Longview Daily News from Longview, Washington • 25

The Daily News Longview Washington Monday January 25 1982 Section 49ers shaft Bengals 26-21 to gain NFL championship pleted pass from Cris Collinsworth and rookie Lynn Thomas recovered the ball That turnover launched a 92-yard drive the longest in Super Bowl history For the touchdown Montana threw an 11-yard pass to Cooper Now it was 14-0 and things were getting no better for the Bengals Starting from their own 34 on their next possession they drove to the Cincinnati 5 On fourth and one with 18 seconds left until halftime Ray Wersching kicked a 22-yard field goal for a 17-0 bulge That would have been a perfectly fine halftime lead but the Bengals gift-wrapped three more points Archie Griffin fumbled the kickoff and Milt McColl recovered for the 49ers at the 4 Wersching returned it for a 26-yard field goal But Walsh overly comfortable Ken Anderson on the other side 20 points all that much" he said As it turned out they weren't Before the 49ers knew what had hit them Anderson had Cincinnati on the scoreboard in the third period with a nine-play 83-yard drive He went the final five himself and now it was 20-7 Then with just under seven minutes left in the period the Bengals came back for more Anderson's 49-yard pass to Collinsworth drove them to the San Francisco 14 and on fourth-and-one from the 5 Pete Johnson smashed into the middle of the line for a first down at the 3 Cincinnati had four chances to gain three yards A touchdown would have put them just six points away Twice Johnson barged into the middle of the line managing two yards on the first carry and none on the second On third down Anderson passed to Charles Alexander but Dan Bunz stopped the play for no gain Now it was fourth down and the Bengals tried Johnson again Nothing saw the 49ers raise up at the snap of the the 250-pound fullback said figured I could go under them It just work There just anything The 49ers survived even though they had only 10 players on the field for the first two plays of the stand San Francisco defensive coordinator Chuck Studley know why linebacker Keena Turner was not in the lineup on both plays have to wait until we look at the he said not going to look at until maybe Despite the stand the Bengals done They held and the 49ers who had no first downs in the third quarter had to punt from the end zone This time the Bengals stop until they got into the end zone Ross grabbed a 4-yard touchdown pass and with better than 10 minutes left on the clock Cincinnati was within a touchdown of the 49ers who now had to go out and win the game all over again Starting from their own 27 the 49ers drove the ball for the first time in the second half It was a crucial march killing five vital minutes off the clock and adding three points when Wersching kicked his third field goal this one a 40-yarder That gave San Francisco some breathing room Now the Bengals would have to score twice to catch up and the clock showed just 5: 14 left Anderson came out throwing His first pass was intended for Collinsworth but Wright intercepted the ball at the 47 and returned it to the Cincinnati 22 The 49ers took the ball to the 6-yard line and Wersching kicked his fourth field goal tying the Super Bowl record set by Green Bay's Don Chandler in 1968 There were less than two minutes left and the Bengals were all but done With the 49ers laying far back on defense Anderson used six straight complete passes to carry Cincinnati to a touchdown The final pitch of 3 yards to Ross came with just 20 seconds left on the clock and was nothing more than window dressing PONTIAC Mich (AP) It was a victory born in the fertile mind of Coach Bill Walsh carried out with cool efficiency by quarterback Joe Montana and saved by a determined defense The San Francisco 49ers are champions of the National Football League 26-21 winners over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI Yes the San Francisco 49ers that same sad-sack franchise that limped through two consecutive 2-14 seasons just two years ago now rule the roost hoisted to the top by a creative coach and his talented quarterback difference is said flanker Freddie Solomon Walsh Every week he keeps coming up with some more and O's" The San Francisco playbook is chock full of options for Montana Most teams have 20 or 25 pass plays in their arsenal offense has 60 or marvelled Montana is way ahead of everyone in making game plans One game last year we had over 100 passing plays And a formation for every play" Ah last year The 49ers remember it well They were 6-10 also-rans then and glumly watched their Bay Area neighbors the Oakland Raiders win the Super Bowl couldn't think of the Super Bowl after that" Montana said "We had to concentrate on improving our record We had three rookies starting in the defensive backfield and