From locked out to the culmination of a great 1988 season

When we last left the Central Regional High School softball team, it was Wednesday, June 8, 1988, and the Golden Eagles had just scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning on Stacy Witfill and Monsignor Donovan to win the Ocean County Tournament in dramatic fashion, 3-2, at Toms River High School South.

It was truly one of those moments in time that showed those in attendance what the Golden Eagles' softball program was all about under coach Norm Selby -- the grit of a comeback victory and doing so without the panic that would dull that calmness this club exuded.

And so after the championship was over and the Golden Eagles had received the championship trophy from tournament director and Lakewood High softball coach Dave MacKelvey, you'd thought they'd have a little party on the bus as they immediately went back to Bayville to the school and party some more there, right?

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!

"Selby, you know we should just drive over to Donovan and do a lap around the school with the trophy!" Angel Slack told Selby. Normally, that would be an idea left to the side of the road after being laughed at during the moment. But these two teams were big-time rivals. Selby and assistant coach Gloria Garibaldi prided themselves on the program they built into a winner in the 1980s, first under previous coach Marshall Davenport. Selby and Garibaldi just enhanced it further. Johnny Come Latelys were frowned upon, especially when a new pitcher with Witfill's talent and power shows up at the team's doorstep from St. Rose the year before and automatically transforms a Donovan program that struggled for years into a winning club.

So the idea that Selby's star pitcher threw out there was taken into consideration. Central's bus headed from South up Hooper Avenue no more than a mile and a half to Donovan where -- sure as anything -- Central's bus did the one lap around Donovan's parking lot showing off the trophy, then headed back to Bayville.

Truth is, for all the celebrating these Central ladies wanted to do, they still had one last bit of business to attend to -- capturing the Shore Conference Class B South championship all to themselves. Because of postseason tournaments, which took precedent over regular-season games, the Golden Eagles had one last game to play for the division title against another team Central had a history with -- Manasquan High School, led by longtime mentor Pat Barnaba, who, too, had a ton of talented young ladies on her club, led by leadoff hitter and catcher Chris Hilla and No. 3 hitter and second baseman Amy Faas.

Manasquan would go into the game with a 20-6 record and 9-2 divisional record, the only blemishes being to Central on Central's field and to an up-and-coming Wall team of second-year Tony Vodola. The Golden Eagles were trying to top off the greatest season by an Ocean County softball team, taking a 26-3 record into the game with the losses coming to Wall in the regular season in divisional play, JFK-Iselin in the NJSIAA South Jersey Group III state semifinal round and to Manasquan in the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals.

So that loss to Manasquan was still in the front of Selby's mind as well as his players' minds when they loaded up the bus at 8:15 in the morning on Saturday, June 11, 1988, and headed north to Manasquan to arrive for a 10 a.m. game that would determine if Central was going to win this divisional title by itself or have to share it with both Wall and Manasquan at 10-2 since the Knights' season was over with that 10-2 mark. As for myself, I left my childhood home at 8:40 a.m. to get to Manasquan's field -- which I never covered a game on before -- for the 10 a.m. game. I used to leave way early when I was heading to a school I had never been to before and frankly, I had never covered an event at Manasquan High in the nearly four years I was at the Ocean County Observer. 

I arrived at Manasquan High at about 9:15 a.m., the field located in the back of the school along a street in the back. Neat little set-up. I parked my car a few blocks away from the field (foul balls, windshields, you know what I'm talking about here, don't you?). I walked over to the field and Central was already there, but there was a problem.

The gates were locked to get onto the field from the street and this forced Central players to have to practice outside the fence with simple tossing. You didn't have to ask Norm Selby how he was feeling at the moment -- he was pissed off to say the least. He wanted to start practicing infield/outfield with his players like he had for 29 previous games. Normally, he would take catcher Lisa Wallace with him to the plate and he'd hit grounders to a sound infield of Dawn Boertmann at first base, Dee Boudah at second, and star players Kelly McGowan at shortstop and Michelle Carlson at third. Garibaldi would take the outfielders, hitting fungos to left fielder Alison Duffy, center fielder Sue Faella and right fielder Sue Bitten. Then Slack, who was slated to start this finale to her season and career, would come to the circle and start taking grounders and relays after warming up.

