BMEFA Season 2 - The Playoffs.

[RooMorgans]

First, thanks to Larry Fryer and his wife for their hospitality in hosting the second BMEFA playoffs this afternoon in Woodstock, Maryland. Everyone had a great time and the food was off the hook.

On to the games!

QUARTERFINALS

Matchups:
Cincinnati at Dallas
Pittsburgh at Philadelphia
Washington at New England
Chicago at Oakland

Results:
* Oakland 25, Chicago 0
** Dominant effort for Will Travers' Raiders over Jimmie Elliott's Bears. Oakland outgained Chicago, 155 to -5, running for two touchdowns and throwing for another. Oakland got 9 of its points in the final 6 plays, but was in control throughout.

* Dallas 14, Cincinnati 7
** Adrian Baxter advanced in this one, posting a 14-0 halftime lead on two Roger Staubach (4-of-8, 209 yards) touchdown passes. Cincinnati got close on a Palmer-to-Houshmanzadeh hookup early in the fourth quarter.

* Washington 19, New England 13
** These teams battled to a 13-13 tie at halftime, only to see the scoring die down in the second half. The only points came on a Doug Williams pass to Gary Clark, as the Redskins advanced with a 19-13 win over the Patriots. Clark caught 3 passes for 119 yards and 2 scores. Washington had 3 sacks.

* Pittsburgh 14, Philadelphia 3
** The Eagles' high-flying passing game was grounded early when Jaworski was intercepted by Tyrone Carter in the first half. Pittsburgh drove 38 yards in 9 plays, scoring when Roethlisberger hit Matt Kranchick for a 16-yard score. Willie Parker added a 15-yard run on a sweep for the final margin of victory.

SEMIFINALS

Matchups:
Washington at Dallas
Pittsburgh at Oakland

Traditional rivals battled it out in the BMEFA semifinals, but only one home team survived ...

* Dallas 21, Washington 7
** The Cowboys advanced to the Super Bowl in their first season as Staubach threw two more touchdowns, and Dallas raced to a 21-0 lead. Washington scored on the final play to cut the margin to 14. Dallas ran up 214 yards of total offense to Washington's 114. Roy Williams had 3 tackles for loss, including 2 sacks.

* Pittsburgh 9, Oakland 7
** A wild finish in Oakland, where on the final play from the Raider 11, Roethlisberger hits Jerome Bettis in the back of the end zone and Pittsburgh stuns Oakland, 9-7. The Steelers got into position to score on the final drive thanks to a 48-yard catch and run by Nate Washington. Oakland dominated possession, but a missed field goal late left the door open. Pittsburgh, down 7-0, was buoyed on the last play of the first half when Mike Logan sacked Ken Stabler in the end zone for a safety.



DALLAS COWBOYS (7-1) vs. PITTSBURGH STEELERS (6-4)
* The Cowboys lost just once during the regular season (to Oakland) and were expected to get here as the top seed. Pittsburgh were the defending champions, but started this season 0-4 and had to win 6 straight just to get here.

But it was the underdog Steelers that got the ball first and opened the scoring, hitting a 43-yard field goal to make it 3-0. Both Dallas possessions in the first ended without points, as the Cowboys punted on the first, then saw Staubach intercepted deep in Steelers territory by Chris Hoke.

The Steelers, however, couldn't take advantage, and early in the second half, Dallas took the lead with a long pass play to the 3, followed by another pass for the score. Pittsburgh got a final chance with 4 plays left. With 2 to go, on 2nd-and-10 from the 23, Roethlisberger drilled a miracle pass to Matt Kranchick for 17 yards, leaving the Steelers 60 yards away on the last play. But that last pass fell incomplete, and the Cowboys have their first BMEFA Championship. The game was fairly even, as shown by the total yards, which edged to Dallas, 120-112.

Dallas finishes the season 8-1; Pittsburgh ended 6-5. For the 3 games, Staubach was 16-of-24 for 467 yards, with 5 TD and 1 interception. Roethlisberger finished the three games 17-of-27 for 264 yards and 2 scores.

Congrats to Adrian, a fine and worthy champion who is a pleasure to play against, even though I've never beaten him, and in fact lost 3 games to him this season.

Congrats to Smitty for another fine season as Commissioner of our league.

Congrats to all the coaches who really stepped up their games this season. There are no easy games in the BMEFA.

Thanks to all those involved with procuring the trophies and medals handed out. Larry Fryer got awards for Coach of the Year, Passer of the Year and as winner of the Noll Division. Darrian Ross' Redskins won the Halas Division; and Adrian picked up the Super Bowl II trophy, as well as the Lombardi Division trophy. The Patriots' Tom Brady was responsible for the Runner of the Year award (nearly 300 yards). The Steelers picked up a fine trophy, as well, for making the Super Bowl for the second consecutive season.

There were many pictures taken, so hopefully we will be able to get some of them up on the site here.

Ed
BMEFA Steelers