Queens, New York, May 15, 2004
It was a beautiful day to play football. By late afternoon the sun was out, the temperature was in the upper 70’s with a nice breeze blowing in. The day had started with rain and high humidity but the skies cleared and the humidity dropped in time for the game.
This was going to be the third time the New York Sharks (8-0), winners of the Mid-Atlantic Division were to play their division rival Chicago Force (6-2), Eastern Conference Wild Card team this season. The Force have dominated every team they have played by averaging over 48 points per game and shutting their opponent out. That is every team except for the Sharks. The two times the Force had faced New York they were beaten by the Sharks. By playing so many times in a season, each team knew what they had to do to win, the only issue was in execution.
Actress Wenne Alton Davis performed the coin toss at the start of the game. Davis is starring in an independent short film called Squeeze Play. The comedy is about women who play flag football and it features some players from the New York Sharks. She appeared to bring the Sharks luck as New York won the toss and elected to receive the ball.
On the Sharks first drive, it was stopped very quickly by the Chicago Force. On New York’s third play from scrimmage, Theresa Simon picked off a Val Halesworth pass and returned it to the Sharks’ 47-yard line. Chicago now had the ball and it would be interesting to see what their game plan was going to be.
Against their other opponents, the Force have been able to use their powerful running attack to move the football down the field and score. But in their two previous encounters with the Sharks, Chicago has not been as successful with this tactic. The Force have had some luck in passing the ball in the past on New York and it soon became apparent that was what they were going to try and do. Unfortunately for Chicago, New York picked up on that change rather quickly.
Using a strong pass rush, the Sharks were able to get the ball back rather quickly. The Force had an incomplete pass, a 2-yard loss on a running play, and then a quarterback sack by Chantal “Green” Bauer, the first of many, many sacks for New York. But it looked like the Force were going to get a break on their punt as the ball bounced past punt returner Lori DeVivio who then tried to pick it up but was tackled all the way back at the New York 1-yard line.
The Sharks had their backs to the wall but on the first play, Halesworth handed the ball off to Monica Marsh who bulldozed her way out to the 6-yard line for some breathing space. That was all the breathing space the New Yorkers would need as Halesworth hit a streaking Kathy Holloman at the 13-yard line and it was instantly off to the races. Holloman a former track star showed she still has the speed to burn as she took 2 steps and was immediately in the clear with Chicago defenders left in her wake. The 94-yard play tied the team record for longest touchdown pass, also held by Halesworth and Holloman. Kicker Nikki Gwinnett split the uprights for the extra point and the Sharks drew first blood with 10:15 left in the first quarter.
Chicago took a punch to their proverbial gut, but it soon looked like they were going to hit back hard. After a strong return on the kickoff, the Force had the ball on New York’s 47-yard line. Quarterback Cyndi Kemp then connected with Simon for a nifty 30-yard gain. Simon almost broke away for a touchdown but a saving tackle by Darleen “Blue” Hall kept the Force out of the endzone for now.
The Sharks then got hit with an encroachment penalty and the ball was now on the Sharks’ 12-yard line. Chicago was looking to get back into the game with a score when they became faced with a fourth down situation. On third down, Simon was heading towards the endzone on the right sideline but was pushed out of bounds, just shy of the first down marker. The ball was resting on the Sharks’ 7-yard line with only about an inch for a Force first down. It was an easy decision for Chicago and they went for it, but Rose Addison broke through the line and tackled the Chicago running back behind the line of scrimmage for a crucial stop. Even though it was early, that could have been the turning point of the game.
The Sharks now had the ball on the turnover of downs, but could not do anything with it. They were quickly forced to punt. Gwinnett got a good punt off and the Force had the ball on their own 43-yard line. Maybe he was trying to shake things up a bit, Chicago head coach Rich Shepherd sent in Julie Reid as quarterback. It proved to be a bad move as her first pass attempt was picked off by Sharks’ Michelle Brown who then returned the ball to the New York 45-yard line.
Halesworth went to the air and hit Karen Mulligan for a 39-yard pass completion. Halesworth then attempted to run the ball herself but with Force defenders closing in on her, she pitched the ball back to Marsh who then got the ball down to the 1-yard line. Marsh got the ball again and plowed through the middle to give the Sharks a 13-0 lead. Gwinnett’s extra point attempt went wide to the right, but with 3:32 left in the first quarter, New York was starting to feel good.
