North American Association of Football (Fictional History): 53rd McCallister Cup

Roster Moves
LOU: OL Bubba Hankins | Active Roster -> Injured Reserve
LOU: OL Paul Dix (Rookie) | Reserve List -> Active Roster
MTL: DL Mateo Cousineau | Injured Reserve -> Active Roster
MTL: DL Stan Walz | Active Roster -> Reserve List

(5) Louisville Thunder VS. (2) Montreal Rouge - New Providence Stadium - October 24, 1971 - 7:00 PM ET - Weather: Cloudy/Light Rain - 12°C | 54°F - Attendance: 65,440
A mixture of fans from all across the NAAF came out to fill the 65,000-seat stadium in Providence. It was the most red that New Providence Stadium ever been with the Rouge fans making their way down to Providence. Louisville didn’t do too bad themselves, but then there were also the Providence fans who had bought tickets hoping their team would go the distance. Now, they were left to boo both teams, after Louisville had ended their season 2 weeks earlier, and Montreal being a division rival. A cloudy and cool day in Providence mixed with an energetic crowd would make for a good setting for the 53rd McCallister Cup.

1st Quarter
The game kicked off with former Thunder kicker, Frank Hughes, sending the ball to Thunder WR Ben Graham. Graham would have a solid return giving the Thunder good field position to start the game. The offence rolled out and would catch the Rouge by surprise. QB Buck Murphy would hit a couple of passes to pick up a quick 17 yards, then find WR Ben Graham who would slip through for another 21. Eventually, RB Neil Bradley would get involved to close the gap to the endzone. Bradley would get them to the 3 where Murphy would drop back and toss the ball up to WR Casey Coleman towards the back of the endzone. Even with DB Lamar Brown closing in, Coleman would reach up and grab the ball to make it 7-0.

Montreal would be shaken after the opening drive score from the Thunder. The offence would take the field and DL Gavin Shaw would drop QB Gene Bishop on the first snap. After an incompletion on 2nd down, Montreal would kick it right back to the Thunder. Despite the short break, the Rouge defence would recover from the early blow and would hold off the Thunder on their next drive.

After a couple of drives from both teams that didn’t get much traction, the Rouge would start to dig in. The offence would lead a long and gruelling drive down the field. RB Bo Frazier would fight for every inch on the ground, while WR Taylor Karis and WR Antonio Villanueva picked up yards through the air. Once they got down to the 16, Bishop would connect with Karis again cutting through the middle. Karis would shake off a tackle from DB Oswald Murray and then look to get to the goal line, but LB Ricky Wildgoose would stop him just short. After Frazier failed to get in on first down, HC Malachi Knowles would pull a nifty play out of the book. QB Gene Bishop would fake the handoff to Frazier, and then turn to WR Antonio Villanueva who was set up for a screen to the left. Villanueva planted aiming to pull DB Oswald Murray in. Murray took the bait. Villaneuva then cut right back up to the endzone. Bishop would lob it up to the back corner, where a closing S Graham Kensington would attempt to get a hand on it, but Villanueva would reel it in for the tying score. The score would remain tied heading into the 2nd.
LOU 7-7 MTL

2nd Quarter
To start the 2nd, Montreal would continue to hold the momentum. The defence would hold off the Thunder, while the offence looked to be starting another strong drive. However, it would soon be thwarted as DL Lucas Kipling, a former Rouge player, would get to Bishop as he pulled back to throw. The ball flew loose and the Thunder would recover in Louisville territory. Montreal’s defence remained composed, but the Thunder still were able to put up 3 points.

Despite only getting a field goal, the momentum had completely swung in Louisville’s direction. Their defence would hold off the Rouge on their next drive, allowing the offence to look to add more points. The Thunder offence would get the ball to their own 46-yard line with a couple of runs from RB Neil Bradley. Then, QB Buck Murphy would drop back and find WR Lloyd Lane cutting across the field. Lane caught the ball and then cut right in between S Etienne LaMond and S Mathieu Cazenave. From there, Lane would turn on the jets and take it right down the road to the endzone to make it 17-7 for Louisville.

Montreal’s defence recovered and kept Louisville off the board for the rest of the half. As for their offence, they had one last shot to get some points on the board. QB Gene Bishop was getting pressure on every play, so he had to be quick. Some good play calls from HC Malachi Knowles would help inch Montreal into Louisville territory. On the last play of the half, K Frank Hughes would fire home the field goal to cut the lead down to just 7 heading into halftime.
LOU 17-10 MTL

3rd Quarter
Getting the ball to start the 2nd half, the Rouge would continue to take what they could get from the Thunder defence and once again slowly made their way into Louisville territory. An eventual field goal would cut the lead down to just 4. The Rouge defence also kept the Thunder at bay, nearly getting an interception off of QB Buck Murphy when an errant throw would hit LB Conrad Kurst right in the chest and bounce off. However, as much as the game was being managed by the Rouge, it would remain a stalemate with the Thunder defence regaining their hold on the Rouge. Eventually, one side would budge, and it would be the Rouge when QB Gene Bishop would be intercepted by DB Oswald Murray, who jumped on a ball that was thrown behind WR Antonio Villanueva. The interception energized the Thunder as they marched into Montreal territory and would add 3 more points to their total to once again make it a 6-point game.