This would be the normal routine. This is what Central Regional would be doing over a half hour before the game. But they couldn't because they couldn't get on the field, and worse, there was no sight of Barnaba and her Big Blue players in the distance of the school. Suddenly, 9:20 became 9:25, then 9:30, then 9:35 and finally at 9:41 a.m., the doors opened and the Big Blue players just casually walked out of the school and to the field.

It was Manasquan's home game, and the umpires were arriving five minutes after Barnaba and her players showed up. Needless to say, none of Central's bunch were too pleased having to wait this long to have the gates unlocked and properly warm up. We were all wondering if this was just a mental game Manasquan was playing in making Central wait to get on the field.

If it was, all it did was fuel Central further. And needless to say, the game didn't start until 10 minutes after 10. Manasquan pitcher Debra Swaney started and got two groundouts and a strikeout in the first. In the bottom of the first, Hilla led off with a single and Barnaba decided to shake things up by having Hilla steal second. But Wallace put a perfect throw to McGowan to throw her out.

This was key because both Amy Burns and Faas singled to put runners on first and second immediately after the caught stealing. But the shaky Slack got a forceout of Melissa Metuch's grounder to Carlson at third and struck out Denise Aromando to end the inning.

Maybe those early jitters were out of the way. Soon, though, Slack was back on the mound after Central's middle of the lineup went groundout, popout and foulout to end the second.

Big Blue third baseman Jenny deCastro singled and moved to second on a wild pitch. That was followed by a walk to Katy Hoos (Manasquan had some interesting last names on its roster) and an infield single by designated hitter Kim Lockenmeyer to load the bases.

Uh-oh. Maybe the mental games of before the first pitch were playing tricks on Slack and her teammates. Slack settled down, though, to strike out No. 9 hitter Stacey Schilling. But that meant Hilla was back up. She looped a 1-2 pitch into center field to bring in deCastro. Burns hit a comebacker to Slack, who threw to Wallace to get Hoos at the plate, but Faas walked on four pitches to bring in the second run to make it 2-0. Slack got Matuch to pop out to end the inning, but the Golden Eagles were down to 2-0.

And to a casual viewer of the game such as myself, something didn't seem right or feel right with Slack. It turns out she wasn't 100 percent for the game. Selby told me after the game, "Angel was pitching with a 102-degree temperature. Gloria knew she was ill and we just sent her home Friday. She wasn't doing us any good practicing with us on Friday, so we told her to get the day's rest and come back today."

It may have been short-sighted for Slack to be out there trying to pitch her guts out when she wasn't at her best, but nonetheless, there she was trying to secure Central's first outright Class B South title ever and first outright divisional title in seven years.

After going six up and six down, though, there needed to be a wakeup call. Faella began the top of the third inning with an infield single. After Boertmann popped out, No. 9 hitter Boudah forced Faella at second base.

There was two outs, but at least it was back to the dangerous top of the Golden Eagles' lineup. Carlson, who was building an impressive softball resume as the cat burglar-quick third baseman and an eight-game winner in the circle as the backup pitcher, while also being the quintessential "do-everything-to-get-on-base" leadoff hitter, dropped a two-out bunt on an unsuspecting Big Blue infield and beat it out for an infield hit.

This brought up Duffy, a solid junior leftfielder. She hit a grounder that shortstop Matuch should have just swallowed up and stepped on second base for the forceout of Carlson. But she may have seen Carlson barreling into second base with her speed and for one second took her eye off the ball. The bobble and error allowed the bases to be loaded for No. 3 hitter Wallace.

Like Duffy with older sister Dee, Wallace had an older sibling who had enjoyed success in previous years as Lynn Wallace played center field for the 1986 team that won both the NJSIAA South Jersey Group III and Ocean County Tournament titles like this '88 team did.

