Jenkins. Jenkins hit it to 35 by Balson. Dragged backwards but the ball will be good for a first down down to the 33 yard line of the Stars right in front of us.
All Jenkins making the reception. Jenkins 5'11 160 from Morris Brown and it will be a first and ten from the 33 yard line of the Stars for Birmingham.
So Myra rolled out right at the line of scrimmage he let it go and he found an open man Al Jenkins.
I believe Myra is now two for 11 two for 12 that's the third Birmingham first down.
All right first and ten now for the Americans. Myra play action looking to pass. Looking looking.
He rolls it out here for safety valve to number 84 Bishop and Bishop gets down to the 30 yard line a three yard advance.
That's the reserve tight end Jim Bishop. Kind of a safety valve out there. Myra had nowhere else to go.
You're right. George is finally starting to open up a little bit. He's trying to flood zones and roll in the same direction and put a lot of pressure on those rookie linebackers.
We've got Honey Richardson linebacker 65220 out of Jackson State. He's a rookie and George is trying to take advantage of him.
I think you'll see George constantly roll to one side and other than fire to ball.
Myra now five for 16 ball on the 32nd and seven. 320 left in the third quarter. Myra to pass. Myra in the pocket.
Myra fires it out right side. It is complete to one of his outside receivers.
It's Dennis Holman and he's run out of bounds across the way on the far sideline down to the 10 yard line.
Tom Chandler was downfield helping to run Holman out of bounds. The ball is now inside the 10 of the nine and Chandler made the play as he got downfield.
Chandler got here. He is another rookie man. Yeah. George has finally done a smart thing.
He's isolating the backs and the wings on these linebackers making them try to come a one on one and they just are unable to do it.
This is WMCA. First down, first in 10, first in goal inside the 10. Myra play-offs looking to throw. Myra fires out here.
It is complete to Cantrell. He's knocked out of bounds the minute he caught it.
Knocked out of bounds by Steve Dennis, the free safety from Grambling, who's also a rookie.
This is WMCA New York where you'll hear Barry Gray right after tonight's game.
The ball is set in the seven yard line and gain of two is second in goal from the seven.
Now Larry Estes goes out of the ball game at defensive end and the rookie Steve Sessler comes in from St. John's in Minnesota.
Holman out to the left side. Jenkins right. Myra to throw. Looking for Jenkins. All this fingertips in the end zone incomplete.
Boy, he really drilled the ball into Jenkins. Of course, Myra throws them all pretty hard.
Jenkins knows that he drilled it right into his pants. I think you're right.
You know, George really cut that one loose. It was a simple two yard post pattern.
He was trying to hit him on the break and letting his momentum carry him into the end zone.
But George threw it too hard and I'm not so sure that he didn't hear that defensive bite coming to him
because you know the moment that you catch the ball you're going to be dicked.
All right, it's third in goal from the seven. Jenkins out wide right. Holman out wide left.
The backs reset now behind Myra. Here's Myra rolling left firing and it is almost picked off incomplete.
Number 45, Jim Sims at his hands on him. Has a penalty flag on the play. He's a strong side safety.
And boy, again it looked like Sims had a lot of acreage in front of him.
George made the same mistake that Tom Sherman made a few minutes ago.
He was getting a good rush from the front for the Stars and he just threw the ball not looking to see who was standing there.
Jim Sims almost had about a 90 yard touchdown. But I think that the Stars, it's great to have that front four up there with a lot of experience.
But I think that they're having to play an awful lot in this second half and it is awful hot even though I said before it was cool.
It's still hot out here. The humidity is here. And I think that Jerry Philbin, Voss, Elliott, and I think they're starting to tire a little bit.
They need someone to spell them.
There's a five yard offside penalty against the Stars in that play which will bring up third down again.
Third down this time from about the two yard line.
The play was run from about the seven and a half taking down about the two and a half.
So it brings up third down.
Now they've set the ball at the four yard line. It's half the distance.
They've set it at the four on the offside penalty.
So it's third down and about four to go. Third and goal from the four with a minute 57 remaining third quarter.
Art Cantrell is now at it running back along with Carl Bartles.
Meyer the quarterback, Meyer the throw. In the end's over Jenkins and it's touchdown.
Al Jenkins made a good little move cut outside and beat the quarterback on that side.
Wendell Wilson and all of a sudden Birmingham just like Matt Snow predicted back in this ballgame.
It is 29 to 17 with the action point coming up.
That's a difficult call on the official's part.
They're on the four yard line. The offensive player drives the defensive manager to the end zone.
And then it's difficult on the official. Did he push off or not? But he was wide open when they made contact.
Action point for Florida Jenkins. Yes.
Beautifully complete. Meyer to Jenkins. The same play. Drove his man back cut outside.
A little down and out time maneuver and Meyer led him perfectly and it's now 29 to 18.
A minute 54 remaining in the third quarter. Hope you're enjoying an action filled ballgame.
29 to 18. The Stars who once led 29 to 3.
Well you know that we're going to be broadcasting these Star games from Downing Stadium throughout the summer and fall.
