Louisville Thunder VS. Montreal Rouge - Thunder Stadium - September 30, 1962 - 6 PM ET - Weather: Clear - 22ºC | 72ºF
1st Q
Louisville was electric ahead of the McCallister Cup featuring their hometown team. The fans were pumped and the Thunder defence would feed off of the electricity early. Montreal’s offence had been firing on all cylinders throughout the playoffs, but on their first few drives, they had nothing. Unfortunately, the Thunder offence was not able to break through themselves to get any points so the scoreboard was still stuck at 0-0 through the first 10 minutes. Finally, the Rouge would start to get a bit of a grip with RB Scott Mallard-White finding some space and helping Montreal mount an attack. They would soon find themselves in field goal range and they would break the silence with a 37-yard field goal to make it 0-3 after the first.
LOU 0-3 MTL
2nd Q
The Thunder were aiming to counter early on in the second quarter, but the Rouge defence was playing well. QB Leonidas Dumont would try to find WR Ben Roland for an 18-yard pass, but DB Quentin Xavier was all over the play to deny it. Dumont was lucky to get out of that play without the turnover, however, on the ensuing drive Montreal would come up with an interception with DB Jared Francis bringing in an errant throw. The Thunder defence would be able to make up for the mistake by holding the Rouge to only a field goal. Dumont would be able to bounce back the next time out getting his own team into field goal range. K Donald Brewer would get the team on the board to make it 3-6. Defence was certainly becoming the major factor in this championship game, and it would make the biggest impact late in the half. Montreal was looking to try and get one last score, but the Thunder secondary had their WRs locked down. QB Gene Bishop was in the pocket looking for anything to throw to, but he ran out of time with DL Bjorn Sigmarsson hitting him from behind. The ball would fly loose and DL Tyrone Affalo would grab it to give Louisville a shot at the endzone. Dumont would only take a few plays to get down inside the 5 and then would fire it to WR Truman Harry for the touchdown to give them a 10-6 lead heading into the half.
LOU 10-6 MTL
3rd Q
The momentum from the late turnover and score would carry into the second half. Leonidas Dumont was able to get the Thunder back down the field on the opening drive. K Donald Brewer would nail his second field goal of the day to give the Thunder a 7-point lead. The defence would continue to shut down the Rouge who couldn’t get a first down until midway through the quarter. Back on the Thunder side, RB Rodney Clark got a little more attention in the second half which led to a strong drive. The RB and his partner in crime RB Johnnie Stafford helped bring the Thunder back down to the 8-yard line. The Thunder would once again go to Clark for the score. Stafford would lead the way on the play, making a great block on DB Quentin Xavier who tried to anticipate the run. Clark would then rumble in for the score to give the Thunder a 20-6 lead.
LOU 20-6 MTL
4th Q
The fans knew that the defence just needed to keep up the pressure in the final quarter. They would look to make as much noise as possible, which would lead to a slowly growing tradition of the “Thunder Stomp”. The fans would get on their feet and stomp their feet creating a loud thunderous noise throughout the stadium. It created plenty of issues for Montreal communication, which added to their struggle against the league’s top defence. QB Gene Bishop was getting frustrated by all of it, but he was able to keep his cool which led to an opportunity midway through the final quarter. The Rouge were looking to try and spread out the Thunder defence by creating lots of space in their routes. On one play, WR Derek Cross would break free up the sideline after DB Alexander Bradley stumbled a little in turning to keep pace. Cross would gain a step which would lead to Bishop launching the ball to him. Cross would bring in the catch and then proceed to take it the distance to cut the Thunder lead in half. Montreal had some momentum and confidence from the score and they would look to feed off of it. Gene Bishop had some renewed energy. A few plays into their next drive Bishop would fire a pass across the middle to WR Taylor Karis. Karis would bring in the catch, but before he would properly get the ball under his arm, LB Scotty Williams would grab him by the arms. Karis had less grip now with the ball in his hands. LB Silas O’Brien would then come flying in to punch the ball loose. O’Brien would recover it and the Thunder would take over and extend their lead to 10 with another field goal. Montreal was not giving up hope as Bishop was able to get the ball moving again on their next drive. He would once again find an open WR Derek Cross to get the team into the redzone. On 2nd and 10, Bishop would drop back looking to make a play, but the Thunder D-Line came after him. Bishop would manage to escape and started to run, but he was met by LB Silas O’Brien who saw what was happening and took the risk to go after him. The 6-yard loss would lead to the Rouge kicking a field goal cutting the lead down to 7. Montreal would get the ball back. At this point, Bishop got desperate which would result in a mistake. He would get antsy and overthrow WR Taylor Karis on a post route. The ball sailed into the arms of S Johnny Berger for the interception pretty much sealing the deal for the Thunder who would become the first expansion team to win the McCallister Cup.
LOU - 38 S Johnny Berger
MTL - 8 QB Gene Bishop
MTL - 8 QB Gene Bishop
McCallister Cup MVP
1962 McCallister Cup Champions
Bonus Fun
A big part of the Thunder season was the remanets of the 1956 Worcester Athletics team that came up just short against the Royals in OT. They had 8 players and personnel from that team:HC Emil Riddle
DC Hugo Martinez
LB Scotty Williams
LB Silas O'Brien
DB Alexander Bradley
OL Cliff Strautzenberger
WR Clyde McIntosh
TE Duane Halloway
Most earned their first Cup of their career (Clyde McIntosh won last season with the Independents)
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