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Week 2 - Monday, March 5, 1984
Attendance: 10,023,
TV: ESPN
When half the stadium lights flickered, dimmed and went out, Houston Gamblers head coach Jack Pardee got a little worried.
He was even more distracted when his players went to their locker room to wait out the 48-minute power failure and found the door padlocked shut. No problem. They broke in.
But Pardee needn't have worried a bit about the actual game.
His Gamblers went on to blow out the San Antonio Gunslingers 35-7 in the first regular-season meeting between Texas' two United States Football League expansion teams.
San Antonio, 0-2, lost some pride because of the lopsided score and the malfunctioning power system, but Gunslingers now must do without something more important -- starting quarterback Rick Neuheisel.
Neuheisel apparently broke his left hand early in the third quarter. By that time, most of the 10,023 fans has left, chilled by the 47-degree weather and bored by the 48-minute game delay, which came near the end of the third quarter.
Houston, 1-1, easily ran up a 21-7 halftime lead with the help of Kelly's two short touchdown runs and a 1-yard scoring dive into the end zone by running back Sam Harrell.
San Antonio had taken an early 7-0 lead with 7:07 remaining in the first period when Neuheisel threw a 72-yard touchdown bomb to wide receiver Lonell Phea. But it wasn't the Gunslingers' night. Phea's knee was injured during San Antonio's next possession and he was carried from the stadium. Surgery was needed to repair the knee.
Houston padded its lead in the third quarter when Harrell celebrated the restoration of the light system by running 5 yards for a touchdown, making it 27-7. Kelly capped the scoring with a 12-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Greg Moser.
Ironically, the USFL had sent a top official to San Antonio to ensure everything ran smoothly, Dom Camera, the league's director of marketing, said he was conferring with USFL Commissioner Chet Simmons during the power failure, but that calling the game never was seriously considered.
Steinke and Neuheisel, who completed four of 10 passes for 114 yards, both said the light failure had nothing to do with the Gunslingers' low-power performance.
Source: http://www.oursportscentral.com/usfl/index.php
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