Championship Game Tonight
Published on December 14, 2002 under Women's Professional Football League (WPFL)
San Diego Sunfire News Release
San Diego - And then there were two!! The Title game is set! Long Beach travels to San Diego to battle for the American Football Women's Championship, Saturday, December 14th at La Jolla High, 7:05pm game time!
Championship Game Preview
Long Beach (6-3) @ San Diego (9-0) - December 14th - Game Time 7:05p, La Jolla High School, CA For San Diego, the quest for an undefeated season has come down to the final game of the campaign - the Championship! The SunFire hosts Long Beach in the finale of their unforgettable season.
San Diego (9-0) A big 55-0 playoff win over Arizona, made it a three game sweep of the Titans. San Diego heads into the title game looking for another football version of the hat trick over Long Beach. The SunFire has already beaten the Aftershock twice this season. In Game one, the SunFire scored 20 points in the 4th quarter for a comeback 34-28 victory. Game two was no contest as the SunFire ran away with a 24 to 8 win over the Aftershock. San Diego outscored opponents 210 to 82 over the regular season.
Long Beach (6-3) spent 2 straight weekends battling the Lasers for a shot at the title. The Aftershock lost the last regular season game to the Lasers, losing the second playoff seed. Long Beach came back the next weekend as the visiting team to Los Angeles.. And won a game that went down to the last seconds with LA driving in the redzone. The Aftershock's awe-inspiring goal line stance earned them an 8 to 6 win over the home team Lasers.
After having lost to San Diego twice already this season - Long Beach hopes three times will be the charm - visiting the home of the SunFire for the title game.
Playoff Game One Recap - Saturday, December 7th Arizona (1-7) @ San Diego (8-0) La Jolla, CA SunFire 55 Titans 0
San Diego's 5-foot-5 quarterback, Melissa Gallegos, threw five touchdown passes to four different receivers as the host SunFire beat Arizona 55-0 in an American Football Women's League semifinal playoff game in front of 732 last night at La Jolla High.
Gallegos, an El Centro High alumna, was 10-of-16 for 177 yards, hooking up twice with Robin Leafblad for scores of 30 and 35 yards. SunFire tailback Railene Ritzberg scored the final touchdown on a 51-yard run and rushed for more than 100 yards in the game. The win set up a championship game between the SunFire (9-0) and the winner of tonight's game between the Long Beach Aftershock and the Los Angeles Lasers.
Playoff Game Two Recap - Sunday, December 8th
Long Beach (5-3) @ Los Angeles (5-3) Los Angeles, CA
Long Beach 8 Los Angeles 6
Courtesy Stan Thomas for the EXPO Update
http://www.blackbusinessexpo.com/expo2002/isidra/expoupdate.html
Los Angeles was hit by an aftershock Sunday, December 8th. The win means Long Beach advances to the finals in San Diego this Saturday against the San Diego SunFire. San Diego is undefeated while Long Beach's three losses were against San Diego and Los Angeles. No doubt the 'Shock will be hungry for revenge. Interestingly enough, when the women's professional football league exhibited at the recent Expo, the two teams represented were the SunFire and the AfterShock. Could this game be dubbed "The Expo Bowl"?
The contest went down to the wire. Long Beach scored first during the first half and got a two-point conversion. LA answered back in the second half but was stopped on their two-point conversion attempt. LA threatened in the last two minutes and appeared to be headed for a sure score. But a controversial call (or non-call) involving downs destroyed the Lasers' chances. The ball was given to the 'Shock on downs. Quarterback Mary Montgomery took a knee to end the game. Final score Long Beach 8, Los Angeles 6.
Women's Professional Football League Stories from December 14, 2002
- Championship Game Tonight - San Diego Sunfire
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