DETROIT-The Detroit Drive cemented their status as AFL Eastern Division champions, and placed themselves in position to possibly host the Arena Bowl by defeating the San Jose Sabercats 34-16 in Week 16 of the AFL season.
Detroit started it off moving 59 yards on 7 plays. Lou Couch ended the drive with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Vern Kelly to give the Drive a 7-0 lead with 12:04 left in the first quarter. The Sabercats answered with a 10-play, 48-yard drive ending with a 40-yard field goal by Ethan Wycoff to make it 7-3 with 7:41 remaining in the first. Detroit would respond with an 8-play, 75-yard drive. Couch finished it off himself with a 3-yard touchdown run to put Detroit up 14-3 with 2:55 remaining in the first quarter.
The scoring would slow down into the second quarter. After a San Jose punt, Couch would get intercepted by Chuck Wleborn at the Sabercats 24-yard line. The Sabercats would punt again, but Wleborn would pick Couch off again and return it 13 yards to the San Jose 43. The Sabercats would move the ball 45 yards on 11 plays, and Wycoff would kick a 29-yard field goal to make it 14-6 with 1:58 remaining in the half. But Detroit would make some noise of their own, driving 41 yards on 5 plays, and Cletis Frayer finished it off with a 44-yard field goal to make it 17-6 at the half.
In the second half, Detroit went on the move again with a 13-play, 80-yard drive. Couch would finish it off with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Todd Boyce and the Drive took a 24-6 lead with 9:15 left in the third quarter. The Sabercats would answer with a 9-play, 54-yard drive ending with a 30-yard field goal by Wycoff to get to 24-9 with 4:52 remaining in the third.
After trading punts, San Jose would finally find their way to the end zone after an 8-play, 80-yard drive. Timmy Carey would find Ramon Counce for a 7-yard touchdown to make it 24-16 with 11:16 to go in the fourth quarter. The Drive answered by moving 53 yards on 5 plays, and Frayer kicked a 49-yard field goal to go up 27-16 with 7:45 left in the fourth. The Sabercats tried furiously to move into scoring position, but Jeffrey Wilkey picked off Carey and returned it 10 yards to the San Jose 40-yard line. Eight plays later, Rocky Adams put the exclamation point on the game with a 3-yard touchdown run to make it 34-16 with 1:55 to go in the game.
Detroit (12-4) gained 463 yards of total offense. The Drive ran for 170 yards on 33 carries. Couch led the team with 65 yards on 13 carries and a TD. He also went 23-of-32 passing for 305 yards, 2 TD and 2 INT. He was sacked twice, losing 12 yards. Dave Huntley led the receivers with 7 catches for 109 yards. The Drive will host the Georgia Force in the National Conference playoff next week. Detroit beat Georgia in Atlanta during Week 2 by a score of 32-29.
San Jose (10-6) gained 301 yards of total offense. The Sabercats ran for 74 yards on 13 carries. Alan Sale led the team with 38 yards on 7 carries. Andre Stanfill started at quarterback and went 3-of-10 for 35 yards, Carey was 18-of-39 for 216 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. He was sacked three times, losing 24 yards. Counce led the receivers with 5 catches for 78 yards and a TD. The Sabercats will visit the Dallas Desperados next week in the American Conference playoff next week. The teams met in San Jose in Week 2, and the Sabercats won 37-30.
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