FWL Bowl XI

Montreal Machine 20 Scottish Claymores 14

(Play by Play)

Montreal         7  0  6  7 -- 20
Scottish         0 14  0  0 -- 14

First Quarter
Montreal - Brown 1 run (Cortez kick), 11:43

Second Quarter
Scottish - Stecker 1 run (Grant kick), 13:02
Scottish - Shelby 27 pass from Craig (Grant kick), 14:29

Third Quarter
Montreal - Welch 9 pass from Wuerffel (kick failed), 9:03

Fourth Quarter
Montreal - Welch 6 run (Cortez kick), 0:05

Both teams arrived at FWL Bowl XI with some major injuries, Scotland had EFC Defensive Player of the Year and league sack leader Jonathan Kirksey out for the game and the Machine had backup HB Marvin Welch subbing for starter Lawrence Phillips. Scotland were favoured to win but both teams were the two best teams in the league and it looked to be a great matchup on paper.

After a good opening kickoff return the Machine quickly tried for a FG but under pressure K Jose Cortez was short on his 48 yard FG and the score remained 0-0. Defenses ruled the 1Q as both teams had to punt then finally late in the 1Q the Machine quickly got the ball moving and scored the opening touchdown on a FB Ricky Brown 1 yard touchdown dive. More punts followed but finally the Claymores clicked into life, a 9 play 80 yard drive set up FB Aaron Steckers 1 yard touchdown sprint to tie the scores 7-7. Montreal QB Danny Wuerffel then threw an interception and the Claymores quickly moved 45 yards in 3 plays scoring when Dameyune Craig hit HB Ken Shelby on a short screen play but Shelby made some great moves to run 27 yards for the touchdown. Scotland now appeared to be in control leading 14-7 at the half.

The second half however was a different story. Scotland punted the ball away instantly and then the Machine had one of the best FWL Bowl drives in history. Wuerffel led his team on a 12 play 74 yard drive which lasted nearly 8 minutes ! The Claymore defense was looking tired as the Machine drove downfield, Wuerffel faked the hand off then threw to HB Marvin Welch on a 9 yard touchdown strike. However K Jose Cortez continued his nightmare game as the XP failed and the Machine still trailed, this time by just 1 point 14-13. The Claymores looked to bounce back but Dameyune Craig threw a crucial interception and again the Machine drove downfield. Marvin Welch scored his second touchdown of the game on the first play of the 4Q as he ran in from 6 yards out. The XP was good and the Machine led again this time 20-14, the Claymores had to score a td quick.

Defenses ruled the roost in the 4Q, both teams punted and then finally Danny Wuerffel uncharacteristically threw another interception but Scotland couldnt capitalise and had to punt the ball away. Finally Scotland had one final chance on their 20 yard line with only 1:23 left in the game. Finally Craig came up with a huge play as he hit WR Dameune Douglas for a quick 35 yard strike to the Machine 45 yard line, however Douglas was injured and had to leave the game which was a huge loss for Scotland. Craig then hit Sellers for 10 yards and then stopped the clock with 51 seconds left. The Claymores were on the Machine 35 yard line looking to score a late touchdown, Craig threw incomplete but on a crucial 3rd down he hit TE Nachi Abe for 15 yards and the first down to the Machine 20 yard line with 34 seconds left. Craig threw another completion this time to Kevin Alexander for nearly 10 yards however the catch was just ruled short which was a huge play as instead of 1st and 10 it was now 3rd and 1. On 3rd and 1 Craig had to kill the clock again and the Claymores now were looking at 4th down. If Alexanders catch was for 10 yards then after the kill clock play it would have been 2nd down. However it was 4th down with 11 seconds left and Craig was looking for someone in the end zone for the game winning touchdown. It could have been the most famous play in FWL Bowl history, a touchdown strike on the final play of the game to win it all ? However Machine LB Brett Fields got great pressure, blew past his blocker and sacked Craig on one of the games biggest plays.

Montreal ran out the remaining few seconds and were once again FWL Bowl winners ! Montreal won FWL Bowl IX and now two seasons later the Machine won their second FWL Bowl under GM David Harwood. Harwood had a great year with Montreal, the team looked to be one of the best all season long. Scotland were very disappointed with the loss in the FWL Bowl and became the first team in the FWL to go 0-2 in the final. However the season was a superb one for the Claymores, Scotland were the #1 team in the FWL but injuries didnt help Scotlands cause in the final. Montreal also had some major injuries but up stepped backup veteran HB Marvin Welch. Welch was named MVP of FWL Bowl XI thanks to his 2 touchdown, 166 total yards performance. Welch ran for 80 yards and a td and also caught 8 passes for 86 yards and another td. Veteran LB Brett Fields narrowly missed being named MVP as he made 6 tackles to jointly lead the Machine defense, made a crucial interception and also made probably the most important sack in Machine history.

The Machine defense played an awesome game, all week long the talk was about the Scottish defense but in the end their defense registered just 2 sacks as Montreals offensive line played a great game. Scotland did not seem to be firing on all cylinders, their rushing offense could not get much going against the tough Montreal defense and HB Ken Shelby only ran for 43 yards.

Congratulations to David Harwood who wins his second FWL Bowl in just 3 seasons. Well done also to Ronnie Munro who had another fantastic year and both teams surely will be back in the playoffs next season.