We really hope you get a chance to come out and see them.
The time Sherman at quarterback joined George Sauer and Al Young who's injured tonight.
The defensive front four led by your old favorites like John Elliott and Jerry Philbin.
Get your Stars tickets. The next home game is the 31st of July.
Stars and Jacksonville here at Downing Stadium beginning at 8 o'clock.
Earl Sark will tee it up in the 30. Sark approaches the ball now. Ball fell off the tee. They'll do it again.
That's a march by Birmingham. 10 plays 51 yards off the interception.
Single safety. Looks now like Jim Ford is back there. Single safety.
Sark approaches the ball. Good good bye.
Sark 15 yard line. Ford 20 yard line. Ford side line. Over the 30. 35 head and next down is the 35 yard line.
Ford pretty good run back. A 20 yard run back from the 15 to the 35.
And now Matt, this is happening in so many football games, games you've played in, do the Stars regain the momentum?
They've got to start putting the ball up. They've got to start taking some chances. They can't sit on the sleeve.
With a minute and 44 seconds left in the third quarter, I think Tom Sherman has to come out.
He has to complete a big pass. They need a big run or something to get the momentum back on the side.
This is typically what happens when you run away with the first half of a game.
Our first player to give is Joanne Huff up the middle for about three yards to the 38, 39 yard line.
Straight plunge up the middle. Good interior blocking by Bob Cosell and Larry Butler and Dick Hard at left guard.
And they move the ball out about three yards to the 38.
Tackle is made by Clarence Washington, the defensive tackle. Washington plays the left side.
Second down now, second at about seven.
Sherman, here's the pitch out now to Gladio. Gladio is hit and dicked at about the 38, 39 yard line.
They were not able to turn the corner. Gladio was really dicked.
Warren Capone and Dickie Lane, the free safety, Capone the middle linebacker.
Dickie Lane, the free safety, came up and made the tackle. So the ball stays at the 39.
It's third and seventh in the 39. And this is what Matt was talking about. They need a big play.
Now, Burt Askin, the better pass catcher, goes in the tight end, replacing Ray Parson.
Spinks is out wide right. Sauer out wide left. They have not gone to George as they've doubled up on George tonight.
Gladio in help with the running back.
Sherman on third. Here is a draw play to Hump. He's hit and falls forward to about the 42, 43.
Not enough for a first down. Once again Birmingham holds. Once again the Stars left a planet away.
Clarence Washington in on the stop. And this ballgame has really turned, Matt, very much the way you said it might turn.
Well, again, as I said, I hate to be redundant, but Tom seemed to have forgotten what got him those 29 points in the first half.
He became ultra conservative. He was willing to settle the ball and run the clock out. And the top did just run out.
It's beginning the fourth quarter pretty soon. And Tom is going to have a long fourth quarter if he doesn't open up and start throwing the ball and start going to George and running those wide open plays and stop being conservative.
That's the end of the third quarter with a score of the Stars 29 Birmingham 18 more stars football in just 60 seconds.
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Here's a punt as we begin the fourth quarter, a deep punt taken by Steve Williams. Williams running at his own 20 is hit and knocked down to the 19. Steve Williams got nowhere at all in that punt return. A beautiful punt by Robbie Reynolds.
Just his second of the night. And the ball will be placed on the 20. So Birmingham now, Matt.
29-18, trailing by 11. Andy Huff made the tackle. A good open field tackle by Huff.
And Birmingham has the ball, first and 10, on their own 20 yard line.
See what Mr. Meyer can come up with here. Jenkins now is a foot out wide to the left.
Slantback is Holman. Here is the pitch to Robinson coming wide, 20. Robinson dancing at the 25, hit and knocked down to the 25.
A good tackle by number 29, Wendell Wilson the quarterback. A good open field tackle by Wilson.
Can't show us now in a running back, along with Carl Bartles.
A gain of five. It will be second and five from the 25 yard line. Birmingham has come a long way back. They were down 29-3. Now 29-18 in motion is Holman to the right.
Meyer the quarterback rolling right to Holman's side. Looking for Holman firing downfield is incomplete.
Holman was covered by three men in the middle of that zone. Wendell Wilson knocked down the ball.
Boston also was over there as they rolled Holman out to that side and tried to throw to him. Meyer rolled with him. Again, George Fields at the third quarter.
He was very successful. Flooding one side and also rolling that direction. And he came out of the fourth quarter doing the same thing.
I think that Birmingham believes now that they finally got themselves together. They're scoring down 29-18. They got a little over 14 minutes left to go.
They feel they can win the game and they're playing like it.
And 30 down Meyer in a throw. Pitching it out to one of his backs. Bartles. Bartles has the ball. 30-35. He's rolling the bounds at the 40.
Birmingham first down. Jimmy Sims ran him out. Now again, the back coming out of the backfield. Carl Bartles.
The receivers were covered. Just a little safety valve flipping. Bartles ran it for the first down.
George is taking advantage of those rookie linebackers again. On that side you have Champagne and I'm sorry, Richardson.
