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Boston 44 at Arizona 23
1983 Week 7 - Sunday, April 17, 1983
Boston Breakers(4-2) at Arizona Wranglers(3-3)(-1.5)
Attendance: 20,911
TEMPE (Casa Grande Dispatch) - The Boston Breakers broke the Arizona Wranglers Sunday.
Capitalizing on a series of mistakes, Boston took an early 10-0 lead and pushed in three touchdowns in the fourth quarter en route to handing the Wranglers a 44 23 loss.
"I wasn't pleased with anybody." said Arizona coach Doug Shively "There's not a whole lot that can be said when you get your fanny kicked. When you spot people 10 points by blatant errors then everything else is uphill."
The Breakers built their 10 point lead when they scored a touchdown set up by an Arizona fumble and then recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, which led to a Tim Mazzetti field goal.
The Breakers held the 10-0 lead through the opening quarter, built it to 13-7 at the half, 23-15 at the end of the third before breaking loose in the final 15 minutes.
Boston halfback Richard Crump crashed into the end zone three times and Maizetti booted field goals of 50, 38, and 20 yards, as well as five extra points to pace the Breakers. The Wranglers also had to contend with four turnovers.
"I'm embarrassed by the way we played," Shively said There is no excuse for the mistakes we made. I thought our defense followed pretty good in the first half, they just lost their heart. I have to take some of the blame too. My job is to have them ready to play and obviously, they weren't.
"I think all of us need to sit down and evaluate ourselves."
It didn't take long for the night to shape up as a long one for Arizona.
After each side failed to move the ball on its opening opportunity, Wrangler kicker Jim Asmus lined up on his own 23 to punt the ball out of Arizona territory. But Asmus fumbled the snap and just had time to recover it before he was sacked to give Boston the ball deep in Wrangler territory.
Breaker quarterback Johnie Walton used just three seconds to fire a touchdown pass to Crump in the left end zone. Mazzetti added the extra point with 9:49 remaining in the opening quarter.
The problems didn't end there.
After being penalized twice for kicking out of bounds, Mazzetti nailed a kick to Wally Henry at the Wranglers 25. The ball hit Henry in the chest, bounced away and was recovered by Boston's Frank Lockett at the Arizona 28. The recovery set up Mazzetti's 38 yard field goal.
The Wranglers looked to be poised for a comeback in the second quarter as quarterback Alan Risher completed passes of 12, 10 and 16 yards to set up a four-yard touchdown pass to Jackie Flowers with 6:30 left in the half. The touchdown capped a 17 play, 82 yard scoring drive.
Mazzetti had time for one more first half field goal as he split the uprights with a 20 yard kick with 0:34 left.
Then the game started slipping away from the Wranglers.
After Arizona opened the half by losing a yard in four plays, Boston took over at their own 42 yard line. Crump moved them within scoring distance on carries of six, eight and eight yards and running back Tony Daivs finished the seven play drive with a touchdown.
Later in the third quarter, Mazzetti booted a 50-yard field goal.
As the final two minutes of the quarter wound down, the Wranglers took control at their own 30. Risher connected with Keith MaGee for a 22 yard completion and a pair of 11-yard runs by Calvin Murray landed Arizona on the Boston 10. Murray carried the ball to the Boston one then scored two plays later on a pitchout around the right end with :01 left in the third.
The game was still up for grabs going into the fourth quarter. But Boston took charge. Crump ending an eight-play, 73- yard drive five minutes into the period with a four-yard touchdown run and then adding another six points when he blasted in from the four at the 5:58 mark.
Boston's final touchdown was set up when Risher was sacked and fumbled the ball at Arizona's 38. Boston's Daryl Wilerson picked up the ball and carried it 15 yards to the Wrangler 23.
Two plays later, Andy Johnson broke away to the Arizona three yard line and fumbled into the end zone. Lockett fell on the ball to score the Breakers' last touchdown of the night.
Arizona's backup quarterback Todd Krueger completed a two-yard pass to Neil Balholm in the end zone with :59 left to play, then completed the two-point conver- sion to narrow the margin to the final 44- 23.