Swaney threw a first-pitch ball. Wallace nearly lost the next pitch to her.

"Ping!" The sound still resonates to this day as Wallace nailed the delivery and put a laser shot to the right-center field gap on a fenceless field. Boudah, Carlson and Duffy all scored and suddenly, it was Central holding the 3-2 lead. Wallace would tell me after the game, "I was just looking for a base hit. I just wanted a hit. (Swaney) threw it right down the middle. I had been coming under the ball and (Selby) had his eye on it. I had to keep my hands in and back."

If not for Bitten hitting a rope right at third baseman deCastro, the inning would have gone on.

Suddenly, the fans on the Central side of the field along the back street were excited. And Slack further got them excited by finally having a 1-2-3 inning in the third.

Soon, though, the Big Blue would be back to the plate. Slack got Lockenmeyer on a strikeout and Schilling on a groundout. But that meant Hilla was back to the plate. One swing could change the game from her. And it did. Hilla sent a booming triple over Faella's head and suddenly, the Big Blue were in business again. Burns walked and stole second, but still, all Central needed was one out to get out of the inning.

It didn't happen as Faas hit a grounder to Boudah, who booted it for an error to allow Hilla to score the tying run. Slack got out of the jam by inducing Matuch into a foulout to Carlson, keeping it at 3-3.

Suddenly, I thought, "Oh, great. There goes the momentum!" For all the successes I had seen of Selby's Golden Eagles over the years, I had seen their failures, too. But with this team, I never had that "Oh, no, it's all starting to go downhill" feeling, even with Slack throwing with a 102-degree temperature, Carlson still dealing with the aftermath of a badly hurt thumb in the final week of the season, McGowan dealing with a hurt arm, Bitten having to nurse a slight knee injury and Faella sporting a toothache she had no time to take care of, all according to the coach.

Yet, all these young ladies with the physical troubles were out there trying to win that outright divisional title in the final game of the season on this sunny, blue-sky Saturday morning as Bitten and Slack were playing their final games in Central uniforms. 

The Golden Eagles had a threat in the fifth inning as Duffy singled and Wallace walked, but Bitten popped out to first base to end the inning. Other than a deCastro single with one out in the bottom of the fifth, Slack navigated out of possible danger with a flyout by Hoos and a foulout by Lockenmeyer.

With all the hurts and aches Central players were dealing with, it probably was best to avoid extra innings at all costs. And the girl with the bum arm at shortstop took matters into her hands.

McGowan had delivered the game-winning hit that ultimately captured Central's first state sectional title in 1986 when she was a freshman. She was about to help put the ribbon on this amazing season. On a 1-1 pitch from Swaney, She blasted a shot over Hoos' head and didn't stop running until Selby put the hands-up stop sign at third base.

The triple was a nice start to the sixth. All Central needed to do now was get a bat on the ball and avoid a Big Blue glove to get McGowan home. The Golden Eagles had struck out just twice in the game against Swaney. Sounds easy, right?

It was! Slack hit a grounder away from danger as first baseman Burns got the ball, but had one play to Faas covering first for the out. McGowan crossed the plate and Central had a 4-3 lead.

With one out in the sixth, Hilla finished out a superb high school career for herself with her fourth hit of the game, a single to left field. But there were no thoughts of trying to steal again on Wallace. Burns flied out to Faella and her achy tooth and Faas hit a comebacker to the girl with the 102-degree temperature.

Central put two runners on base with one out in the seventh, looking to expand on the lead, but Swaney got Bitten to pop out to Matuch and McGowan hit a grounder to Matuch, who tossed to deCastro at third for the forceout and final out of the inning.

All it left was Slack to get the final three outs of the game, the season ... and her career. Matuch hit a grounder at Carlson, who swallowed it up and fired to Boertmann at first for the first out. Aromando hit a line drive, but at Boudah for the second out. All that was left was deCastro, who had touched Slack for two hits on the day.

