North American Association of Football (Fictional History): 49th McCallister Cup

49th McCallister Cup

Buffalo Blue Wings VS. Long Island Raiders - Royals Stadium at Brewer Park - October 1, 1967 - 6 PM ET - Weather: Clear - 13ºC | 55ºF

1st Q
Charles Lemieux and Stanley Troyer entered the 1967 McCallister Cup as only the second pair of QBs to face each other in the championship game more than once since the founding of the NAAF. The other pair were Jean Matieau and Riley Kiernan who had met 3 times. Early on, it was Charles Lemieux who was looking more comfortable. After Troyer’s first drive went nowhere, Lemieux would pick up a few first downs to get Buffalo to midfield, but the Raiders’ defence would stop their drive there. K Ryan Perch’s punt would stick the Raiders in deep in their own zone. RB Dareion Fields picked up 14 yards on a pair of hand-offs, but on 2nd and long, Troyer was forced to make a play. As he rolled out he did see WR Chad Anderson gain a step on DB Dean Hawkins, and he fired an accurate pass his way. However, Hawkins managed to cut just in front of the pass and get a hand on the ball. It would flip up and he had enough momentum to get under it and bring in the interception. Charles Lemieux would return to the field and would find WR Julius Drake at the 4-yard line before RB Théodore Lemieux would punch in the touchdown. Following the score, the game settled into a back-and-forth defensive duel for the remainder of the opening quarter with neither team scoring.
BUF 7-0 LI

2nd Q
The second quarter started as the first ended. The defence continued to outplay the offence. However, the cycle was finally broken when RB Dareion Fields made a jaw-dropping cut out of the backfield which made DL Lonnie Vincent overshoot his tackle attempt. Fields would scramble for 38 yards before being brought down by S Wesley Jones. The Raiders would get 3 points out of the drive. The Blue Wings continued to struggle offensively. The Raiders’ defence was getting a lot of pressure on Charles Lemieux with Buffalo’s O-line having a rough day. They would be forced to punt again from their own end of the field. However, on the punt, DB Lauri Hayha would use his speed to get around and block the punt. The Raiders would get the ball in prime scoring range. Fortunately for Buffalo, the defence was able to hold down the fort and stop the Raiders from reaching the endzone. Another K Henderson Schumacher field goal would cut the lead to 1. As halftime approached, the Raiders would hope to get a few more points. QB Stanley Troyer would look to make something happen downfield. He would see WR Larry Mossholder down the field and would launch the ball towards him. The ball was a bit wobbly and would hit Mossholder’s hands/helmet. The ball would pop up and both Mossholder and DB Ezra Power would both jump after it, but Mossholder would get there first and make the catch. The big play would set up Schumacher’s 3rd field goal of the quarter and give the Raiders the lead at halftime.
BUF 7-9 LI

3rd Q
Buffalo was not where they hoped to be in this game, but they quickly got to business on the opening drive of the second half. The Lemieux brothers led the offence down the field to score a field goal and retake the lead. Soon after, Buffalo was back on the offensive with Charles Lemieux making a couple of plays to get the Blue Wings rolling. He would see WR Julius Drake cutting up the sideline and would throw the ball his way. The throw would be looking like a perfect throw overtop of DB Rutherford Winters, however, Winters surprised everyone by reaching up and snagging the interception over his head. Winters’ interception would set the Raiders up in Buffalo territory where RB Dareion Fields would eventually score to give the Raiders a 10-15 lead. The Raiders would go for 2, but DL William Sanderson halted RB Dareion Fields just before the goal line in order to keep the lead to just 5 points. Charles Lemieux would rebound from the interception and get Buffalo back on the board with a field goal just before the end of the quarter to cut the lead to 2.
BUF 13-15 LI

4th Q
The Raiders knew they had to get the offence moving if they wanted to stay ahead of the Blue Wings, so they became a little more aggressive out of the gate. Unfortunately, an errant throw from Stanley Troyer on 2nd and 7 would force the team to punt. Buffalo took the field and were aiming to get back in front, but Charles Lemieux would be chased down by DL Pionk Bjorkkstrand. The sack eventually forced a punt for Buffalo. After stopping the Raiders once again, Charles Lemieux would take the field with adjustments to counter the heavy blitz coming his way. Quick passes and some elusiveness allowed Buffalo to get over midfield. However, after an incompletion setting up an important 2nd down, Lemieux found himself in trouble with the Raider blitz. His receivers were covered so he had to improvise. Lemieux managed to slip a tackle from DL Pionk Bjorkkstrand, before making a move to get out of the broken pocket. His roll to the left didn’t serve him well, running into Dexter Barbarcos, however, he circled back now heading right. He did get a block from OL Fabrice Beaufort but it would not hold the recovering Bjorkkstrand for long who would be chasing after Lemieux. Lemieux rolled out to the right only to have LB Deon Wiggins barrelling down on him from the line of scrimmage. Luckily for Lemieux, he had been looking downfield the whole time and saw that Julius Drake had broken coverage. Lemieux threw the ball mid-stride before taking a brutal hit from Wiggins. The ball was not a perfect throw, but Drake was able to get to it and then pick up 10 more yards before going down. It was one of the best plays in league history. Lemieux, following the hit, was down for a second having the wind knocked out of him. He would be fine otherwise and ready to go on the next play, where he would run for 10 yards after seeing no one to pass to. He kept the offence rolling and would connect with WR Zachariah Pembroke in the endzone a few plays later to give Buffalo the lead 20-15. The score was almost backbreaking for the Raiders, whose offence still was struggling to move the ball. With time not on their side, Troyer was forced to make plays. Troyer fared well overall, connecting on a couple of key passes, but his luck would soon run out when a pass towards WR Troy York would be picked off by DB Nick Ulbach. Buffalo would add a field goal following the Ulbach interception to make it an 8-point game. Troyer still bounced back from the interception with some more quick passes, but he struggled to find anyone down the field. Time would run thin for the Raiders and Buffalo’s defence would hold them off to allow the Blue Wings to be the first back-to-back champions since the Royals in 1956. This win also gives Buffalo the most McCallister Cups in the NAAF era with 5.