1st Q
For the 5th straight season, the host team was in the McCallister Cup game. The Worcester Athletics were looking to become just the 3rd of those teams to win the game, but they had to get over the champions themselves, the Ottawa Royals. QB Riley Kiernan would get the offense rolling early, connecting on a few passes before letting RB Marcus Devonshire take in the touchdown to make it 7-0 early on. Ottawa would not let the Athletics get too far ahead and would put up their own touchdown with QB Jean Matieau finding WR Chester Bennett in the endzone. Worcester would rebound with a field goal just before the opening quarter came to a close.
2nd Q
The second quarter was where the defenses tightened up. Neither offense was gaining much ground with five 2 and outs between the teams. Eventually, Ottawa’s defense would make a big play with DB Mingan Oliver picking off Kiernan on a pass to WR Clyde McIntosh. The Royals would turn the interception into a touchdown with RB Alexei Volkov to make it 10-14 at halftime.
3rd Q
Ottawa would continue to use the momentum they gained in the second to get back to the endzone early in the 3rd. Jean Matieau would connect with WR Allen Atkins for the big touchdown giving the Royals an 11-point lead. Worcester was showing some of the rust from not playing big games down the stretch. Their offense was struggling to move the ball and the defense was being picked apart by Matieau. The Royals would find themselves moving down the field again. However, Worcester’s defense came up with a big game-changing play. S Shawn Jensen would manage to knock the ball out of WR Chester Bennett’s arms after he had caught a pass over the middle. DB Lester Murphy would jump on the loose ball and the Athletics had some life. RB Marcus Devonshire would get the offense moving and would reach the endzone. Unfortunately, they were unable to make the 2-point convert with DL Olaf Viktorsson stuffing Devonshire up the middle. The score would be 16-21 heading into the final quarter.
4th Q
Both teams would trade chance after chance throughout the 4th, neither team getting close enough to score until Ottawa broke through on a 23-yard run from Volkov. The run would set up a K Maurice Lafayette field goal to make it 16-24 Royals. QB Riley Kiernan would have to step up and get the offense to the endzone. He would make a little progress here or there, but not getting close enough to score, however, they were slowly tipping the field position into their favour. Eventually, the defense would make a great stop forcing Ottawa to a 2 and out on their own 16-yard line. Lafayette would punt it against the wind resulting in a shorter punt. Lawrence Sharp would have a strong return on top of the short kick putting the ball into Ottawa territory. The noise in the stadium started to pick up with renewed hope heading into a crucial drive. Kiernan would lead the Athletics down to the 11-yard line before he would connect with WR Christian Venegas for the touchdown pulling the Athletics to within 2. They would have to go for 2 once again. Kiernan would drop back and fake the handoff to Devonshire; he would roll out and find that the Royals bit on the run. He instantly noticed open space to the right and took a chance. Tucking the ball, Kiernan would make a charge to the endzone. He would dive towards the goal line while getting hit by DB Uzzia Hayes. Kiernan’s outstretched arms would get over the line and tie the game and send it to only the second overtime in league history.
Overtime
-Quick refresh on the rules: 15 minutes, highest score at the end wins.
The Athletics would take the momentum into the extra frame and would be the first to score. K Tevoris Francis would hit a 34-yard field goal to make it 27-24. The crowd was really in it now making it that much more difficult for the Royals. QB Jean Matieau has been here before. He would get the offense rolling and would get them into field goal range on the very next drive. Maurice Lafayette would nail the 27-yarder to tie the game. The final 10 minutes of the frame would play out similar to the 2nd quarter with the defenses tightening up and neither offense gaining much ground. The Royals would make one last push in the final minute. It would be 2nd and 8 on their own 39 with 8 seconds to go. The Royals would take a shot at getting into field goal range, but the ball fell incomplete on with DB Alexander Bradley deflecting it. Ottawa would get the ball to start the second frame so they would set up to kneel. But the Royals had other plans, Matieau would drop back and fake the handoff to Volkov before pitching the ball to WR Mackenzie Jones. Jones would take several steps bringing more of the panicked Athletics to the right side of the field opening it up for WR Chester Bennett on the other side. Jones would then turn and toss the ball back to Matieau who would throw the perfect pass down the field to Bennett who would bring it in and take it the rest of the way to the house for the game-winning touchdown.
Injury Report
DL Brayden Mills WOR - Day-to-Day
McCallister Cup MVP
1956 Champions
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