And she hit the ball again -- but this time to the wrong player. Right at Carlson. She gobbled that grounder, too, and fired to Boertmann for the final out of the game.

Central had held on for the 4-3 win and could now add Shore Conference Class B South champions along with their titles of NJSIAA South Jersey Group III, Ocean County and early-season Pemberton tournament champions.

They ended the year with a 27-3 record, breaking the county and program record of 26 wins established by Selby's first team in 1981. Slack ended her year at 19-2, striking out five Big Blue hitters, walking three, scattering eight hits and giving up two earned runs.

There were hugs and happiness from the Central young ladies, though with all that was ailing Central on this day, I'm not sure how much partying they wanted to do. 

Over the years, Selby always told me about the pride he ran his program with Garibaldi. They were never "girls" to him. They were "young ladies." And he could not have been prouder of how his "young ladies" handled the adversity on this Saturday morning, especially being locked out of a softball field so they could warm up before the game.

"That's the kind of kid we had here at Central this season," Selby started off telling me after the victory. "If they had a 2 p.m. appointment somewhere, they would get to that appointment at 2:25 p.m. They put up the time to practice and put up with me and G (Garibaldi). They had to put up with that and more."

These Golden Eagles were always devoted to the love of softball and the chance to do something special -- like this '88 group was.

It was an early day for me. I got to the Observer just after 1 p.m. and wrote the story, did some other things around the office and went home for the rest of that day.

But it was a wonderful morning, which started in that bizarre fashion of Central not being able to get onto a field to practice. Mentally, that could have ruined most good teams that the other team didn't want you to have your regular routine. Maybe it was miscommunication, too, but even 33 years later, I highly doubt that.

Central and Manasquan were, at times, very bitter rivals.

And that's what made the last game of the 1988 season -- even a regular-season game -- a special one, played by a group of special players who made it their business to not share anything with any other team that day.

The capper to a long-awaited great season

So many things could have conspired to make the 1989 Toms River High School East softball season yet another season of heartbreak and failure.

Whether it was the first coach of the program, the late Gail Halbfoster, or her successor, Rick Dispoto, or his successor before the 1988 season, Debbie Dietrich, the history of Toms River East softball was one of disappointment.

Sure, there were plenty of fantastic seasons in which the team would win the Shore Conference Class A South title. The Raiders did that five times between 1983-88. But when it came to postseason play, the Raiders had never gotten far enough to claim a title of any kind. As a matter of fact, the only time in the first nine years of the program the Raiders played for a tournament championship was 1987 and they were shocked by Lacey High in the final, 7-5, the Lions being the last of 10 seeds in the Ocean County Tournament that year.

The 1988 Raiders won the Class A South title under Dietrich in her debut year as coach with assistant Diane Morrissey helping her. But Margie Egrie-led Atlantic City would beat the Raiders on the Raiders' home field in the South Jersey Group IV tournament. In the Ocean County Tournament, it was Toms River North taking down the Raiders on the Raiders' home field in the quarterfinal round. And the Raiders would lose to Central Regional, 16-9, in the Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinals at Central as the Golden Eagles were in the middle of a 27-3 season under coach Norm Selby.

But one of the centerpieces of that 1988 Golden Eagles team was about to tip the scales in East's favor in the Fall of 1988. Michelle Carlson was moving with her family out of Bayville into Toms River and though she told yours truly over the years she never planned on leaving Selby and the Golden Eagles' program, that it wasn't going to work semantically. Her parents weren't going to get her in a car and drive from Toms River to Bayville every day, so she was having to enroll in classes at Toms River East as a junior.