George is making them cover that time. They rolled that way and Richardson came up to support and the back was out there in the flat all by himself.
Jenkins wide right. Holman wide left. Here is Meyer rolling left. Being rushed by Elliott. Throws it away. He threw it away.
Holman was in the vicinity. Meyer saw Elliott coming toward him and Philbin coming toward him and just threw the ball away very smartly.
Saving a loss. It will be second and ten from the 41 yard line. The running backs now are Carl Bartles, number 33, who is the rookie from Lenoir.
Ryan, he's 6'1", 2'12". And Art Cantrell, a rookie from LSU, he's 6'8", 2'03". Actually Cantrell played in Canada last year with Jack up in Ottawa with the Ottawa Rough Riders.
So it brings up now second and ten from the 41. Out to the right is Dennis Holman. Out left is Jenkins. They line up in the eye.
Now they shift out of the eye. A slot back on the double wing. In the slot is Cantrell. Meyer, play action. Meyer to throw.
Deep over the middle. It has completed Cantrell. Cantrell down to the 33 yard line of the stars. Meyer finding Cantrell wide open in the middle.
Cantrell came out of that slot on the left side. And Birmingham is really on the move down to the 33 yard line of the stars.
Again, Cantrell came out of the backfield. They set him in a simple double wing and that rookie linebacker is still unlearned.
And if you keep down on your man, you play your home first. And they're still trying to do a lot of things, helping a lot of people.
It's not necessary. The front four is playing for the stars. They're playing very well. So these linebackers have to stay at home and do their own job.
They set the ball to 32. First and 10 on the stars. 32. Birmingham driving. Meyer the quarterback. Meyer on the gift of Bartles on the draw gets nowhere at all.
Down to maybe the 30 yard line. Staying at home there is Art Reynolds who made the tackle on the draw, which could have gone for a lot of yards.
It's about a two yard advance. It'll bring up a second and about eighth from the 30 yard line of the stars. Birmingham very, very much in this ball game.
They trail 29 to three. It's now 29-18. 12-43 remaining in the ball game. Jenkins out left. Holman is out right. They line up in the eye. They shift out of the eye.
Just backfield behind Meyer on second and eighth. Meyer to throw. Looking. Looking out of the backfield. Fires downfield. It is incomplete.
Out of Jenkins' hand. Pass interference on Wendell Wilson at the two yard line. Jenkins had him beat. Meyer dodging to the line of scrimmage.
Fires down to the two yard line. Out of Jenkins' hands with a rural pass interference against Wendell Wilson. Jenkins almost had to interfere with him.
The stars got caught in an all out blitz trying to put a lot of pressure on Meyer. But again, having the ability to move around, he went back into the pocket and as the flow came in he stepped up forward and he fired the ball.
And Williams was all alone on the mid. It was either a touchdown or take a chance on not getting a penalty call.
Well they did call a penalty. First and go Birmingham on the two. And now there's going to be a timeout call. There's timeout on the field.
Birmingham trailing in the ball game by a score of 29 to 18 but they've got first and goal from the two. You've probably noticed that a lot of men's hairsprays call themselves dry.
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John Sterling, Matt Snell at Downing Stadium. This is quite an inaugural ball game at home for the Stars, Matt, because they had a 29-3 lead at 29-18 and it's going to be a very close game if Birmingham gets two-four yards.
Well if Birmingham closes touchdown, as you said, they'll be right back in the game. The New York Stars had a tremendous first half and they went inside and they came out on the second half not doing the things that were successful for them in the first half.
They got conservative. They started to run the ball into the middle and not put it in the air. And as you said, Birmingham got a couple of breaks and they're right back in this game.
And with the action point and the touchdown count for seven, if they get a score now, it would really, really be a close contest and I think that with two more touchdowns, they could even be ahead.
So the Stars have to stop them here and they have to get some offense going.
You know, as they tie this ball game up, we're going to have overtime here at Downing Stadium. There is an extra period in WFL football.
All right, Birmingham will have it, first and goal from the two. They have double-tied ends in there. They line up power-eye right.
Meyer the quarterback, power-eye right. Meyer now here is the give to the goal line. I believe that's Bartos. He did not get over. He carried down about the one or the two. He did not get over.
And they'll do it all over again, second down. It's impossible to tell where the ball is, but the ball is at the two-yard line. The stop was made by Tom Chandler.
They're going to the closed end of the stadium, far away from us, and the ball is marked at the three-yard line. They may have lost a half-yard. You know that?
All right, second and goal now from the three, a power-eye right formation. Power-eye wingback right. The give now to Harroway. Harroway is stuck. Harroway is stuck.
Charlie Harroway was hit. Second Everett tried to move, and it was decked at about the two-yard line. So far, so good.
I think George is setting up something in his power-eye. I wouldn't be surprised to see him go power-eye again and faked into the line and just hit one of those backs. Let's face it with a power-eye to one side.
The lineback on that side has to be down and coming, and if the safety don't stay at home and do their job, they're going to be back on their flat wide open.