It looked like Chicago was starting to panic. It was still early in the game, but they had already switched quarterbacks and they went almost exclusively to the air. It didn’t work as the Sharks started to smell blood and were teeing off on the quarterback. On the very next series that Chicago had the ball, the Sharks picked up 2 sacks. By the end of the day, New York would have sacked the Chicago quarterbacks eight times.
Throughout the game, the Force secondary seemed to be having trouble containing the Sharks receivers. After trading punts, New York had the ball on the Chicago 39-yard line. Receiver Mulligan lined up on the right side of the field with no one guarding her. Halesworth spotted this gaffe and quickly dumped a sideline pass to Mullligan who ran down the sideline untouched for another Sharks’ touchdown. The 2-point conversion failed, but New York had now extended the lead to 19-0 with 10:35 left in the first half.
Halesworth torched Chicago again at the 7:57 mark of the second quarter. This time she connected with Marsh for a 38-yard touchdown pass. Gwinnett kicked the extra point and the score was now 26-0 in favor of the home team.
Even with time winding down for the half, New York kept the pressure on Chicago. The Force were stopped again when they had the ball, Marmorale making her presence felt with a sack, her third of the day. After a nice punt return by DeVivio, the Sharks had the ball on the Chicago 38-yard line. Marmorale was the star on this series as she was handed the ball four times. The last time resulting in a 25-yard touchdown run. The Sharks’ extra point attempt was spoiled by a high snap, but Halesworth quickly went after the ball and with two would be tacklers about to hit her she tossed the ball towards Marsh. Marsh caught the ball at the 10-yard line and then scampered in for a 2 points.
The first half mercifully ended with the Sharks leading the Force 34-0.
The Sharks were now on cruise control for the remainder of the game. New York scored their last touchdown of the game in the third quarter. The Sharks had the ball on their own 45-yard line. Halesworth threw a short pass to Dana Sparling who caught it 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage but with a few key blocks by New York, she raced down the left side line for a 55-yard touchdown completion. The 2 point conversion failed, but it didn’t matter, the score was now New York 40 – Chicago 0.
At this point, it was just pride that kept the two teams battling it out. The Force have never been shutout but the Sharks were not willing to give up a score either. In the fourth quarter, Chicago put together an impressive drive. Starting from their own 30-yard line, they marched towards the New York endzone. After 15 plays which consisted of mostly passing plays plus one halfback option pass, the Force were down to the New York 9-yard line with seconds left to go in the game. But to add insult to injury, Chicago was denied a score as cornerback Chrissy Hilla picked off a Kemp pass to end the game.
The third meeting between these two teams turned out to be anti-climatic. Chicago fell behind early and just could not get climb back in to the game. The Sharks dominated on both offense and defense. Halesworth finished completing 8 passes on only 17 attempts, but threw for over 290 yards. She spread the ball to all of her receivers with 4 different receivers catching a touchdown pass. The defense was strong as they finished with 8 quarterback sacks, 3 interceptions, and held Chicago to 16 yards rushing.
The Sharks now get ready for the next round in the playoffs. They will face the Tampa Bay Terminators for the IWFL Eastern Conference Championship. New York are last year’s champions and they are looking to defend their title on Saturday, July 10th. Game time is 5pm at August Martin High School. Tickets are available, but if you cannot make it to the park, you can hear all the exciting football action on our flagship radio station, KEDU-FM.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Force | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New York Sharks | 13 | 21 | 6 | 0 | 40 |
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
NY – (10:15) Holloman 94 yard pass from Halesworth (Gwinnett kick)
NY – (03:32) Marsh 1 yard run (kick failed)
Second Quarter
NY – (10:35) Mulligan 39 yard pass from Halesworth (pass failed)
NY – (07:57) Marsh 38 yard pass from Halesworth (Gwinnett kick)
NY – (02:08) Marmorale 25 yard run (Marsh pass from Halesworth)
Third Quarter
NY – (08:00) Sparling 55 yard pass from Halesworth (pass failed)