And once Dietrich found out about this, she suddenly realized her very good team, which had won 20 games the year before, was about to become better. The all-important battery was established with catcher Kathy Hawtin and pitcher Kim Tompkins beginning their third year together on varsity. Jennifer Brown was back at first base, junior Christine Grice was returning to second base, Cristy Iorio, like the battery, was now the Raiders' established shortstop, and Carlson was going to fit in perfectly at third base, moving Grice from the hot corner to second. The outfield featured seniors Kathy Higley in right field, Sally Ballantyne in left and junior newcomer Jeannine Zarillo in center field. Cheryl Stump would take the pressure off Tompkins ever hitting by being the designated hitter (designated player now).

The Raiders started the 1989 season at 18-0, the second-greatest start behind Toms River South's 19-0 start in 1976. But Greta Jannsch stymied East in the circle down at Southern Regional High and handed the Raiders their first loss of the season, 6-3. The Raiders, though, would not be deterred to win yet another Class A South championship.

First up was the state tournament -- yes, the state tournament was FIRST!! The Raiders won a dramatic, come-from-behind victory over Toms River South for their first-ever state tournament win -- yes, it took all these years to WIN A STATE TOURNAMENT GAME for the program. But in the following game, a gamble in center field by Zarrillo on a low-sinking line drive proceeded to go behind her on East's fence-less outfield and two runs scored -- the only two runs Washington Township needed to beat the Raiders, 2-0.

Uh-oh!! Here we go again!! All I kept thinking was "please don't let arguably the greatest Raiders team assembled go down in flames, too."

Stump delivered a pair of run-scoring doubles in the opening round of the Shore Conference Tournament on Memorial Day, May 29, 3-1. Over a week earlier, the Raiders began the Ocean County Tournament run with a quarterfinal victory over Brick, then defeated Lacey in the semifinals, 8-3, to advance to the final for the second time in three years.

But on May 31, the Raiders were hosting Lacey again, this time in the Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinals. And coach Mike Shern had his Lady Lions ready. They took a 1-0 lead on the old East field which is now a soccer and lacrosse field on the side of the gymnasium. East threatened with Hawtin on second and one out. Grice hit a screaming liner that was ticketed for the left-center field gap. In what I still consider the greatest catch I've ever seen on a softball diamond, left fielder Janene Spitaletto dove to her right and caught the ball while sliding o n East's rough outfield turf. When she got up, she fired the ball into second base to complete the double play as Hawtin was heading back to the dugout thinking she had just scored the tying run.

Lacey built a 3-0 lead going into the sixth. But an error off a steal attempt of third base by pinch-runner Cindy Himpele allowed her to come home and an RBI infield hit by Ballantyne brought home Zarrillo to make it 3-2 going to the seventh.

That was the first time all year I started to feel that "Raider magic." In the bottom of the seventh, Hawtin walked, Grice beat out a sacrifice bunt for a hit and an error by pitcher Patty Brilly on a Higley grounder loaded the bases with no outs. Left-handed hitting Stump came up. On a 1-1 pitch, she drilled a drive into left-center field to score both Hawtin and Grice and complete a 4-3 victory. I watched Raiders players jump up and down in elation and angry and sad Lions players come off the field in dejection.

That was Lacey's win and East was having nothing to do with it.

One night later with the glow of that victory very much apparent, East arrived at Wilbur Thompson Field in Lakewood to play a back-and-forth drama with rival Toms River South, who the Raiders had beaten three times during the season, for the county championship. In a game that saw Tompkins get a line drive back at her face by South's Emily Dupignac, but the blow of that ball hitting her was dulled by her putting her glove up in time, the teams battled to 8-8 by the bottom of the seventh inning.

Once again, though, the "Raider magic" prevailed. Hawtin walked, stole second, took third on a single and once again, it was Stump playing hero by hitting a high chopper to second baseman Marti Seaman, who did not have enough time to throw Hawtin out at the plate as East celebrated its first-ever tournament title, beating the Indians, 9-8.

And once the Raiders won that first important championship in program history, everything else fell into place for what would be the finale. The Raiders came back on Monday, June 5 to take down Wall, 8-1, in the SCT semifinals at Toms River South.