Power-eye. Power-eye right. Third and goal from the three. Power-eye right. Myra rolling. Myra rolling. Myra gets into the end zone for the touchdown, but there's a penalty flag. Now hold everything.
When Myra got in, there is a penalty, and we've had the officials raise their hands. It is a touchdown, and the penalty may be on the stars. Offside stars, decline, touchdown Birmingham.
Myra rolled it in off the power-eye right formation. They had three blocking blocks ahead of them. It is now 29 to 25. The action point could be 29-26. They'd be a field goal away from tying.
The score is driving 11 plays. Boy, what a turnaround this ballgame has been. The stars led at the end of the half 29-3. It's now 29-25. This is a big action point. Myra looking. Myra throwing. It's pulling it back down.
Big number 78. Number 78, Larry Estes got his hands up and knocked it down. There's a timeout on the field. Where's the score? The stars 29, Birmingham 25, more stars football in 60 seconds.
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He's ready. He approaches the ball. He boosts it. It's a high boot. Soaring downfield. Not too deep. 420. 425. 30. 435. And it's down to the 40 yard line. A good run back by Jimmy Ford.
The Ford may have lost it but the stars have recovered anyway. They have the ball set at the 40. Matt, you had Larry Butler recovering that ball. Is it pop free on the ground? Well yeah, he did lose the ball but again Larry Butler was there recovering it. Now if the stars had lost that ball I think Birmingham would have won for a score and they might have put this game away. But the stars got a break. Now if they can go in for the score they can get the momentum back on their side and maybe they can pull this game out.
Jars lead by 4. Back to pass Sherman on first down. Sherman now rolling right. Looking, looking, looking. Firing on the sideline is incomplete. Intended down there for the running back Bob Gladzow up on midfield.
And it was incomplete. 10.45 remaining in the ball game. Now the tight end Ray Parsons is back in. Askin has played most of the game at tight end and now Askin goes in and Parsons goes out.
Second down and 10. The ball is on the 40 yard line of the stars with 10.45 left. Sauer is wide left. Spinks is wide right. By Sherman now on the give to Gladzow cutting left. 40 yard line. Gladzow across the 45 and barreling up to the 47 yard line.
A good run by Gladzow. The stars have got to get something going man. Gladzow again as you said he ran there was a power sweep to the left and Gladzow is keeping his head up now and with a good second effort he really picked up those 8 yards on his own.
But again the stars I don't think they can afford to run the ball now. There's still 10.19 left. They're only leading 29 to 25. They need a score. They also need 3 yards.
It's third down about 3. They've got to get to about midfield. Ball is on the 47. Gladzow is one running back. The other is Andy Huff. Spinks is out wide right. Sauer in tight on the left side.
Here is the give now to Huff. He gets near midfield not quite and it will bring up a fourth down and about a half a yard shy.
They're doing very close. They on pile at midfield. See where they set the ball down. They set it down shy of midfield. It's fourth and very short and they're going to kick it away and I think that's a good move by Burleigh.
That's a good move but as I said before you've got Elliott, Philbin, Estane all of them up front. They've played an awful lot this second half. It is humid out here and I think it's starting to tell.
What the Stars need to do is to mount a sustained drive to give the defense a chance to risk because the guys got experience but they also have that age on them and his heat tail takes its toll this time of year.
Steve Williams and Alan Jenkins are deep standing on their own 15. Reynolds needs a good punt and he gets a good punt. A beauty all the way downfield going out about staying inbounds and it will be covered by the Stars down on the 12 yard line.
That was a great move by Robbie Reynolds as he punted the ball down near the side line and it will be first and center for Birmingham but back on their own 12 yard line.
Again it depends on how long the defense will stay on the field because as I said the guys are tied. They've played a lot this second half. If they can get Birmingham to run three plays and boot it away and then the Stars can sustain a drive.
I think the Stars can go on to win this game but right now if they have to sustain a long drive on Birmingham's part it will really take its toll.
All right, Maura the quarterback. Bortles one of the running backs along with Cantrell to give the Bortles up the middle. Bortles with running room across the 13. That's about the 15 yard line and then throwing back.
But let's give this a forward progress up to about the 15. In fact they're going to place the ball at the 16 yard line and gain a four. It will be second and sixth. Interesting to note Matt that here in the fourth quarter Birmingham trying to win going with the two inexperienced running backs.
Cantrell and Bortles with Harroway and Paul Robinson on the bench. Holman is out right. Jenkins out left. They line up in the eye now. They shift out of the yard. Bortles and Cantrell the running backs.
All right now here is the give to Cantrell going wide right. He has running room across the 25 and up to about the 20, up to about the 23. It should be enough for a first down. The stop is by Jim Simms.
The strong side safety for the Stars. That's going to be a first down. The ball is about on the 23, 24 and I believe the Stars want time out.
Now let's see. I may just be signaling a first down. So it is a first down. Ball is on the, near the 24 yard line.
We got 7.53 left in the ball game but the Stars only lead by 4.29.25.