me starting for the first time" That is style He afraid to turn his secondary over to those raw rookies Ronnie Lott Eric Wright and Carlton Williamson and he certainly concerned about giving the football to Montana will be the great quarterback of the future" said Walsh after Montana was named the most valuable player is one of the coolest competitors of all time and he has just started be even better in the That would be hard to imagine for the Bengals who saw Montana complete 14 of 22 passes for 157 yards All magic though might have been wasted but for the defense that refused to bend even a yard late in the third period Three times the Bengals tried to score from the 1-yard line Three times twice with just 10 players on the field because of a mixup caused by the noise and confusion the 49ers stopped them Cincinnati tight end Dan Ross said his team was tense and blowing three scoring opportunities from inside the 10-yard line certainly help was just like stage said Ross who caught a Super Bowl-record 11 passes two of them for touchdowns from Ken Anderson was in awe of everything The big difference was they played loose and we They let it get to them The problems started early After recovering a fumble on the opening kickoff Cincinnati had a golden opportunity moving to a first down at the San Francisco 5-yard line But the Bengals came up short when Dwight Hicks intercepted an Anderson pass and returned it to the 32 had an opportunity right off the bat to said Cincinnati Coach Forrest Gregg we I think the players started thinking about what could have been instead of what Reality for the Bengals was a 49er march to the first touchdown It was a 68-yard drive climaxed by 1-yard plunge Thirteen of those yards came on a flea flicker of all things Montana handed off to Ricky Patton who turned the ball over to Solomon who returned it to Montana who threw for 13 yards to Charle Young keep surprises in our back said running back Earl Cooper the only man in the 49er backfield who handle the ball on that play For their next trick the 49ers halted Cincinnati at the San Francisco 8 as rookie Eric Wright stripped a com running back Charles Alexander is smothered by the defense I Nerves Cincinnati had bad case of jitters AF photos San 49ers carry coach Bill Walsh off the field after victory in Super Bowl XVI 1 Walsh says running game did it PONTIAC Mich (AP) Forrest painstaking preparations failed to keep his Cincinnati Bengals from suffering a severe case of nerves in their first Super Bowl Gregg who faced Super Bowl pressure three times as a player attempted to tailor the routine to make the Bengals feel at ease during the week-long buildup for meeting with the San Francisco 49ers in the National Football League championship game at the Pontiac Silverdome Just minutes into the game he realized it worked The Bengals failed to cash in when the 49ers fumbled the opening kickoff were afraid of making Gregg said after his club fell to the 49ers 26-21 guys were not tight all week long not at all think that maybe when we got that first opportunity and capitalize on it they thought too much about what could have been The Bengals came up empty after the fumble recovery on the opening kickoff when quarterback Ken Anderson was intercepted on the 5 yard line But tight end Dan Ross said he had the jitters before that think it was the first time that anybody in this locker room had been in the Super Bowl" said Ross who caught a record 11 passes think we were kind of awestruck walked onto the field and it hit me where we were in the Super Bowl The big difference is that they played loose and we didn 't They let it get to them Gregg tried to keep his club relaxed during the hectic days leading up to Super Bowl XVI by holding off on curfew until Wednesday night sheltering the players from the media on arrival and letting them spend the night before the game with their wives Ross said the coach also tried to calm his players down at halftime after they had fallen behind 20-0 told us playing nervous playing scared Just go out and play your type of PONTIAC Mich (AP) Place-kicker Ray Wersching spoke for all the San Francisco 49ers when he said it was a dream that actually came hard to describe what we have said Wersching whose record-tying four field goals played a major role in the 26-21 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday in Super Bowl XVI What they had done was go from a 2-14 record two years ago to the National Football League championship For the first time in their 34-year history they had reached the top fantastic It sunk in yet said offensive tackle Keith Fahnhorst one of the 49ers who suffered through the lean years know how ever going to top this starting to worry about that already" Bill Walsh who came to San Francisco as head coach and general manager in 1979 and