Now one game was left. It was the Shore Conference Tournament final on Wednesday, June 7, 1989, and the last team left standing was Red Bank Catholic. The Caseys were having a really good season at 19-3. The heart of the Casey team was the top of their batting order -- shortstop Megan Zusi leading off, right fielder Jen Gross batting second, pitcher Ellie Traino hitting third and center fielder Kim Harter batting cleanup. Traino, undeniably, was the Caseys' best player, a tall talent at 5-foot-10 who could bring it hard on opposing hitters.

By now, though, these Raiders were confident. The 25-2 record they came into the game with spoke volumes. But, of course, there was one more demon Dietrich, Morrissey and her Raiders needed to turn back -- one of the two losses the Raiders suffered was on this Southern Regional field.

I was at the game covering it as I was expected to as the softball writer for the Ocean County Observer, finishing up my fifth year of covering high school softball. I am a Toms River East graduate so I knew a lot about the program and the players in general. A good amount of them were seniors on this team and were graduating with my sister that June.

Well, Asbury Park Press softball writer Theresa Shevlin arrived at Southern moments after I had gotten there and she was an unabashed RBC grad. This made for interesting coverage. I sat up top of the small bleachers along the first-base side, Theresa sitting along the first row. She looks at me and tells me she thinks this is going to be her alma mater's day and they'll break through against the top-seeded Raiders.

I looked at her, smiled and said, "No chance."  Traino needed to be better than excellent to keep this Raider lineup down. And after the first three batters in the Casey lineup hit groundballs to Iorio (two of them) and Carlson that they turned into outs. I was pretty confident on what the outcome was going to be. In the first, Ballantyne got a base hit, but Traino got Iorio and Brown to fly out to end the inning.

In the second, that got tested though, when Harter hit a grounder that swallowed up Brown for an error. One out later, Karen Taylor bunted her up to second, but in what would be her last game as a Raider, Tompkins got Dana Jack to pop out to Iorio.

In the bottom of the second, Grice singled with one out. Traino struck out Higley, but Stump walked to put runners on first and second and bring up No. 9 hitter Zarrillo. Ever since that line drive in the Washington Township game went under her glove allowing the only two runs of the game to score, she had beaten herself up for the mistake. Now, Zarrillo had a chance to redeem herself in the first huge moment of the game.

And, oh, did she ever do so. On a 1-2 offering from Traino, Zarrillo drilled the ball over Harter's head. I'm guessing Harter did not think a No. 9 hitter could launch a rocket over her head. She was proven wrong. Grice and Stump scored and Zarrillo landed a third with a triple.

Zarrillo's shot had practically opened the cork to the champagne and the soon-to-be celebration. Still, to this day, it's one of the biggest clutch hits I've ever witnessed.

But the inning was not over yet. Leadoff hitter Carlson was hit by a pitch and openly took second base. Ballantyne hit a grounder at Jack, who muffed it for an error, allowing Zarrillo and Carlson to score to make it 4-0.

In the third inning, Kim Dollinger singled. RBC put the hit and run on with No. 9 hitter and designated hitter Melissa DelPresto at the plate. But DelPresto popped up to Brown, who only had to step on the base to complete the double play. Zusi flied out to Zarrillo and suddenly, RBC looked like a confused team down 4-0 and East was a confident team which could sense the blood in the water.

In the bottom of the third, Hawtin and Grice started the inning with singles. Grice beat out a close play at second on a Higley grounder to load the bases. But things started looking bad for East. Stump struck out and Hawtin was thrown out at home trying to score on a passed ball (the backstop on Southern's old field wasn't too deep in those days).

So with two outs and runners on second and third after the out at the plate, Zarrillo stepped up again. On a 2-1 pitch, she drilled a shot to left-center field for a single that brought in Grice and Higley and it was 6-0.

Meanwhile, Tompkins settled into a groove. She retired five of the next six batters in the fourth and fifth innings, but with two outs in the fifth, Dollinger doubled. With Liz Ryan at 1-2 in the count, RBC thought it might be a good time to catch the Raiders sleeping. Pinch-runner Nicole Gross took off for third, but Tompkins was fully aware of what was happening and fired to Carlson, who chased Gross back to Grice, who caught the ball and made the tag for the third out.