Myra the quarterback first and 10. Myra here is the give to Bortles straight ahead over the 25, stunned at about the 26 yard line. A gain of about 3. It will be second and 7 from the 26.
And Myra is taking his time with his drive.
Well George has Palm on his side. His team has played real well the second half and again he is trying to keep that defense on the field and wear them down. Speaking of that the worst thing happening is he can take this game in overtime and see if they can still play.
All right second down about 7. Myra now rolling out left. Myra looking to throw a fire to the sideline. It is complete and out of bounds goes Dennis Holman.
A good catch in one foot in which is all you need up on the 35. Myra roll left. Holman was rolling with him and he caught Holman to the sideline in the 35.
Wendell Wilson was there forcing Holman out of bounds so the pass took him out. And the ball is now up on the 35 yard line. Another first down.
So inexorably Birmingham moves forward and they have cut this deficit 29-3 to 29-25.
In motion is Holman. Myra now the gimp to Cantrell wide right. Cantrell trying to turn the corner. He does. He gets about 4 yards forced out of bounds across the way at about the 39 yard line.
Larry Shears in the ball game at quarterback replacing Charlie Boston forced him out but not until Cantrell had turned the corner got 4 yards up to the 39.
Birmingham on their own 39. We've got 7 minutes remaining in the game. The Stars lead 29-25.
It has been two different ball games. The first half the Stars 29-3 and this half dominated by Birmingham who about scored the Stars 22-0.
By out wide right is Holman. Out wide left is Jenkins. Bartles and Cantrell remain the running backs. The quarterback is Myra.
Alright here is the gimp to Bartles. Up the middle running run across the 40. 43-44 yard line before the tackle is made by Gary Champagne.
You know the Stars first game Matt they lost in the closing minutes to Jacksonville 14-7. And now once again the game is on the line with 6-43 remaining.
Well as you say the Stars 29-25 and Birmingham needs a touchdown. They can't win with a field goal. It would be 29-28. If they can score a touchdown and win this game down that's what they're shooting for.
I think the reason you see Harroway and Robinson on the sideline is that Birmingham knew they had to come out throwing and neither Robinson nor Harroway was known for their fast receiving.
Third down and one to China in the ball game. Third and one to give to Cantrell. He's hit to the line and skivish and knock down. He did not make it. He did not make it.
Now the yard line is right in front of us and we can see across the way Cantrell was hit and knocked down to the line of skivish and they're going to punt the ball.
As Coach Jack Gotta is going to rely on his defense and he is going to punt the ball away with 6-09 left. The left side of the Stars line held.
Sark will do the punting. Hermanni is deep standing on his own 15. Sark will boot it away from his own 30.
Alright here's the snap. The boot by Sark is away. It's a beauty. Beauty boot. 15 yard line Hermanni.
Hermanni Dodgers is in and is knocked down to the 20 yard line.
So there's a tie down on the field with the score. The Stars 29, Birmingham 25. More Stars football in just 60 seconds.
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Alright on second down here is the give to Huff. First down. Huff went nine yards on the first play. He just gained about three yards as we're late getting back.
Ball is up to the 34. He went from the 20 to the 29. Now he gains another five yards to 34. Two big running plays Matt by Andy Huff in the stars as there's less than five minutes remaining.
I think if the stars can keep this drive going I think they're going to stay on the ground and try to run this clock out. Again as you said Huff gained a quick nine on a quick opener to start and if they can sustain this drive they can run the clock out.
Alright in second down. Our first down in ten now from the 34 yard line. First in ten stars in the room 34. Here is the give now to Huff and Huff gets across the 35 to about the 37 yard line.
Gain of about three. It'll be second and seven from there. The tackle was made by number 63 on Birmingham's defense Clarence Washington.
Now he's that big tackle to play with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He's made a lot of tackles. He's 6'3 270 so he's got a little heft and he's made a lot of tackles tonight.
Second down and seven. Ball is placed at about the 38 yard line. Ball out wide left. Spinks out wide right. Glad Joe and Huff the running backs.
Sherman the give now to Huff and Huff gets up to near the 40 about the 39. Very little running room in the middle of that line.
The tackle by Cecil Leonard and it will bring up a third as Jimmy Ford comes in the ball game now for the stars.
George Sauris going out. They got third down and six. This is a big play. This is an awfully big play for the stars to keep the drive going and keep the ball away from Birmingham.
And of course this is a bigger play for Birmingham to hold right here. Third down and about five from the 39. Huff and Glad Joe the running backs.
Two tight ends. Here is now Sherman on the keeper. He's going to go nowhere at all. He's going to go nowhere at all.
They ran that play once too often. Steve Williams the cornerback made the tackle and Matt the stars going to have to boot it away.
Well Sherman trying to do the same thing he did on his first touchdown when he faked one way and he bootlegged it but again the cornerbacks were staying at home.
I think Sherman should have opened up a little bit and not been afraid to put the ball in the air because there is over two minutes left to go and with two minutes a lot of these professional quarterbacks can do fantastic things with a football.