blended youth key trades and offensive wizardry in molding a 13-3 record this season called victory highlight of my As they had all season the 49ers rode the arm instincts and grit of quarterback Joe Montana to victory Montana the Most Valuable Player ran for one touchdown and passed for another as San Francisco ran off to a 20-0 halftime lead And when Cincinnati stormed back to within 20-14 Montana cooly engineered the fourth-quarter drive that ended with third field goal a 40-yarder that again put the 49ers more than a touchdown ahead For Montana the 24-year-old three years out of Noire Lame whose captivating smile and disarming innocence stole the spotlight all Super Bowl week the MVP award came as something of a surprise really was surprised because I think I did that much out he said our MVP no matter said offensive guard Randy Cross for his leadership Walsh said the formula for success was simple: our offense swept them off their feet in the first half and then we had to depend on our defense to hold the fort when they came out blitzing in the second half went to our running game that gave us a chance to take apart the blitz and what won it for he explained AP photo Forrest Gregg ponders misfortune Ross said With Anderson leading the way the Bengals cut the deficit to 20-14 in the fourth quarter But they got no closer Anderson attributed the slow first half more to mistakes than nerves The Bengals also lost two fumbles think we were tight in the first half Anderson said just made mistakes You play in the Super Bowl and have that many turnovers and expect to win" Police clash with wild fans Fie on whatsit game man prefers NBA art SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -Thousands of San Francisco 49ers fans intoxicated with triumph danced in the streets in the giddy hours after their team captured Super Bowl XVI but the revelry turned into bloody confrontations for some After the 49ers beat the Cincinnati Bengals 26-21 Sunday San Franciscans greeted the first championship in their history with a street celebration as jubilant as any since the one unleashed by the end of World War II But as the jubilation wore on numerous stabbings and shootings were reported and police clashed with some of the thousands of celebrants in a bottle-throwing melee at North Beach Scores were hospitalized according to reports San Francisco is number one in two things being weird and said Rick Tasker as he hung out a car window and blew on a whistle near the North Beach intersection of Columbus Street and Broadway jammed with about 6000 celebrants Horns firecrackers sirens and church bells echoed through the city above the shrieks of fans tens of thousands of them who poured from bars into the streets forcing police to close off major thoroughfares and divert buses has been an ongoing confrontation for about three and a half hours between police department personnel and the said police service aide Mike Conner today after the North Beach fracas Dozens of officers were dispatched from outside districts to help quell the disruption which began to subside after midnight he said About 40 officers and an unknown number of other people were injured he said Police said dozens were arrested for drunkenness disorderly conduct assault or resisting arrest as the celebration grew more frenzied late at night The San Francisco Fire Department reported at least one large bonfire and several scattered trash can fires The Associated Press Throughout the length and breadth of the land they gathered to watch At patio parties in southern California ski lodge parties in New England and snowbound parties in the Midwest It was Super Sunday But it a super Sunday for Darnell Simpson of New York nor for truck driver George Anderson in Sacramento Calif nor Helga Hopkins of Atlanta nor millions of others who were not part of a television audience that may have reached 100 million tuned to the San Francisco clash with the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI for the (National Basketball New York) said Simpson one of the dozens of street kids who frequent a noisy game room in an underground arcade near Times Square in New York like none of those teams in the Super he explained amid the electronic clamor of the video games pro basketball one of his teen-age friends added Anderson spent the afternoon looking at art prints in Crocker Art Museum the other ua i even know who was playing and I he said taken this football idea and carried it into outer space" Anderson was host to the The Beastly Feast for fund-raisers and committee chairpeople of a dinner-dance to benefit the Atlanta Zoological Society The turnout was not what she hoped for and someone set up a portable TV in a corner to watch the game Hopkins did not join them I knew anything about she said have scheduled it for today i li.