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San Antonio 7 at Los Angeles 38


1985 Week 4 - Saturday, March 16, 1985
San Antonio Gunslingers(1-2) at Los Angeles Express(0-3)(-13.5)
Attendance: 10,410, TV: ESPN

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Quarterback Steve Young ran for one touchdown and threw for another Saturday as the Los Angeles Express scored a team record 38 points for its first United States Football League victory, a 38-7 breeze over the San Antonio Gunslingers.

The Gunslingers avoided a shutout by scoring with 3:07 to play on a 15- yard pass from quarterback Fred Mortensen to Danny Buggs. Otherwise, the game belonged to Los Angeles, with Young completing 10 of 18 passes for 128 yards in just over three quarters of work.

The victory before 11,757 at the Coliseum was the first for the Express in four games, while San Antonio fell to 1-3.

The Express rolled to a 17-0 lead in the first half, the defense twice intercepting San Antonio quarterbacks to set up a touchdown and a field goal.

Young gave his team a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter on a 2- yard bootleg. Andy Melontree set up the drive with an interception and a return to the San Antonio 11-yard line. Three plays later Young rolled untouched around left end for the score.

Two series later, Mel Gray got a key block from Tony Boddie and ran 25 yards up the right side to pad the lead to 14-0 with 1:53 left in the half.

The Express got the ball back on San Antonio's 30-yard line four plays later when Darrell Patillo grabbed his first of two interceptions. Seven plays later, Tony Zendejas kicked a 40-yard field and the score was 17-0 with just 10 seconds left.

Starting the second half, the Express moved the ball 77 yards in 8:23 before running back Kirby Warren went over from the 1-yard line and increased the lead to 24-0.

The Express quickly made it 31-0 when Young passed 16 yards to Jojo Townsell with 2:04 left in the third quarter. They added a final touchdown with 10:30 left in the game when reserve safety John Higgins recovered a wild pitchout from San Antonio quarterback Rick Neuheisel in the end zone.

Neuheisel, who didn't start the game for the first time in his USFL career, came into the contest after Mortensen completed only one of his first 10 passes.

Through three quarters, San Antonio amassed only 37 yards passing and 29 yards rushing and didn't pass midfield until less than six minutes were left in the game.

Highlights




	1	2	3	4	F
SA	0	0	0	7   -    7
LA	0      17      14       7   -   38

Scoring

LA: Young 2 run(Zedejas kick) - LA 7, SA 0

LA: Gray 25 run(Zendejas kick) - LA 14, SA 0

LA: Zendejas 40 FG - LA 17, SA 0

LA: Warren 1 run(Zendejas kick) - LA 24, SA 0

LA: Townsell 16 pass from Young(Zendejas kick) - LA 31, SA 0

LA: Higgins fumble recovery in end zone(Zendejas kick) - LA 38, SA 0

SA: Buggs 15 pass from Mortensen(Mike-Mayer kick) - LA 38, SA 7

Box Score

                             SA            LA
First Downs                  11            21     
Rushes-Yards              17-78        39-158 
Passing (A-C-Y-I)   33-11-107-3   23-12-162-1
Sacked-Yards Lost          2-14          2-23 
Total Plays-Yards        50-185        62-320
Fumbles-Lost                3-3           1-1          
Penalties-Yards          14-118          9-61
Turnovers                     6             2
Time of Possession        23:42         36:18

Attendance = 11,757

SAN ANTONIO				     LOS ANGELES
Passing     Att Cmp Yds In Td  Rate          Passing     Att Cmp Yds In Td  Rate
Mortensen    23   7  73  1  1  37.05         Young        18  10 128  1  1  73.38
Neuheisel     9   4  34  2  0  15.28         Seurer        5   2  34  1  0  24.17

Rushing     Att Yds  Ave TD                  Rushing     Att Yds  Ave TD
Mortensen     4  30  7.5  0                  Gray         12  70  5.8  1
Canada        5  21  4.2  0                  Warren       19  43  2.3  1
Worthy        3  10  3.3  0                  Young         4  21  5.3  1
Roberts       2   7  3.5  0                  Boddie        3  15  5.0  0
Stamper       2   5  2.5  0                  Alexander     1   9  9.0  0
Bonner        1   5  5.0  0    

Receiving   Rec Yds  Ave TD                  Receiving   Rec Yds  Ave TD
Buggs         3  39 13.0  1                  Townsell      5  96 19.2  1
Gordon        3  37 12.3  0                  Hudson        3  30 10.0  0
Stamper       2  15  7.5  0                  O'Neal        1  27 27.0  0
Rush          1   7  7.0  0		     Alexander     1   9  9.0  0
Canada        1   5  5.0  0		     Haines        1   7  7.0  0
Roberts       1   4  4.0  0                  Warren        1  -7 -7.0  0               

Kick Returns   No Yds  Ave TD                Kick Returns   No Yds  Ave TD
Bonner          4  78 19.5  0                Alexander       1  20 20.0  0
O.Williams      1  19 19.0  0
Stamper         1  11 11.0  0                  

Punt Returns   No Yds  Ave TD                Punt Returns   No Yds  Ave TD
Bonner          1  27 27.0  0		     Townsell        1   0  0.0  0
O.Williams      3   2  0.7  0                

Kicking          Fg  Lg   Xp  Pts            Kicking          Fg  Lg   Xp  Pts
Mike-Mayer      0-0  --  1-1   1             Zendejas        1-2  40  5-5   8            
                miss: --                                     miss: 51

Punting        No Yds  Ave                   Punting        No Yds  Ave
Hartley         7 229 32.7                   Partridge       4 177 44.3

Sacks          Sk Yds                        Sacks          Sk Yds
Team            2  23                        Rudolph         1   9
                                             Weaver         0.5 2.5
                                             Jenkins        0.5 2.5                    

Interceptions  No Yds  Ave TD                Interceptions  No Yds  Ave TD
Armstead        1   0  0.0  0                Patillo         2  44 22.0  0
                                             Melontree       1  29 29.0  0

Archived news report
Archived news report

Supplemental information courtesy of Chris Blackburn


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