I hope they get a good punch here because they really need it.
Reynolds to punt it away. Reynolds standing on his own 25. Jenkins and Williams are deep. Here is the boot, a high boot down to the 20 yard line taken by Williams.
Williams 25, Williams 30. Williams on his feet. Williams is hit by Estes and knocked down at about the 27 yard line.
In fact Williams lost three yards trying to get running room. So Birmingham has the ball. Two 26 remaining. First and 10 on their own 27 yard line.
But he really be glad Big Estes was in and had those long arms at 6'6 because I tell you if he didn't miss that tackle I think he would have a lot of running room but he tackled him high up around and the neck and just rolled him down.
All right Jenkins now is out wide right. Holman on the near sideline in front of us left. Holman in motion. Myra now play action. Myra rolling left.
Firing deep down field for Holman. He's got him. Holman is going to score. Holman is going to go all the way. Birmingham touchdown.
George Myra rolled left. Dennis Holman got behind the Stars defense. A 73 yard bomb from Myra to Dennis Holman and just like that the Stars who went throughout trail in this ball game 32-29.
Boy I tell you what Holman was way away. No question about it. You know John one thing that will never show up in the stats but I thought he really feels sorry for Dennis because number 17 Dennis the strong state is 6'485.
I think he could have made the tackle and I think he could have caught the guy. He ran smack into an official and fell flat down and there's nothing you can do about that.
All right here comes the action point. It's a big one because the Stars trail now by just a field goal. It's a big action point. Myra looking to throw. Throws and it's complete.
In the end zone. No he dropped the ball. He dropped the ball in the end zone. Number 84 Jim Bishop the tight end dropped the ball and that is an awfully big drop because the Stars now trail by only a field goal 32-29 and we could have overtime.
Myra road left on that play and Holman when he caught the ball there wasn't anyone within five yards. I had to follow the ball during the play by play but you notice that Steve Dennis had ran into the official.
He ran into the backfield judge and you know I don't know what what pill did he have for that but again I think he could have made the tackle. I think he's a little faster than the guy that caught the ball.
Again when he was taken out of the play by the official the guy went off with a touchdown but again the only trail by a field goal now so chances are if they can get down within field goal range we may have our first overtime for the New York Stars this season.
This is the new football season. And the first overtime for the WFL. Well you know you hear announcers always saying you can never tell in a ball game until the final whistle and people say oh they're just saying that.
Well we're not just saying that that's really true. You know you hear announcers always saying you can never tell in a ball game until the final whistle and people say oh they're just saying that.
Well we're not just saying that that's really true. You never really can tell.
All right here is Earl Salk to boot it off. Ford is deep. Ford standing on his own 13 yard line. All right here's the boot. Sailing downfield a low kick taken up by Gladio one of the up men of the 20. 20 by 30.
Across the 40 Gladio at the 42 yard line. Gladio got a very very short kick. A low kick and Gladio comes across the 40. Stars have good field position that's about the 42.
Yeah that was a lucky break by them that Gladio took that because now they're on the 42, 42 and a half yard line and they can be within field goal not like an NFL with 10 yards to be in field goal. They're going to need about 20, 25 yards to get into field goal.
All right in motion now is Gladio Sherman the quarterback first and 10. Sherman a pass. Sherman looking. Sherman dodges one tackler. Sherman looking. Fouls off safety valve complete to Sarr out of bounds up at the 48 yard line.
Sarr came back and finally got the attention of Sherman who was looking in vain for an opener receiver and got Sarr at about the 47, 48 yard line. It'll be second out and about five from the 47.
And now the two minute warning I believe. Two minute warning and we'll keep it here. Well they did say these games are going to be wide open and exciting. Stars at 29 and 3 and as Snell has said during halftime and before the end of the first half, Birmingham could regroup and make it a different game and darn if they haven't made it a different game they lead now by three.
Again John that's what happens when you come out and you run up a 29 and 3 halftime score. You tend to go in and no matter how much the coach rants and raves you tend to get conservative. You come out, you forget the things that scored those points for you the first half.
And before you know it you're back in a tough fight and once the momentum switches to the other team it really takes a lot of effort to get it back on your side. But again George Sarr was experienced paid off there.
Tom Sherman went back to pass. He had no one open. George went tackler. He was looking desperately desperately for someone to keep him taking a loss and George went down, ran his pass around and then Reznor came and going and covered himself. He came back to his quarterback and helped him out. They turned almost a loss into an 8 yard game.
Well this is the kind of action you get in Sarr's games. We hope to see you out here. Obviously we want you to listen to the Sarr's broadcast on WMCA but we hope you get a chance to see the Sarrs in action at Downing Stadium.
And the next home game will be July 31st against Jacksonville at 8 o'clock. Tonight a good crowd on hand. Not a capacity but his capacity is about 23,000. I guess they've had about 18,000 here tonight. It's been a good crowd and boy have they seen a football game.
I may collapse if we go to overtime but so may Snell as a matter of fact.
