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Jacksonville 20 at Houston 17
1985 Week 13 - Monday, May 20, 1985
Jacksonville Bulls(6-6) at Houston Gamblers(8-4)
Attendance: 17,127, TV: ESPN
HOUSTON (AP) -- Jacksonville quarterback Brian Sipe threw two touchdown passes and Brian Franco kicked a 27-yard field goal in a 17-point third quarter to rally the Bulls to a 20-17 United States Football League victory over Houston Monday night.
The Bulls, 7-6, trailed 17-3 at the half, but struck back with Sipe touchdown passes of 22 yards to Alton Alexis and 5 yards to Larry Mason to tie the score and Franco added the clincher with 40 seconds left in the quarter.
The Gamblers, 8-5, netted only four yards in the third quarter and held the ball only 4:33 of the period. The Gamblers drove to the Bulls 30 before runningback Todd Fowler fumbled and Bulls Terry Beeson recovered with 5:56 left in the game.
Return specialist Gerald McNeil ignited the Gamblers to a 17-3 halftime lead when he darted through a hole in the middle of the Bulls defense for a 49-yard punt return in the first quarter.
Toni Fritsch kicked a 44-yard field goal and quarterback Jim Kelly hit Richard Johnson with a 15-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter for their halftime lead.
The Bulls reached the Houston 1-yard line in the second quarter but two penalties and a sack of Sipe forced them to settle for Brian Franco's 21-yard field goal.
Jacksonville, aided by two pass interference penalties against Houston, reached Houston's 23 but Luther Bradley's interception with 10 seconds left in the half ended that threat.
Bulls running back Mike Rozier gained 86 yards on 20 carries to give him 1,028 yards for the season.
The Gamblers had promised to give away a $1 million annuity to a lucky fan if 40,000 fans attended the game and a $10,000 if at least 35,000 were present. Gambler officials said 17,127 fans attended the game. It was the smallest crowd of the season.
1 2 3 4 F
JAX 3 0 17 0 - 20
HOU 7 10 0 0 - 17
Scoring
HOU:McNeil 49 punt return(Fritsch kick) - HOU 7, JAX 0
JAX:Franco 29 FG - HOU 7, JAX 3
HOU:Fritsch 44 FG - HOU 10, JAX 3
HOU:Johnson 15 pass from Kelly(Fritsch kick) - HOU 17, JAX 3
JAX:Alexis 22 pass from Sipe(Franco kick) - HOU 17, JAX 10
JAX:Mason 5 pass from Sipe(Franco kick) - HOU 17, JAX 17
JAX:Franco 27 FG - JAX 20, HOU 17
Box Score
JAX HOU
First Downs 19 15
Rushes-Yards 26-118 12-19
Passing (A-C-Y-I) 32-14-191-1 39-23-312-2
Sacked-Yards Lost 4-30 5-36
Total Plays-Yards 58-309 51-331
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-1
Penalties-Yards 6-47 9-81
Turnovers 1 3
Time of Possession 36:27 23:33
Attendance = 17,127
JACKSONVILLE HOUSTON
Passing Att Cmp Yds In Td Rate Passing Att Cmp Yds In Td Rate
Sipe 32 14 191 1 2 71.22 Kelly 39 23 312 2 1 71.74
Rushing Att Yds Ave TD Rushing Att Yds Ave TD
Rozier 20 86 4.3 0 Fowler 5 14 2.8 0
Sipe 2 19 9.5 0 Harrell 4 8 2.0 0
Lewis 3 14 4.7 0 Verdin 1 1 1.0 0
Mason 1 -1 -1.0 0 Kelly 1 -1 -1.0 0
Receiving Rec Yds Ave TD Receiving Rec Yds Ave TD
Kemp 4 82 20.5 0 McNeil 5 91 18.2 0
Keel 2 23 11.5 0 McGhee 5 65 13.0 0
Alexis 1 22 22.0 1 Johnson 4 63 15.8 1
Mason 2 18 9.0 1 Courville 1 30 30.0 0
Matthews 1 18 18.0 0 Sanders 3 23 7.7 0
Rozier 2 14 7.0 0 Harrell 1 17 17.0 0
Young 1 11 11.0 0 Verdin 2 9 4.5 0
Lewis 1 3 3.0 0
Kick Returns No Yds Ave TD Kick Returns No Yds Ave TD
Butts 1 20 20.0 0 Courville 2 46 23.0 0
Matthews 1 20 20.0 0 Verdin 2 33 16.5 0
Eason 1 15 15.0 0
Punt Returns No Yds Ave TD Punt Returns No Yds Ave TD
Kemp 2 10 5.0 0 McNeil 3 65 21.7 1
Kicking Fg Lg Xp Pts Kicking Fg Lg Xp Pts
Franco 2-3 29 2-2 8 Fritsch 1-1 44 2-2 5
miss: 40 miss: --
Punting No Yds Ave Punting No Yds Ave
Swider 6 258 43.0 Corral 3 126 42.0
Sacks Sk Yds Sacks Sk Yds
Nelson 2 16 Catan 2 12
Millard 1.5 11 Fitzpatrick 1 9
C.Anderson 1 7 Hughes 1 9
Costello 0.5 2
Interceptions No Yds Ave TD Interceptions No Yds Ave TD
Batiste 1 14 14.0 0 Bradley 1 19 19.0 0
McMillan 1 6 6.0 0
Archived news report
Supplemental information courtesy of Chris Blackburn
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