GRIDIRON BOWL I


It was a cool and crisp, yet sunny day at Yankee Stadium as the first ever Gridiron Bowl, between the Fort Wayne Chiefs and Washington Americans, kicked off. The coin toss was done by Commissioner Elias Morrison, who gave a speech beforehand thanking and congratulating the fans, players, coaches and owners for a great first season of PFA football. The Chiefs would win the toss and defer to the second half, giving Drew Cain and the prolific Washington offense the ball first. Cain would start out strong, completing 3 passes in a row before the Americans were eventually forced to punt. Fort Wayne would then put together a very good drive that ended with a 23-yard Nathan Sanders touchdown run, giving them the first lead of the game, 7-0. Washington followed it up with another drive that ended in a punt, giving Fort Wayne a chance to take a two possession lead with their next drive. 7 plays in they sat at the Americans’ 22, and it seemed like they would. However, QB Lonnie Williams would throw a pick into the end zone. Cain led Washington to midfield as the quarter expired, and then got them into the end zone on a rare 8-yard scramble that tied the game at 7-7. Neither team would score for the remainder of the first half, leaving the score tied at 7-7. Fort Wayne received the second half kickoff and quickly went three and out. Washington then fumbled it back to the Chiefs, who then punted once again. Washington finally ended the scoring drought on their next drive as Cain connected with his receiver for a 33-yard touchdown pass with 4 minutes remaining in the quarter. The Chiefs punted for the fifth time of the game as the fourth quarter began, giving Washington a chance to throw the knockout punch and up two scores late in the game. Instead of continuing to rely on Cain’s arm, they chose to run the ball and try to waste some clock, but couldn’t move it enough and had to punt it back to Fort Wayne.

DIVISION RECAPS

American: The Washington Americans followed the arm of Drew Cain to an 11-3 record and American Division Regular Season Championship. Cain led the PFA in passing yards with 2,176 and was second in passing touchdowns with 21. They started the season strong, opening with a 4 game win streak before dropping their first in an overtime game at the Houston Stars, 22-20. They would go another win streak, this time for 6 games, before dropping two more. They ended the year with a win at home against the Baltimore Lords, 31-12. Coming in second were the Chicago Cougars, who were led by their defense, which was second in the league in most categories to the Hartford Oaks. Quarterback Donnie Hanson was much improved from last season in the passing game, finishing top 5 in the league in both yards and completion percentage. He also continued his contributions in the rushing game, rushing for 11 touchdowns, first among QBs. Cornerback Ralph Turner was dominant, recording 11 interceptions and shutting down opposing receivers week after week. The LA Palms are on the outside looking in this season, which was surprising to most people. They struggled with injuries throughout the year, starting 3 different quarterbacks over the first 8 games in which they went 3-5. Starter Jeffrey Howard returned for the final 5 games and went 4-1 - almost bringing them to the playoffs. The Houston Stars finished fourth this season. Quarterback Vincent Clark led their offense, which was average in both passing and rushing for the league. A bright spot for them was their defense, which emerged as top 5 in the PFA. In fifth were the Pittsburgh Miners, led by their stout defense. They started the year hot, jumping out to a 3-0 record before ending the year 3-8 through the final 11 games. The San Francisco Condors had a much better season than expected. They finished 5-9 after many people

Stickman wrote:

Houston Stars: Simple and to the point, I like this one a lot!  The orange will help them immediately stand out in a league with a ton of blue teams, (not to mention a Stars vs. any blue team should make for a nice looking matchup).  Very nice!

San Francisco Condors: On of the one hand, this is basically a blue Philadelphia Eagles team.  On the other hand, that's pretty much all it usually takes for me to root for them, lol!  For the most part though, this team looks very classy that home uniform is excellent.  I do have to take points off the away jersey for the random gray pants that they wear, seeing as they don't wear gray literally anywhere else on either the jersey, not is it on the logo, (which btw, is an instant classic for me).   Other than the away jerseys, this is another fine jersey.

Well, after having to think for a few minutes, (a rarity as I usually have one team that immediately becomes my favorite), I think I will be rooting for the San Francisco Condors, but there really are a bunch of nice looking teams here!   Really nice work Docta C!

Question though, related to the league's structure.  The National Division has a bunch of east coast teams, while the American Division has teams all over.   Now I know it's because of the merger between 2 rival leagues, but when it comes to the league's layout as time goes on, are we going to see these divisions as a NFC/AFC type situation or are we looking more at a East/West breakdown, where the West division just happens to have a few teams that really belong more in the East?

Sorry Stick, I've had this written up for a while and when I saw you chose to root for San Francisco... I'm just sorry. They are one of the younger teams in the league, so hopefully they can rebuild quickly.

Rugrat wrote:

Houston: Very traditional, nice looking logo. The unis thought look pretty plain.

San Fran: The logo does kinda look Baseball-ish but the uniforms look sweet. Reminds me of Wallflowers Buffalo Blue Wings in his league. Just a clean, good looking team.

This is going to be tough figuring out who to root for, but I’ll use a sig once I decide. Not to be rude or anything but You forgot to make a sig for Philly, DoctaC. Otherwise, great work!

I added their's, thanks for the catch.

Here are teams four and five of the American Division:

TEAM: Pittsburgh Miners
FOUNDED: 1946
STADIUM: Pitt Stadium (56,500)
FLA CHAMPIONSHIPS: None
COACH: Devin Lawrence
OWNER: Jamie Buchanan


The Miners were founded as an original member of the FLA in 1946 and haven’t experienced much success throughout their history. They’ve only had one winning season (7-3) and playoff experience (Semifinal Loss) which occurred in 1952. Despite their lack of success, they do have a good fan base that is very loyal to their team - similar to the Cleveland Browns.

Pittsburgh uses a black and silver color scheme. Their logo is of intercrossing pickaxes with a football over top, and their uniforms are very simple.

TEAM: Washington Americans
FOUNDED: 1946
STADIUM: Capital Field (62,418)
FLA CHAMPIONSHIPS: ‘54, ‘55
COACH: Clint Grant
OWNER: Steven Rowe


The Americans were the worst team in the FLA for the first three years of the league going a combined 4-26. They made a big jump in 1949 when they went 5-5, and then an even bigger one in 1950 when they finished 8-2 and lost in the championship. They finally won their first title in 1954 and then repeated in ‘55. They’ll be one of the favorites to win the American division this season.

Washington’s logo is the most American American of all-time, President George Washington. They have two unique aspects of their identity. First, they are the only team in the PFA that wears white at home. You will rarely see them wearing blue. Second is the khaki-colored pants they wear.

Thanks for viewing. C+C is encouraged and appreciated.