CANTON, Ohio – Still smiling after a jubilant celebration in the locker room after a tough game, 31-27 won overtime last Michigan newspaper on Saturday night at the Tom Benson Memorial Stadium, last year’s final spot seemed a distant memory for Pittsburgh Maulers.
But the Pittsburgh defender Kyahva Tezino did not forget.
“We’ve been through a lot as a team,” said Tezino. “We went from September 1st last year to be in the championship game. We were laughed at, people talked about on Twitter. … We were here last year, all of them. I still remember those things. We’re so lucky to be in this position right now. And we certainly wouldn’t take that for granted.”
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In what is expected to be a defensive battle for USFL North Championship, second-half fouls, with Pittsburgh midfielder Troy Williams Get ready for your team to win by helping Pittsburgh’s offense be carried out during tough times.
The Utah product finished 23/40 in 203 yards and a touchdown. He also ran at a team-mate 36 yards, helping the Maulers go from worst to top in a single season. The Maulers face the winner of the Southern Championship on Sunday between Birmingham Stallions and New Orleans Cutter next week in Canton.
While the two fouls came in the first half, they added up 31 points in the fourth and extra time. The love affair has six times changed the leader.
With the USFL’s No. 1 defense, Pittsburgh seems to have an advantage to close the game after a kickback. Chris Blewitt hit one of the best goals in the league, 59 yards to give the Maulers a 20-17 advantage with 3:16 remaining on regulation.
Highlights: Maulers alongside the Panthers in an overtime thriller
“He’s our guy,” Tezino said. “We watch him practice shots like 65 yards. He’s easy.”
However, the Panthers regained the lead with the recent appointment of a starting midfielder EJ Perry throw TD 55 yards to Trey Quinn on the road. The play was originally recalled for a masked call during an attack phase Josh Dunlop. However, the call was reversed on replay and Michigan took a 24-20 lead with 2:04 remaining.
But that lead didn’t last long, as Williams drove the Maulers 51 yards after eight innings. The important game came in fourth place and the goal from Michigan’s 7-yard line, as Williams found Ishmael Hyman in a perfect throw into a post to score the lead and take a 27-24 lead with 39 seconds left.
Williams said the Maulers played the same game to score the winning goal in a two-minute drill in practice this week.
Yet again, Perry got the job done, driving the Panthers 38 yards over seven plays, to set up a Cole Murphy A 47-yard goal sent the game into extra time — the first goal in the USFL this season.
Perry and the Panthers got off to a slow start, scoring just three points and turning the game around three times in the first half. But Brown’s product heated up in the second minute, as he completed a 23/38 pass from 370 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception.
“In the second half we had control of the ball and everyone played well,” Perry said. “DJ [Montgomery] was a step over the limit in the first half when playing big, and in the second half we were on the limit with tomato [Hikutini] down the sideline. Marcus [Simms] blow over everyone on the field, and then Trey [Quinn] clear.
“So at the end of the day those guys played really well. And in the first half we shot ourselves a little bit in the foot.”
The Panthers ended the night with 12 accepted penalties from 137 yards.
Even as Michigan corrected their mistakes and gained some momentum going into extra time, the Maulers remained calm. Williams converted his first attempt from 2 yards when he found a tight end Stoker’s bricklayer in the middle on an action turn.
Pittsburgh’s defense then forced Michigan to run back Stevie Scott fumbling at the finish line. Quinn recovered the ball in the end area, but in injury time, a ball recovered for a foul in the end area would return to where it was fumbled, so the attempt was unsuccessful.
Williams solved his own problem on the second attempt, scoring. And then Pittsburgh’s defenses ramped up, with defensive moves Olive Sagapolu beat Perry’s end-game attempt, with the Maulers dashing onto the field.
Tezino led the Maulers with nine tackles and a fumbling recovery, while the Panthers defender Frank Ginda across the field, a total of 11 synthetic tackles and one pitch.
Quinn finished with five 104-yard catches for Michigan, while Pittsburgh’s Isiah Hennie made six catches in 83 yards.
Maulers head coach Ray Horton said: “We’re from 1-9 and couldn’t beat anyone last year. “We struggled early on, but I want to thank these people for putting their trust in me. They didn’t know me. They didn’t know where I came from. We had a plan and we were there. execute that plan No one said it would be easy.
“And it’s not. It’s not. And it shouldn’t be, because of the reward you get.”
Eric D. Williams has covered the NFL for over a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on Twitter at @eric_d_williams.
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