Boston 21 at Denver 7

1983 Week 2 - Sunday, March 13, 1983
Boston Breakers(0-1) at Denver Gold(0-1)(-2)
Attendance: 41,926

DENVER (AP) - Johnnie Walton's touchdown passes of 39 yards to Nolan Franz on a flea-flicker play and 14 yards to Tony Davis and linebacker Ben Needham's 68-yard jaunt with a blocked field goal attempt for another score evened Boston's record at 1-1 and kept the Gold winless in the Breakers' 21-7 victory over Denver.

Denver's only TD came after Ken Johnson replaced starter Jeff Knapple, once the backup quarterback for the NFL's Denver Broncos. Johnson pitched a 5-yard scoring pass to tight end Darryl Goosby. The game, on a 60-degree day, drew 41,295 fans, down a bit from the 45,102 who attended the Gold opener.

Highlights

MARCH 13 
SCORE BY PERIODS 
Boston  ........................    0  14   7   0--21
Denver  ........................    0   0   7   0-- 7

SCORING 
Boston--Needham 68 blocked field goal return (Maz- 
zetti kick ). 

Boston--Franz 39 pass from Walton (Mazzetti kick). 

Boston--Davis 14 pass from Walton (Mazzetti kick). 

Denver--Goosby 5 pass from Johnson (Speelman kick ). 


TEAM STATISTICS 
                                          Boston      Denver 
First downs  ...........................     16          21 
Rushes-Yards  ..........................  24-50      32-153 
Passing yards  .........................    234         197 
Sacked-Yards lost  .....................    0-0         1-8 
Return Yards  ..........................     73          99 
Passes  ................................  20-28-0     22-40-1 
Punts  .................................   3-40.3      4-40.8 
Fumbles-Lost  ..........................    3-3         1-1 
Penalties- Yards  ......................   6-29        6-46 
Time of possession  ....................  30;29       29:31 
Attendance--41,926. 

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS 
Rushing--Boston, Davis 14-30, Steels 6-17, D. 
Johnson 1-4, C. Smith 1-minus 6, Crump 2-5; Denver, 
T. Miller 7-20, Matthews 5-36, Canada 9-54, Ford 
5-16, Knapple 1-2, Sydney 2-2, Johnson 3-23. 

Passing--Boston, Walton 20-28-0--234: Denver, 
Knapple 7-13-1--51, Johnson 15-27-0--154. 

Receiving--Boston, Davis 5-51, A. Johnson 5-72, 
Franz 3-53, Coash 2-26, D. Johnson 1-minus 2, C. 
Smith 2-31, Crump 2-3; Denver, T. Miller 1-5. Mat- 
thews 4-25, Maher 1-9, James 1-5, Sydney 6-68, 
Canada 3-16, Phea 2-56, Goosby 1-5, Ford 3-16. 

Kickoff Returns--Boston, Steels 1-26; Denver, 
Ford 1-19, Phea 3-70. 

Punt Returns--Boston, Steels 1-0, Franz 2-15; 
Denver, Martin 1-10. 

Interceptions--Boston, Wilson 1-32. 

Punting--Boston, Hoopes 3-40.3; Denver, Gortz 4- 
40.8. 

Field Goals--Boston, Mazzetti O-1; Denver, Speel- 
man 0-1. 

Sacks- Boston, Geathers 1-8; Boston, none.

Archived news report

Supplemental information courtesy of Chris Blackburn

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