39th McCallister Cup
Buffalo Blue Wings VS. Ottawa Royals - Richardson Stadium - October 6, 1957 - 6 PM ET1952 was the first season the league decided to have a predetermined host for the McCallister Cup. However, the first 5 seasons of the practice would end with the host in the game, thus eliminating the point of the neutral site. Finally, the 39th McCallister Cup is a true neutral-site game at the historic Richardson Stadium in Boston.
1st Q
The Blue Wings would open up the game with the ball. However, they were shut down quickly for a 2 and out. The Royals would take the field and after a quick DL Sean Bowen sack, would also go 2 and out. The pattern would continue on the next pair of drives. Buffalo would look to finally break away from the slow start with a shot downfield. Unfortunately, Medina’s pass would be picked off by DB Petr Westerberg. The Royals would take over and would be the first team to be in the opponents' end of the field. However, they would be stopped and still forced to punt. K Maurice Lafayette would get the ball down the field where Buffalo would sacrifice the first point of the game on a single. Despite now being down 0-1, Buffalo would find their fire. RB Arthur Conner would take over on the next drive and would take Buffalo to the house. After a slow start, it was 7-1 Buffalo after the opening quarter.
7-1 BUF
2nd Q
The second would still be slow, but the Blue Wings kept moving the ball. They would tack on a field goal to their lead to make it 10-1 midway through the quarter. The Royals continued to struggle on offence with the Blue Wings secondary playing top-notch defence. They would be able to keep the Royals off the board until the final few minutes where QB Jean Matieau was able to finally get into Lafayette’s range to make it 10-4.
10-4 BUF
3rd Q
After a slow first half, the second wouldn’t take long to take off. Matieau and the Royals would start with the ball and would gamble and take a shot right off the bat. Matieau would toss it up to WR Chester Bennett, but S Frazier Brooks would be ready for the pass. The safety would go up with Bennett and would come down with the interception. A few plays later the K Donald Brewer would extend the Blue Wings lead back up to 9. The Royals were clearly frustrated with the very slow start, but they would finally get a break with DL Olaf Viktorsson getting to QB Angelo Medina and knocking the ball loose. The Royals would recover and Matieau was ready to make something happen. The QB would take the Royals down the rest of the way to the goal line. He would toss it to RB Alexei Volkov who would take it in for the touchdown cutting the lead down to 2 heading into the final quarter.
13-11 BUF
4th Q
Buffalo seemed unfazed by the quick turn of events and QB Angelo Medina would march the Blue Wings back down the other way. Once they got down to the 4-yard line, Medina would take the snap and roll out looking to run. Olaf Viktorsson and LB Alister Henry would go right after him, but Medina would quickly sidearm it around them to TE Johann Traeger for the TD and the 20-11 lead. The Royals entered the field looking to replicate their last scoring drive. However, the Buffalo defence maintained their strong play. S Frazier Brooks would break up back-to-back throws to force the Royals to 3rd down. Matieau would manage to get it but the very next play would end up in the hands of DB Louie White. The Blue Wings would take over and RB Arthur Conner just took the ball and tried eating as much clock as he could. Eventually, he would find a huge opportunity. He would get the ball and find a wide-open hole and would then run into a wide-open field. Conner cut to the sideline and only had DB Mingan Oliver to beat and he would pull a great spin move on him and take it the rest of the way for the score and the 27-11 lead. Despite being down by 16, Jean Matieau would not give in. The QB would still fight for every inch. He even took off himself to pick up a first on 2nd and 7. He would find WR Mackenzie Jones for a touchdown with 2 minutes to go. They would go for 2 to cut the lead to 8. Matieau would drop back and would be looking for the pass. For a second he saw Jones get open and he would fire, but S Frazier Brooks was there yet again to break up the play and keep the lead at 10. The Royals would go for the onside kick, but Buffalo would recover. Ottawa would get another chance but the time was running out. Didn’t matter for Matieau who would still take another shot downfield. S Frazier Brooks, however, would put a swift end to anymore Royals’ attempts and grabbed his second pick to seal their 11th straight victory and their second McCallister Cup.
McCallister Cup MVP
Other Notes about the game:
The game was the first McCallister Cup to feature 2 teams that have both won the cup before in the NAAF era.
DL Sean Bowen finally achieved what he set out to do upon being traded to Buffalo in 1954.
Much like the NHL tradition, the captain gets to raise the Cup first.
S Frazier Brooks becomes the first community-created player to take home a McCallister Cup MVP.
DB Louie White, who had never been in the playoffs before, captures a championship in his first go.
1957 Champions - Buffalo Blue Wings
1957 Recap
The game was the first McCallister Cup to feature 2 teams that have both won the cup before in the NAAF era.
DL Sean Bowen finally achieved what he set out to do upon being traded to Buffalo in 1954.
Much like the NHL tradition, the captain gets to raise the Cup first.
S Frazier Brooks becomes the first community-created player to take home a McCallister Cup MVP.
DB Louie White, who had never been in the playoffs before, captures a championship in his first go.
1957 Champions - Buffalo Blue Wings
No comments:
Post a Comment