Okay a minute 59 remains in the ball game. 32-29 Birmingham with an unbelievable comeback. By the way Matt the Sarrs have just won first down in the second half. And I don't think Birmingham had a first down in the first half. It's really been two different games.
The key turned completely around as I said. And like you say it was all Sarrs in the first half and it's all Birmingham in the second half.
Alright here's Sherman now on second the drop leg goes to Huff. Huff running around. Huff gets across the midfield strike down to the Birmingham 46. It looks like it's enough for a first down. Let's wait and see.
The first down marker is about the 47. The ball is inside the 47. It is a Sarrs first down. So the Sarrs have a first down and they start up now without a huddle. They called a couple of plays in the huddle. There's a minute 30 remaining in the ball game. Now there is going to be a timeout call by Birmingham.
So Birmingham takes time out. That's something they don't want to do. Stop the clock. Again that was in the Sarrs' favor. I don't think Birmingham was ready for what we termed the end of the game. You hurry up offense or you're too many to offense.
The Sarrs know that they have a minute and 31 left. They need a field goal. They definitely need a touchdown to win the game. And again Birmingham was smart. You don't want to stop the clock and help the other team at this point.
But it was rather than take the chance of giving up that sure score. They extensively called a timeout and they're going to make the Sarrs not regroup and they'll have a chance to call a couple of defenses, what we term automatics.
And they'll be ready for the Sarrs next time they go without a huddle. Now Birmingham of course will want to keep the ball in the middle of the field, not let the Sarrs throw outside so they can stop the clock.
Of course if you allow the pass completion in the middle of the field you have a better chance of tackling them. And interesting to realize we haven't realized how many timeouts the Sarrs have taken this half.
And when it's a stat we don't have in the booth I would imagine they have at least two timeouts left. The scoreboard does not have the information anyway. We'll go on it on let's say two timeouts and we'll see how it goes.
The ball is on the 46 of Birmingham. It is first and ten on the 46. Alright Sherman now the quarterback in the back of the pocket firing downfield.
Complete to Sarrs. Sarrs down on 30. 25 he's hit and knocked out. George Sarrs a 21 yard pass completion over the middle. The Sarrs have called time.
So the Sarrs got all they wanted there. 21 yard completion of Sarrs over the middle. Again George again all of his experience paying off again. Of course Birmingham was in a deep zone, deep drop.
All they wanted to do was prevent the touchdown. George found the crack in the zone about 25 yards down the field and Sherman hit him right on the butt.
The Sarrs are now in field goal range. They still have a minute and 20 going. I think they have two timeouts left. If they can either score or get to field goal this game could be very interesting as it winds down towards the end.
Alright Mott what do you mean this game could be interesting? I think it is. It's an unbelievable performance there. Timeout taken by the Sarrs. Sarrs went down, found a dead spot in the zone, curled in.
And I'll tell you what about Sherman. He drilled him. He drilled the ball right on the money. Alright Hermani goes out. Spinks goes in. A wide receiver. A minute and 20 remaining.
I just want to make a quick comment. We haven't given them credit but that offensive line has done a fantastic job for Sherman because I don't think we've had one hole in penalty on the offensive line by the Sarrs tonight and that is unheard of this early in the season.
Yes and also Matt not one sack against Sherman. I don't think myro's been sacked either. Alright here come the Sarrs. Balls on the 25 first and 10. Sherman jumping back. Sherman looking. Sherman rolling. Sherman's going to be heading down to the 40 yard line.
Sherman had nowhere to go and was headed knocked down to the 40 with a minute 14 remaining. A big loss on the play. The ball's in the 40. They've got to get to the 13 and the Sarrs have taken another timeout and that is really disappointing.
I think some of Sherman's inexperience showed there. He was on his own 25 yard line. He drops back in a straight drop back pocket. He could have taken himself an 8 yard loss but instead he ends up with a 20 yard loss by trying to do the impossible.
You have to know when to stay in the pocket and when to roll out. Sometimes people complain about drop back quarterbacks saying that they stay in the pocket and they expect too much from the alignment in their backs but again when you move around there's a time for everything.
Sherman is over on the sideline now. I think he looks like he has a cramp. He's getting up. He's going to be alright but again by trying to make something out of a broken play he ended up putting his team I would say out of field goal range right now.
I would say out of field goal range too. They're on the 40. 47. That'd be a 57 yard field goal. That's a pretty good one. A minute 14 remaining. Hope you're enjoying a wild ball game at Downing Stadium.
John Sterling, Matt Snell. Boy we promised the action. We didn't realize this much action. This has been an unbelievable game. A great comeback by Birmingham and the 73 yard Myron to Dennis Holman bombed.
They're in front 32 29. Stars have it. Second down and 25 from the 40 yard line. Sherman back to pass. Sherman looks. Fires downfield. Complete to Sauer. Sauer is hit as he crosses the 20 18 yard line. Sauer. Now the Stars may not have another time out.
The Stars do not have another time out but they have a minute remaining. The Stars need five for the first down. It is second down. Check that. Is it second down? Third down. Third down and five.
