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Philadelphia 43 at Birmingham 11
1984 Week 11 - Sunday, May 6, 1984
Philadelphia Stars(9-1) at Birmingham Stallions(9-1)(-3.5)
Attendance: 49,500, TV: ABC
BIRMINGHAM, Ala (AP) - All season long, the Philadelphia Stars have been subjected to test after test.
For the most part, they have passed those tests and moved toward the head of the class.
On Sunday, the Stars perhaps passed their stiffest test.
And while they made it look easy, It wasn't.
You see, the Stars netted only one yard on their first four rushes from scrimmage.
That was bad - for the Birmingham Stallions.
"They did a good job against our running game early and we had to switch to the pass," said Philadelphia coach Jim Mora, after the Stars shackled the Stallions, 43-11, Sunday in a game between the United States Football League's top two teams.
With Philadelphia unable to run at the start, Mora said, "We hit a couple of play actions and that seemed to open things up " Chuck Fusina passed for two touchdowns and David Trout kicked five field goals after the Stars got on track.
Mora said he thought the game would be a lot closer but after the lopsided margin, he refused to speculate on whether he has the league's best team.
That, he said will be decided in the playoffs.
"However, I think we re a pretty good team", Mora said, "I'm pretty confident."
Birmingham coach Rollie Dotsch said the Stars "quite beat us in all areas "
He said he would feel worse if the Stallions, who were slightly favored, had lost a close game.
Philadelphia had 25 more plays than the Stallions and held the ball more than 16 minutes longer than Birmingham, the league's best club in time of possession.
The victory, before an announced crowd of 49,500, moved the Atlantic Division-leading Stars to 10-1 and left them as the only team with a single loss.
The Stallions fell to 9 2 but remained atop the Soutnern Division.
The Stars piled up 270 yards rushing and 244 passing against the second-best defense in the USFL.
David Riley scored from the seven yard line in first period and the Stars iced the game with 23 second-period points including scoring catches by Herbert Harris and Scott Fitzkee.
Trout collected three of his field goals in the second quarter, two of them after Stallions fumbles -- the first by Joe Cnbbs and the other by Von Mansfield.
Trout's five field goals tied a league record held by two other players.
Harris catch first bounced off his hands then off defender Dennis Woodberrv and back to Harris, who juggled it momentarily while running to the end zone. The play covered 51 yards.
1 2 3 4 F
PHI 7 23 3 10 - 43
BIR 0 3 0 8 - 11
Scoring
PHI:Riley 4 yd run (Trout kick) - PHI 7, BIR 0
PHI:Trout 29 yd field goal - PHI 10, BIR 0
PHI:H. Harris 51 yd pass from Fusina (Trout kick) - PHI 17, BIR 0
PHI:Trout 29 yd field goal - PHI 20, BIR 0
PHI:Trout 25 yd field goal - PHI 23, BIR 0
PHI:Fitzkee 12 yd pass from Fusina (Trout kick)- PHI 30, BIR 0
BIR:Miller 47 yd field goal - PHI 30, BIR 3
PHI:Trout 26 yd field goal - PHI 33, BIR 3
PHI:Trout 26 yd field goal - PHI 36, BIR 3
BIR:Jones 44 yd pass from Lane (Smith pass from Lane) - PHI 36, BIR 11
PHI:Thomas 39 yd run (Trout kick) - PHI 43, BIR 11
Box Score
PHI BIR
First Downs 26 10
Rushes-Yards 46-270 21-90
Passing (A-C-Y-I) 27-16-244-0 28-10-161-1
Sacked-Yards Lost 3-25 2-16
Total Plays-Yards 76-489 51-235
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 3-2
Penalties-Yards 5-34 6-50
Turnovers 1 3
Time of Possession 38:06 21:54
Attendance = 49,500
PHILADELPHIA BIRMINGHAM
Passing Att Cmp Yds In Td Rate Passing Att Cmp Yds In Td Rate
Fusina 26 15 227 0 2 112.2 Stoudt 18 6 68 0 0 45.6
Riordan 1 1 17 0 0 118.8 Lane 10 4 99 1 1 70.4
Rushing Att Yds Ave TD Rushing Att Yds Ave TD
Bryant 18 84 4.7 0 Cribbs 12 57 4.8 0
Thomas 7 69 9.9 1 Perry 4 25 6.3 0
Riley 6 62 10.3 1 Stoudt 3 7 2.3 0
Harvin 8 32 4.0 0 Gant 2 1 0.5 0
Rodenberger 5 17 3.4 0
Fusina 1 3 3.0 0
Riordan 1 3 3.0 0
Receiving Rec Yds Ave TD Receiving Rec Yds Ave TD
Harris H 3 74 24.7 1 Jones 2 65 32.5 1
Collier 4 66 16.5 0 Cribbs 4 54 13.5 0
Bryant 4 42 10.5 0 Smith 2 21 10.5 0
Fitzkee 3 40 13.3 1 Toler 1 16 16.0 0
Riley 1 18 18.0 0 Perry 1 5 5.0 0
Folsom 1 4 4.0 0
Kick Returns No Yds Ave TD Kick Returns No Yds Ave TD
Dunek 1 0 0.0 0 Gant 2 42 21.0 0
Mansfield 2 20 10.0 0
Punt Returns No Yds Ave TD Punt Returns No Yds Ave TD
Lane 4 36 9.0 0 None
Kicking Fg Lg Xp Pts Kicking Fg Lg Xp Pts
Trout 5-5 29 4-4 19 Miller 1-1 47 0-0 3
miss: -- miss: --
Punting No Yds Ave Punting No Yds Ave
Landeta 2 90 45.0 Parsons 8 299 37.4
Sacks Sk Yds Sacks Sk Yds
Mills 1 8 Bohannon 1.5 12
Cooper 1 8 Boren 0.5 5
Gentry 0.5 4
Murphy 0.5 4
Interceptions No Yds Ave TD Interceptions No Yds Ave TD
Howard 1 0 0.0 0 None
Archived news report
Supplemental information courtesy of Chris Blackburn
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