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Arizona 38 at Birmingham 28
1984 Week 15 - Sunday, June 3, 1984
Arizona Wranglers(6-8) at Birmingham Stallions(12-2)(-10)
Attendance: 32,500, TV: ABC
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Coach George Allen got the upset win he predicted as his Arizona Wranglers outscored Birmingham 38-28 to stay alive in the race for a berth in the United States Football League playoffs.
"We're not going to lose," Allen said last week, and the Wranglers backed him up by upsetting the Stallions Sunday with 32,500 fans looking on.
"This was unquestionably our biggest win," Allen said. "We came in here 10-point underdogs and beat them in their own backyard by 10 points. We showed a lot of character, toughness and guts."
"I felt like we had to do it or die and then they'd bury us in a ditch," Allen said in the dressing room. "If we win the final three games, we will go to the playoffs."
Arizona now is 7-8 in the league's Pacific Division, while the Stallions, 12-3 in the Southern Division, already had a playoff spot assured.
Despite the loss, said Stallions Coach Rollie Dotsch, "it's not the end of the world, but it's always depressing when you lose."
Arizona's Greg Landry passed for three touchdowns and Tim Spencer ran for two, including an 81-yard jaunt that set a league record, as the Wranglers piled up 416 yards in offense.
Landry completed 12 passes for 185 yards to give him 2,847 for the season.
The Wranglers moved to a 17-7 halftime lead on a 32-yard field goal by Frank Corral and Landry's 25-yard pass to Mack Boatner.
The Stallions took the lead in the third period on a three-yard dive by Leon Perry and Cliff Stoudt's 21-yard toss to Jim Smith.
Arizona went ahead 24-21 early in the fourth period on Landry's 17-yard pass to Lenny Willis and, after Joe Ehrmann recovered a Stoudt fumble on the 15, Landry threw to Trumaine Johnson in the end zone.
Birmingham opened the scoring after Ricky Ray intercepted a Landry pass. Ray returned it 24 yards, with a 15-yard face mask penalty, giving the Stallions possession at the 15. Five plays later, Stoudt passed to Ken Toler for the score.
The Stallions scored late on a 10-yard Stoudt pass to Joey Jones, but failed to recover an on-sides kick and Spencer ran 43 yards from scrimmage to score for the Wranglers and give him 177 yards on 12 carries.
Stoudt connected on 21 for 225 yards, but was sacked seven times for 60 yards in losses.
Joe Cribbs, playing before a home crowd for the first time since he ended a two-week walkout from the Stallions in a contract dispute, got 110 yards on 16 runs. He now has 1,280 yards for the season, best in the league.
Penalties hurt both teams with Arizona assessed 105 yards on 15 calls and Birmingham 79 yards on nine.
1 2 3 4 F
AZ 7 10 0 21 - 38
BIR 7 0 14 7 - 28
Scoring
BIR:Toler 8 yd pass from Stoudt (Miller kick) - BIR 7, AZ 0
AZ: Spencer 81 yd run (Corral kick) - AZ 7, BIR 7
AZ: Corral 32 yd field goal - AZ 10, BIR 7
AZ: Douglas 25 yd pass from Landry (Corral kick) - AZ 17, BIR 7
BIR:Perry 3 yd run (Miller kick) - AZ 17, BIR 14
BIR:Smith 21 yd pass from Stoudt (Miller kick) - BIR 21, AZ 17
AZ: Willis 17 yd pass from Landry (Corral kick) - AZ 24, BIR 21
AZ: T. Johnson 12 yd pass from Landry (Corral kick) - AZ 31, BIR 21
BIR:J. Jones 10 yd pass from Stoudt (Miller kick) - AZ 31, BIR 28
AZ: Spencer 43 yd run (Corral kick) - AZ 38, BIR 28
Box Score
AZ BIR
First Downs 17 25
Rushes-Yards 25-246 33-196
Passing (A-C-Y-I) 21-12-185-1 27-21-225-1
Sacked-Yards Lost 2-15 7-60
Total Plays-Yards 48-416 67-361
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-1
Penalties-Yards 15-105 9-79
Turnovers 1 2
Time of Possession 25:17 34:43
Attendance = 32,500
ARIZONA BIRMINGHAM
Passing Att Cmp Yds In Td Rate Passing Att Cmp Yds In Td Rate
Landry 21 12 185 1 3 106.2 Stoudt 27 21 225 1 3 123.0
Rushing Att Yds Ave TD Rushing Att Yds Ave TD
Spencer 12 177 14.8 2 Cribbs 16 110 6.9 0
Long 12 62 5.2 0 Stoudt 5 43 8.6 0
Landry 1 7 7.0 0 Perry 8 30 8.0 1
Gant 2 6 3.0 0
Talton 1 4 4.0 0
Johnson 1 3 3.0 0
Receiving Rec Yds Ave TD Receiving Rec Yds Ave TD
Johnson T 4 71 17.8 1 Smith 9 120 13.3 1
Willis 3 53 17.7 1 Jones J 4 55 13.8 1
Douglas 1 25 25.0 1 Cribbs 2 30 15.0 0
Boatner 2 13 6.5 0 Mason 3 14 4.7 0
Ricker 1 12 12.0 0 Toler 1 8 8.0 1
Dennison 1 11 11.0 0 Talton 1 3 3.0 0
Perry 1 -5 -5.0 0
Kick Returns No Yds Ave TD Kick Returns No Yds Ave TD
Clark 2 38 19.0 0 Johnson 3 75 25.0 0
Tolbert 1 19 19.0 0 Mansfield 2 33 16.5 0
Dennison 1 12 12.0 0
Laird 1 2 2.0 0
Punt Returns No Yds Ave TD Punt Returns No Yds Ave TD
Brown 1 11 11.0 0 Frederick 3 31 10.3 0
Johnson T 1 4 4.0 0
Kicking Fg Lg Xp Pts Kicking Fg Lg Xp Pts
Corral 1-1 32 5-5 8 Miller 0-1 -- 4-4 4
miss: -- miss: 37
Punting No Yds Ave Punting No Yds Ave
Corral 4 153 38.3 Parsons 3 133 44.3
Sacks Sk Yds Sacks Sk Yds
Buben 3 28 Perko 1 8
Lathrop 2 20 Cugliari 1 7
Fahnhorst 1 7
Smith 1 5
Interceptions No Yds Ave TD Interceptions No Yds Ave TD
Bradley 1 0 0.0 0 Ray 1 24 24.0 0
Archived news report
Supplemental information courtesy of Chris Blackburn
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