Crump gained 100 of Boston's 142 yards rushing on 21 carries. Arizona gained just 91 yards on the ground.
Risher was successful on 13 of 26 passes for 123 yards while Krueger earned 55
yards by completing six of 11.
1 2 3 4 F
BOS 10 3 10 21 - 44
AZ 0 7 8 8 - 23
Scoring
BOS:Crump 2 yd pass from Walton (Mazzetti kick) - BOS 7, ARI 0
BOS:Mazzetti 38 yd field goal - BOS 10, ARI 0
BOS:Mazzetti 20 yd field goal - BOS 13, ARI 0
AZ: Flowers 4 yd pass from Risher (Asmus kick) - BOS 13, ARI 7
BOS:Davis 6 yd run (Mazzetti kick) - BOS 20, ARI 7
BOS:Mazzetti 50 yd field goal - BOS 23, ARI 7
AZ: Murray 1 yd run (Balholm pass from Risher) - BOS 23, ARI 15
BOS:Crump 4 yd run (Mazzetti kick) - BOS 30, ARI 15
BOS:Crump 4 yd run (Mazzetti kick) - BOS 37, ARI 15
BOS:Lockett fumble recovery in end zone (Mazzetti kick) - BOS 44, ARI 15
AZ: Balholm 2 yd pass from Krueger (Balholm pass from Krueger) - BOS 44, ARI 23
Box Score
BOS ARI
First Downs 18 19
Rushes-Yards 30-142 30-91
Passing (A-C-Y-I) 26-20-220-0 37-19-178-3
Sacked-Yards Lost 0-0 3-16
Total Plays-Yards 56-362 70-253
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 3-2
Penalties-Yards 8-55 2-10
Turnovers 1 5
Time of Possession 30:26 29:34
Attendance = 20,911
BOSTON ARIZONA
Passing Att Cmp Yds In Td Rate Passing Att Cmp Yds In Td Rate
Walton 26 20 183 0 1 108.3 Risher 26 13 123 2 1 44.2
Krueger 11 6 55 1 1 60.8
Rushing Att Yds Ave TD Rushing Att Yds Ave TD
Crump 21 100 4.8 2 Murray 19 77 4.1 1
Johnson, D 3 23 7.7 0 Clark, D 3 15 5.0 0
Davis 5 18 3.6 1 Krueger 1 6 6.0 0
Johnson, A 1 1 1.0 0 Risher 2 5 2.5 0
Howell 4 3 0.8 0
Asmus 1 -15-15.0 0
Receiving Rec Yds Ave TD Receiving Rec Yds Ave TD
Smith, C 4 66 16.5 0 Balholm 7 81 11.6 1
Franz 6 63 10.5 0 Flowers 5 35 7.0 1
Coash 2 25 12.5 0 Murray 3 25 8.3 0
Crump 5 17 3.4 1 MaGee 1 22 22.0 0
Bayle 1 9 9.0 0 Keel 2 8 4.0 0
Davis 1 8 8.0 0 Banks 1 7 7.0 0
Johnson, A 1 -5 -5.0 0
Kick Returns No Yds Ave TD Kick Returns No Yds Ave TD
Matthews 3 66 22.0 0 Henry 6 94 15.7 0
Punt Returns No Yds Ave TD Punt Returns No Yds Ave TD
Wilson 1 20 20.0 0 Henry 2 11 5.5 0
Matthews 1 10 10.0 0
Kicking Fg Lg Xp Pts Kicking Fg Lg Xp Pts
Mazzetti 3-3 50 5-5 14 Asmus 0-0 0 1-1 1
miss: none miss: none
Punting No Yds Ave Punting No Yds Ave
Hoopes 3 146 48.7 Asmus 3 131 43.7
Sacks Sk Yds Sacks Sk Yds
Needham 1 9 None
Tarver 1 6
Roe 1 1
Interceptions No Yds Ave TD Interceptions No Yds Ave TD
Smith, T 1 19 19.0 0 None
Restic 1 8 8.0 0
Harbison 1 7 7.0 0
Archived news report
Archived news report
Archived news report
Supplemental information courtesy of Chris Blackburn
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