FWL Bowl XII

Montreal Machine 27 Amsterdam Admirals 17

(Play by Play)

Montreal        14  0  3 10 -- 27
Amsterdam        0 10  0  7 -- 17

First Quarter
Montreal - Lester 14 pass from Wuerffel (Cortez kick), 6:31
Montreal - Lester 6 pass from Wuerffel (Cortez kick), 10:47

Second Quarter
Amsterdam - Anderbrugge 39 FG, 1:36
Amsterdam - Coleman 40 pass from Rylance (Anderbrugge kick), 14:25

Third Quarter
Montreal - Cortez 21 FG, 6:28

Fourth Quarter
Montreal - Cortez 27 FG, 1:42
Amsterdam - Kuchi 15 pass from Rylance (Anderbrugge kick), 11:04
Montreal - Brown 1 run (Cortez kick), 13:17

The buildup to the final was immense and whoever won it was going to be a great story. The defending FWL Champions Montreal Machine were back in their 3rd FWL Bowl in 4 years, no team had ever repeated as FWL Champions, could Montreal be the first ? Amsterdam had a true cinderalla story, they made the FWL Bowl after previously NEVER making the playoffs in the previous 11 seasons.

Amsterdam had the homefield advantage but Montreal were wiley vets who won last years FWL Bowl on the road in Scotland and also had won two straight playoff games away this season against New York and San Antonio. QB Danny Wuerffel had a superb record in the playoffs (8-2) and was previously named MVP of FWL Bowl IX. The ArenA was packed with 80,000 fans most of whom were Amsterdam fans and the fans went crazy at kickoff.

It was a nervous start for Amsterdam, on the first play QB Heath Rylance fumbled but the Admirals recovered. The Admirals were forced to punt and Montreal took over on their 23 yard line on their opening drive. A big 13 yard completion to WR Kai Erick-Lyck on 3rd & 11 kept the Machine drive alive and then on the next play HB Corey Walker broke through a hole and ran for 36 yards to the Admirals 17 yard line. Two plays later QB Wuerffel hit WR Marc Lester with the touchdown and the defending champions Montreal jumped off to a quick 7-0 lead. Things got worse for Amsterdam, on the ensuing kickoff WR Elijah Thurman was seriously injured and had to leave the game then on 3rd & 1 HB Kim Kuchi was inches short and the Admirals punted again.

Montreal continued to pound it out on the ground, Amsterdam were just 11th on the ground defending the run and this time it was FB Ricky Brown who found a hole and rumbled 44 yards to the Admirals 23 yard line. A quick pass to his TE and then Wuerffel found WR Marc Lester again and the Machine had silenced the Admirals crowd by jumping out to a quick 14-0 lead in the 1Q !

Amsterdam finally got some points on the board on their next drive moving all the way downfield for a 39 yard FG by K Ingo Anderbrugge which cut the Machine lead to 14-3. Finally the Admirals defense started playing and they forced Montreal to punt on their next two possessions. Amsterdam finally got things moving when with 44 seconds left in the first half Admirals QB Heath Rylance launched a bomb downfield for WR Chris Coleman. Coleman caught the pass at the 2 yard line and ran in for the huge td which gave the Admirals fans something to shout about and now gave Montreal just a 4 point lead, 14-10. Montreal had time to get in position for a 50 yard FG at the end of the first half but the kick was wide.

Montreal took the second half kickoff and took back the momentum thanks to a 12 play 77 yard drive but the Admirals defense stood firm in the red zone and Montreal had to kick the short FG to now lead 17-10. Amsterdam later in the 3Q moved to the Machine 25 yard line but on 1st down Rylance was sacked then on second down he fumbled the ball and DT Michael Landry recovered for a huge play. Montreal then moved downfield and converted the huge turnover into another FG and now led 20-10 early in the 4Q.

After both teams exchanged punts finally Amsterdam started moving and they quickly moved 80 yards in 7 plays resulting in Heath Rylances 2nd td, this time a 15 yard strike to HB Kim Kuchi. Amsterdam now trailed 20-17 with just under 4 minutes remaining !

Just 3 plays later Montreal faced a 3rd and short and if Amsterdam stopped Montreal momentum would be with them. Veteran HB Lawrence Phillips ran through for the vital first down and Admirals fans were devastated. The play seemed to deal a huge blow to Amsterdam as on the next play the veteran Phillips who in the 4Q this season and in overtime has scored some cruicial td's including some long runs did it again as he sprinted 60 yards and was finally pushed out at the 1 yard line. The game seemed to be almost over as on the next play FB Ricky Brown scored on the dive for the touchdown and now Montreal had a huge 10 point lead with less than 2 minutes remaining. The Admirals didnt give up and moved the ball straight away and also converted on a 4th & 9 , then on 3rd & 15 Rylance hit WR Chris Coleman for a huge 34 yard play and the Admirals were now on the Montreal 15 yard line but time was against them with just 30 seconds left. The Machine defense held firm and on 4th down on the final play of the game the pass fell incomplete and Montreal players ran onto the pitch, they were the FIRST team EVER in the FWL to win back to back FWL Bowls and did so 27-17.

Congratulations must go to GM David Harwood who not only won the FWL Bowl for a second consecutive time (and 3rd time in 4 years) he also made the playoffs in the toughest division EVER in the FWL as San Antonio and Sacramento were 22-6 between them ! Harwood took over a 0-14 team and after a few great drafts took the team quickly back to the playoffs, this year he has made some great moves, a new starter at HB (Corey Walker) and shored up the defense (DT Paul Spicer) and yet again Montreal are winning games and winning championships. The Montreal offensive line had a brilliant game as one of the keys to the win was not allowing any pressure on QB Danny Wuerffel. Wuerffel wasnt sacked once and had a lot of time to throw and completed 78% of his passes.

Lets not forget Amsterdam, GM Niki van den Berg had a great season, the best ever for Amsterdam and the team also looks very strong throughout. Sadly for Amsterdam they couldnt win the final but it was an incredible year for van den Berg and the Admirals fans. Veteran QB Danny Wuerffel who came back from injury late this season had a great FWL Bowl yet again and became the first ever player to be named FWL MVP twice as he completed 21 of 27 passes (78%) for 240 yards and 2 td's. He also ran for 47 yards including a 45 yard run and led his team to 20 first downs.