From the 18. 45 seconds. Sherman looking. Throws outside and is incomplete. Almost intercepted. Almost intercepted by Clarence Washington as he raises those hands up.
And here it is. The field goal trying to tie it and send it into overtime. If Rejecky knocks it through will probably have overtime. If he misses it Birmingham will probably win.
41 seconds remaining. The ball is on the 18. Sherman will kneel on the 25. It's a 35 yard field goal tried by Rejecky. To tie it up. Sherman will hold at the 25. Rejecky will try to boot it and tie it.
The ball is snapped. The kick is up. The kick is. Off to the right. Rejecky pushed it off to the right. And the Stars came that close. He had the distance. He pushed it off to the right.
And Matt Weller gave it a try. Well you can't really blame Rejecky. There's a lot of pressure on him. And again you know the Stars. One thing you don't do when you're winning a game is that the defensive secondary you never let a man get behind you with less than three or four minutes to go for the long bomb.
And he gave it a 73 yard touchdown. And I would say right now that with no more time left on the Stars to score 29 to 32 in favor of Birmingham I would say that the Stars will have to go back and regroup. I think they should be proud of their first half. The second half is not much to say. They only had one first down.
And a number of the fans are starting to move out of the stadium. But I think they'll see an exciting game. And I think a lot of them will tell their friends and plus they will be back to see the Stars in action again.
All right. First down Amara falls on the ball. And there's a timeout called by the Stars. They had a timeout remaining. I did not realize that. They did not call a timeout before. And you really wonder about the inexperience of some of the Stars why they didn't call a timeout before if they had one left.
But they said the field goal tryout and Rejecky just pushed it wide to the right.
You know John I can't understand that myself because they did recognize that they didn't have a timeout. They rushed the field goal instead of going back and getting themselves together taking their last timeout because now they take a timeout what good is with 32 seconds left to go.
But again that inexperience is early in the season and I don't think you'll see them making those kind of mistakes again as the season winds on.
By the Stars in their first game lost in the last couple of minutes to Jacksonville 14-7. Now the 73 yard bomb to Dennis Holman and the Stars up short at 32-29 with just 32 seconds remaining.
Amara falls on the ball. And that I wouldn't believe the Stars have another timeout. They don't and the clock is running.
So 20 seconds remaining in the ball game. Birmingham looks like a winner at 32-29 in what has been an unbelievably action filled ball game.
Barry Gray coming up right after the football game in a few minutes from right now and that should be it. You should hear the gun and that's it.
That's the final score at Danning Stadium. Birmingham 32 and the Stars 29 will have the Stars wrap up right after this in 60 seconds.
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Carling Sports was pleased to have you with us for tonight's game. And whatever you're doing till next game remember to ask for Carling Black Label beer.
If you like a beer with flavor mention my name.
Mabel another black label. Carling Black Label beer.
John Sterling and Matt Snell back at Danning Stadium. Final score is in. Birmingham 32-29 an implausible comeback.
As they were down 29-3 at the end of the half they came back to win at 32-29 on the 73 yard bomb. Myra DeHolman.
The Stars drove downfield in a rejecce missed the 35 yard field goal just wide to the right.
We won't try and gloss over the fact that the Stars blew the big lead but I think people have got to admit it was a pretty good ball game. A pretty exciting ball game anyway.
I think it's to be expected. As you said you all said they blew the game. Again as I predicted they played a tremendous first half. It was 29-3.
They went inside, they come out and they got conservative. They lost the momentum and before they knew it the game got away from them.
I think that the game was played awfully fast. I was looking at my watch it was 3 hours and 50 minutes. That's what happens when you have one team running in the first half and another team trying to run in the second half.
It really runs the clock out. Again it was a very interesting game. It was a very exciting game. I know myself I enjoyed it.
I'm constantly amazed that this league has only been together about six months and they've been playing now about four weeks.
I think that with no preseason and every game counting I think around the 10th to the 12th to the 15th game of the season you're going to see some very interesting football.
You won't have the mistakes like the Stars made tonight. They gave it up to Big Bomb with less than three minutes to go and it cost them the score.
Well Matt we'll see you here at Downing Stadium. I hope we fill the place up. They came very close tonight to filling it up at Downing Stadium.
The next home game will be on July 31st against Jacksonville. That will wrap it up now from Downing Stadium with the final score, 32-29 Birmingham winning.
The executive producer of New York Stars football broadcast is David Halberstam. The statistician is Kevin Reinhardt.
The technical director is Buffalo Brodsky and our sponsor has been Rick Kane.
New York Stars football has been brought to you by Carling Sports, just say Mabel, another black label, by Getty, now introducing Getty No Lead, by Vitalis Dry Three and by CWA.
Our next Stars football broadcast will immediately follow the Yankee game on July 31st when the Stars meet the Jacksonville Sharks.
Until then from Attenell this is John Sterling saying so long from Downing Stadium.
Once again the final score, Birmingham 32, the Stars 29. We now return you to the studios of WMCA. Good evening everyone.
This is Dialogue Radio 57, WMCA, New York.
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