The USFL picked tiny Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida as site of World Bowl XXXVII between the San Jose SaberCats and the Pittsburgh Maulers. San Jose was the #1 seed in the American Conference and they are playing in their second World Bowl. Pittsburgh was the #6 seed in the National Conference, playing in their 5th World Bowl.
The first half wasn't much. San Jose kicked a FG on their first drive for a 3-0 lead, then punted the rest of the half, while Pittsburgh did the opposite, with their FG coming on their last first half possession.
The score was tied 3-3 as we begin the 3rd qtr. Pittsburgh got the game's first TD on a 66 yard Thomas Hampton TD pass to Wilbur McKey on the 2nd play of the drive and Pittsburgh took the lead 10-3. San Jose would answer on their first second half drive as Myron Dustin went 7/7, finding Alfred Shock for an 18 yard TD with the XP tying the score at 10.
Pittsburgh took a 17-10 lead when Steven Payne intercepted Myron Dustin and taking it 19 yards for the score. Two plays later, Dustin was intercepted again but the SaberCats defense had his back as they immediately got the ball back by intercepting Thomas Hampton.
The score was still 17-10 Pittsburgh as the 4th qtr started and shortly after, a Daniel Pitts FG cut the lead to 17-13. Pittsburgh would get those 3 points back on the next drive, extending the lead back to 7 points at 20-13. There were just under 10 minutes left at this point, and San Jose would drive for a few minutes before punting. Pittsburgh would be forced to punt as well inside the 2 minute warning.
It was now or never time for San Jose, trailing by 7 with under 2 minutes to play and they were 62 yards away. Myron Dustin completed all 4 passes on the drive, with Lynn McLaurin catching the 5 yard TD pass. A lot of people were hoping a 2 point try was coming but the SaberCats opted for the tie and Daniel Pitts knocked the kick through the uprights.
Pittsburgh would get the ball back with 1:29 to play but Thomas Hampton was intercepted again. San Jose would take over on the Pittsburgh side of the 50 but a few plays later Myron Dustin was intercepted and we were headed to OT.
San Jose got the ball to start the OT period and their drive stalled near midfield. Michael Larson punted, pinning Pittsburgh at their own 6. Two plays later, Michael Stagg intercepted Thomas Hampton, giving San Jose the ball at the Pittsburgh 22. One run later and Daniel Pitts trotted on the field, booting the most important 26 yard FG of his career. San Jose comes away with a 23-20 OT victory to win World Bowl XXXVII.
The box score showed nobody had a dominating stat line and MFN says Wilbur McKey was player of the game. I won't award the new Corvette to a player from the losing team, so who to give it to on San Jose? Myron Dustin threw for 312 yards and 2 TDs but he also threw 3 INTs. Lynn McLaurin had 112 total yards, 38 rushing and 74 receiving with a TD. He's a possibility but that's far from a dominant stat line. The 3 INTs by the San Jose defense were by 3 different players and they had no sacks of Hampton.
Inviting controversy, the WBMVP Committee, which is just me btw, have decided World Bowl XXXVII MVP is San Jose kicker Daniel Pitts. Pitts made all 3 FG attempts and both XPs. In and of itself that's no big deal, kickers are paid to make kicks. In this case however, Pitts was asked to do things in the playoffs he wasn't asked to do in the regular season. During the 16 game regular season, Pitts made 10/11 FG tries and tried zero XPs as they went for 2 points on every TD and went for 4th down so often he tried less than a FG per game. Once the playoffs started, San Jose expected Pitts to start kicking XPs and FGs as they "played it straight". All Pitts did this post season was make kicks, going 6/6 on FGs and 5/5 XPs. With no SaberCats win coming by more than 3 points, they wouldn't be champs without Pitts being perfect.
