Section30 wrote:

Damnit Zephyrs

Agreed...

That game was definitely a close one! Hopefully the Zephyrs can pull off another close game with the Gaels!

1960-61 NFA Champions Bowl - Chicago Zephyrs vs Boston Gaels
Coming into this Friday night, the football world was buzzing, “Could Hogg repeat such an impressive performance to win another Champions Bowl?”, “Are the young Gaels ready enough to play in such a high stakes game?”, “Are we going to see the Zephyrs finally be stopped?” But all questions came to a close as all eyes turned to the opening kick off on that chilly New York night. The Gaels won the coin toss and elected to defend first, meaning veteran WR Elliot Garrison was to catch the kick for Chicago. And catch it he did! Garrison would make his way through every player on the field before finding himself among the fans in the back of the endzone. Garrison took it 86 yards and put Chicago up 7-0 super early in the game. The Gaels also returned the following kickoff well, a solid 24 yard return put them near half field. That was the best part of the drive however as 3 plays later they were lined up to punt, McCloud missing all 3 of his targets on his first drive. The Boston defense would step up though and force a fumble, RB Brad Cohn getting the ball punched out as he ran for a first down. The Gaels would recover the fumble, securing possession with half of the quarter still left to play. Much like their previous drive though, the offense, McCloud in particular fell flat and they were forced to kick for 3,making the score 7-3 as Chicago received a kick for the third time this quarter. The drive was going well, Hogg looked good and so did Cohn, so it was a big surprise when on a routine play, Hogg severely over threw his receiver, throwing it straight to a Gaels defender who ran it all the way down the line, reaching the 10 before he was shoved out of bounds. The Gaels would jump on this opportunity and as the quarter ticked to an end, they let RB Stevie Parks pound it into the end zone for the 10-7 lead. 
Chicago lined up for another kickoff return as we came into the second. Much to the dismay of everyone, they couldn't return it for a TD like they did on the opening play of the first quarter. They did however manage the first solid drive of the game from either team, taking up half the quarter to let the MVP do his thing. Hogg capped off this drive by taking it into the end zone himself after avoiding a sack. The extra point would be far right however after a faulty snapped messed the kicker up. Boston, now down 10-13, would receive the kickoff with the second half of the quarter to take the lead and go into halftime with it. McCloud made his way down the field, finally finding his stride, leading his team to the 15 before finally being stopped and being forced to kick another field goal. The kick would just barely be good, bouncing off the left post and in. Chicago would wind the rest of the clock down with a possession that went nowhere. A hail mary attempt fell short as they went to half, tied at 13.
The second half was much more steady for Chicago, much to the dismay of Boston. Hogg seemed to shift back into whatever mode he was in last week and immediately led Chicago to 7 points, going 7 for 7 on the drive and rushing for 12 as well. Boston would fight back, scoring as well, only 3 points however as Parks came up short on back to back short yard runs. Chicago would get another first down before the quarter came to a close, Zephyrs leading Gaels 20-16.
The fourth quarter would only extend that Chicago lead as Hogg would once again lead his team down the field ending in another 7. He found his rookie WR Wayne Schick in the middle of the endzone for the score. The defense would follow up their offense’s top tier performance with one of their own. As McCloud received the snap he faked the hand off to Parks and turned to his left just in time to be absolutely rocked by second year OLB Donny Chandler, who knocked the ball out of his hands as he was sent to the ground. Another Zephyrs player would manage to pick up the ball, shed off a Gaels player, then make it to the endzone. Chicago had now taken a commanding lead and McCloud was still down. McCloud wouldn’t return on the following drive, the whiplash from the hit had him benched for the rest of the game. Chicago would manage to force another turnover from the Gaels when a tipped pass from Boston’s backup QB ended in a Zephyr's hand. This turned into a game cieling field goal. Boston would try to get back down the field but a turnover on downs officially ended the game for the Gaels. The Chicago Zephyrs had just beaten the Boston Gaels for their 5th Champions Bowl victory in 6 years. The final score was 37-16. The MVP was announced to be Scott Hogg, who had one of his better performances in a Champions Bowl that second half.

And here's the field design, a special logo celebrating the 15th Champions Bowl was placed at center field.


C&C appreciated, how'd your team do?

A pretty close game until the second half, an unfortunate end for the Gaels season, but congrats to Chicago on another win. 

5 stars