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Arizona 3 at Oakland 14
1984 Week 12 - Sunday, May 13, 1984
Arizona Wranglers(5-6)(-7.5) at Oakland Invaders(2-9)
Attendance: 20,004
OAKLAND (AP) - After the airborne division of the Oakland Invaders' offense stalled, they found an able pilot in grounded quarterback Fred Besana.
Besana came off the bench to fire two touchdown passes, rallying the Invaders to a 14-3 United States Football League victory over the Arizona Wranglers Sunday.
It was Oakland's third straight triumph after opening the season with nine consecutive losses.
Besana was Oakland's starter until the team traded for Tom Ramsey earlier this season. But Ramsey was ineffective before he suffered a slight concussion in the second quarter, completing one pass (for two yards) in five attempts, with one interception.
On his first series, Besana guided the Invaders on a 27-yard scoring drive that be capped with a seven-yard touchdown pass to Marc Lewis. Oakland went ahead 14-3 in the fourth quarter when Besana tossed another seven-yard touchdown pass to Brian Williams.
"Fred Besana deserves a lot of credit for the way he came off the bench today," Oakland Coach Chuck Hutchison said. "You have to have 43 players contribute to win and we had that today."
In addition to Besana, Oakland also got offensive help from halfback Eric Jordan, who had 29 carries for 107 yards, his third consecutive 100-yard game since becoming a starter. "I don't feel as good as I did last week," Jordan said. "I don't like to carry the ball so many times to barely get 100 yards."
The Invaders' defense held Arizona to 75 yards rushing and sacked Wrangler quarterbacks Greg Landry and Alan Risher eight times. Oakland linebacker Gary Plumber set up Besana's touchdown passes with a fumble recovery and an interception.
"Oakland is a better team than the last time we played them," Arizona Coach George Allen said. "They are playing with confidence now and Jordan gives them the home run threat. We didn't score any touchdowns today, so that should give you an answer as to what I think about the way the offense played."
Arizona's only points came on a 31-yard field goal by Frank Corral in the first period.
1 2 3 4 F
AZ 3 0 0 0 - 3
OAK 0 7 0 7 - 14
Scoring
AZ: Corral 31 yd field goal - AZ 3, OAK 0
OAK:Lewis 7 yd pass from Besana (Shea kick) - OAK 7, AZ 3
OAK:Williams 7 yd pass from Besana (Shea kick) - OAK 14, AZ 3
Box Score
ARI OAK
First Downs 15 14
Rushes-Yards 18-75 41-141
Passing (A-C-Y-I) 37-20-252-1 14-7-59-1
Sacked-Yards Lost 8-53 5-30
Total Plays-Yards 63-274 60-170
Fumbles-Lost 4-3 1-1
Penalties-Yards 11-75 12-102
Turnovers 4 2
Time of Possession 26:16 33:44
Attendance = 21,053
ARIZONA OAKLAND
Passing Att Cmp Yds In Td Rate Passing Att Cmp Yds In Td Rate
Risher 21 12 127 0 0 74.9 Ramsey 5 1 2 1 0 0.0
Landry 16 8 125 1 0 50.3 Besana 9 6 57 0 2 123.6
Rushing Att Yds Ave TD Rushing Att Yds Ave TD
Long 7 38 5.4 0 Jordan 29 107 3.7 0
Spencer 11 37 3.4 0 Newton 9 28 3.1 0
Ramsey 2 6 3.0 0
Lewis 1 0 0.0 0
Receiving Rec Yds Ave TD Receiving Rec Yds Ave TD
Willis 3 56 18.7 0 Banks 1 21 21.0 0
Spencer 4 48 12.0 0 Williams 2 15 7.5 1
Johnson T 3 48 16.0 0 Lewis 2 11 5.5 1
Boatner 4 35 8.8 0 Hill 1 10 10.0 0
Douglas 3 23 7.7 0 Newton 1 2 2.0 0
Ricker 1 23 23.0 0
Long 1 12 12.0 0
Dennison 1 7 7.0 0
Kick Returns No Yds Ave TD Kick Returns No Yds Ave TD
Tolbert 2 40 20.0 0 Lewis 2 43 21.5 0
Drane 1 18 18.0 0
Punt Returns No Yds Ave TD Punt Returns No Yds Ave TD
Brown 4 13 3.3 0 Lewis 3 18 6.0 0
Kicking Fg Lg Xp Pts Kicking Fg Lg Xp Pts
Corral 1-1 31 0-0 3 Shea 0-1 -- 2-2 2
miss: -- miss: 34
Punting No Yds Ave Punting No Yds Ave
Corral 6 240 40.0 Talley 8 341 42.6
Sacks Sk Yds Sacks Sk Yds
Smith 2 13 Browning 2 14
Lee 1 8 Worthy 2 10
Ehrmann 1 7 Callahan 1 14
Lathrop 1 2 Plummer 1 8
Shaw 1 6
Manumaleuga 1 1
Interceptions No Yds Ave TD Interceptions No Yds Ave TD
Laird 1 5 5.0 0 Plummer 1 4 4.0 0
Allen 0 13 -.- 0
Archived news report
Supplemental information courtesy of Chris Blackburn
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