Coming into Indoor Bowl III, the Ohio Valley Greyhounds had only lost one game over the last two seasons and were the defending NIFL champions.
After an aggressive battle at the Wheeling (W.Va.) Civic Center on Saturday night, the Greyhounds improved their record by one more game (33-1) and earned a second straight national title with a 45-37 win over the first-year Utah Warriors.
Ohio Valley finishes the year perfect at 17-0, and Utah ends its inaugural season at 13-4. Greyhound quarterback Shane Franzer was named Indoor Bowl III MVP.
It didnt take long for Ohio Valley to prove its No. 1 defense was no fluke. The Greyhounds held the top-rated Warriors offense scoreless on their first two possessions. In fact, it took the Warriors' offense 22 minutes to get their first points. All-purpose running back Emmitt White finally ended the scoring drought with a 1-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
On the other side of the ball, Utah struggled to stop Ohio Valley's option run-and-shoot attack in the first half. Franzer helped his team secure an early lead with two touchdown passes. An Ohio Valley field goal completed the Greyhounds scoring in the first half, giving them a 17-7 lead.
The Warriors were able to finish the half with a little momentum on a pair of field goals by kicker Pete Garces, who was 2-4 on field goals in the first half. While the Warriors were able to cut Ohio Valley's halftime lead to four points at 17-13, the black and gold suffered some unfortunate injuries. White suffered a Grade-1 concussion and defensive lineman Lance Sopoaga was taken to a local hospital right before the intermission with a neck and back injury.
The Warriors maintained the momentum and regained some confidence at the start of the second half as they marched down the field and scored on a Danny Ragsdale pass to receiver Jason Quinn that also gave Utah its first lead of the game at 20-17. Another Garces field goal put Utah up 23-17.
But the Warriors' lead didnt last long as the Greyhounds responded with three touchdowns that broke the game open, 38-23. Ohio Valley got some help from Utah in its 21-point spurt when Ragsdale threw an interception and Garces missed a third field goal.
Utah rallied late in the fourth quarter with two more Ragsdale touchdown passes, but Ohio Valley all but sealed the game when the Greyhounds recovered a failed Utah onside kick with 35 seconds to go.
In a radio interview following the game, Utah coach Lee Leslie didn't hide his frustration as he felt the referees missed several calls and were biased toward the home team. Leslie also vowed that the Warriors would be back next season to finish what was started Saturday in West Virginia.