Montreal’s offence would not be able to rebound from the pick on the ensuing drive as they would go 2 and out with Bishop getting sacked on 2nd down. On the following punt, WR Ben Graham would work his magic and slip through several tackles and get past the first wave of Rouge players. He almost found his way through the last couple of players but was tripped up. The great return would put Louisville in field goal range. A few plays later, after making it a more comfortable kick distance, K Elvis Franklin would once again put the Thunder up by 10.
LOU 23-13 MTL

4th Quarter
The final quarter continued the frustrations for the Rouge as Bishop would be sacked again on the next drive, and RB Bo Frazier would be limited after taking a big hit from LB Ricky Wildgoose causing a minor injury. They were going to need a spark if they had any hope of pulling it back in. Right on queue, QB Buck Murphy would have to finally put his signature on the game. The QB known to have interception problems would have that demon rear its ugly head when he underthrew a pass to WR Lloyd Lane. S Mathieu Cazenave was able to get underneath the ball and make the play. Montreal took over and found their footing, sort of. After a solid run on first down from RB Raymond Green, the Rouge would be forced to a 3rd and 9 when Bishop got sacked again. However, with the game in the balance, they would go for it. Bishop stepped up and delivered a throw to WR Antonio Villaneuva who would spin off a tackle and get over the line for a first. They would build off of the crucial play, continuing to march their way down to the 4 where RB Raymond Green would take it around the right side of the line and into the endzone to cut the lead down to 3.

Louisville remained unphased by the turn of events, and the offence went about business as usual. They would find themselves inching into Montreal territory and looking to add more points to the board. However, the Rouge defence pushed back. DL Alan Franjkovic got close to sacking QB Buck Murphy on first down, the pass falling incomplete on the other end. Then, on second down, Murphy would drop back and look towards the sideline for WR Casey Coleman. Murphy waited a moment for the play to develop before firing toward Coleman. However, DL Sebastian Hamilton would get his arm up and deflect the pass enough to knock it off course. The ball now went more upfield where a waiting DB Lamar Brown was in prime position to get another interception for Montreal. Montreal’s offence continued to motor down the field as the energy from their fans brought the stadium to life. WR Antonio Villaneuva would have one of his signature plays of breaking 2 tackles to pick up another 12 yards after the catch that would set up Montreal at the 12. From there, Bishop would drop back and feel the pressure. He was able to escape it and just like he did back in his days in Worcester, he took off. Now he was much older, so he was easily caught after picking up 6 yards. On 2nd, Bishop would drop back again and this time would hit WR Taylor Karis in the endzone for the score to get Montreal in front for the first time all day. The Montreal fans would be ecstatic, well until QB Magnus Torrensen would lose grip on the snap, resulting in a failed convert. In the end, Montreal still had a 3-point gap, 23-26.

The clock would start to wind down on the Thunder now as Montreal’s defence would turn them away on the ensuing drive. Montreal looked to play conservatively with their defence playing well, but that did result in a quick 2 and out. Louisville’s next drive would be a different story as they started to roll again. Murphy dished out a great pass to WR Lloyd Lane. Then, WR Ben Graham would take a jet sweep into Montreal territory. Then, Murphy aimed to get the team in good field goal range. Knowing Murphy that meant he was going to take a shot and not play it safe. The QB would drop back and survey the field. Finally, he tossed a shot at WR Casey Coleman. Coleman had gotten about 20-ish yards down the field before he planted and went up for the ball. DB Lamar Brown had done a good job of staying on him and also went up. However, Brown was behind Coleman, who was never gonna drop a pass that he was the first to. In desperation, Brown targeted the arms of Coleman, but the veteran held on and spun off of Brown who then tried to make a tackle. Brown went to the ground empty-handed. Coleman turned towards the middle of the field as a speeding S Mathieu Cazenave would come flying in. Coleman would let Cazenave pass right by with a shove from his right arm during a juke. He then took off with Cazenave tripping over his own feet. He was gone, and the remaining 20 yards were nothing as New Providence Stadium was both ecstatic and shocked from the mixture of fans as Coleman took in the go-ahead touchdown.

Montreal entered desperation mode and was able to get back to midfield on their next drive. Threatening, but once again Bishop would be under pressure on 2nd down and would only barely get the ball off before being sacked. So on 3rd down, the game was on the line. Bishop would take the snap, wait, and then fire a quick pass to WR Taylor Karis. The ball was high and Karis jumped for it at the 1st down marker. He caught the ball but was immediately hit by LB Le’Darius Wynn. Despite being right at the line, the referees ruled that he did not make it and the ball was turned over. The Rouge could only argue their case as QB Buck Murphy would kneel out the final plays to secure the win and give Louisville their 2nd McCallister Cup Championship in the team’s history.