These Raiders could simply do no wrong. Traino, who the next time I would see on a softball field was in some professional league in the mid-1990s that ESPN2 used to show the games, the same league that also had Michelle Carlson playing in it, kept the deficit to 6-0 heading to the bottom of the sixth, hoping to give the Caseys one more chance in what was already a humbling experience. Traino got Stump to line out to open the inning, but her personal kryptonite, Zarrillo, was up again. She drilled another single to left field to be 3-for-3 for the game.

Carlson worked out a walk. An error by Traino trying to throw out Zarrillo at second moved the runners up a base. Ballantyne hit a grounder that they tried to get Zarrillo again at third, but she beat the play back to the base, loading the bases for Iorio. Iorio singled to center to score Zarrillo and Carlson, and when Traino committed another error on the play, that allowed Ballantyne to come home from first to make it 9-0.

The story of the '89 East season was almost finished. Traino helped finish it for East when she threw a wild pitch to Brown on the first pitch of the at-bat, allowing Iorio to scamper home with the 10th and final run of the game.

And it was over -- East had the emphatic 10-0 victory over the Caseys and their first-ever Shore Conference Tournament. Tompkins finished her career in terrific fashion, allowing three hits, walking one batter and striking out three to finish her season at 26-2 like the team. Both she and Zarrillo were the stars of the capper to one of Ocean County's greatest seasons.

It was also East's breakthrough to what would be an amazing 26-year career for Dietrich, now Debbie Schwartz, as head coach. Now Donovan Catholic's head coach, Schwartz's Griffins won the overall NJSIAA Tournament of Champions title in 2019, exactly 30 years to the day East won her first-ever title as coach in the OCT final over Toms River South.

East players rightfully celebrated this amazing 26-2 season, but realized this would be the last time they would be together. But it was a longer ride home than expected. I remember heading back onto the Garden State Parkway, but traffic came to a standstill due to an accident miles up the road. I got to the Lacey Township rest stop and just took a walk to the northbound-side of the Parkway to see how long the traffic was. Suddenly, I see a Toms River bus coming up on right side. One of the East players asked what was going on and I told them there seemed to be an accident up ahead. We had about a three-minute conversion before the bus could move up a little more. 

I eventually got back to the Observer to write the story and continue working on the Lacey-Middletown North girls soccer championship in the SCT. Lacey would win that championship, 4-2.

I had one more final thing to do and that was write about the All-County team for softball in which Carlson, Tompkins, Higley, Ballantyne, Hawtin and Stump made first team.

That 1989 season ended in a way a great team's season should win -- a title-game victory. That '89 East team was special ... and found its way out of possible pitfalls of its past to prevail as a two-time tournament champion.

When I told Theresa Shevlin that RBC had no chance to beat East, I meant it. It wasn't small talk.

These East Raiders were committed to putting an exclamation point on what was a great year.

Dejection one day, viewing a sectional title the next

The night of Thursday, May 29, 1986 would be one of the most humiliating days of my life.

For months, I had planned on this as a special  night -- I was to graduate from Ocean County College in my hometown of Toms River, N.J., getting my associate's degree. This was a big night for myself and my parents and sister. Just two years earlier, I had graduated a proud Raider at Toms River High School East.

Now I was to graduate a proud Viking from OCC. It was a beautiful, sunny 74-degree night in Toms River on the campus and the hour or so long ceremony was full of pomp and circumstance, just like any  graduation ceremony would be. 

The ceremony ended and so it was time to go back to the media center at the other end of the campus to collect my actual degree that I got in journalism. I hand in my gown and mortarboard, just like I did two years ago at East. I get handed my diploma to tuck inside the soft, leathery (not the actual leather, mind you) case that they hand you during the ceremony. I know the drill.

Instead, there's a white folder waiting for me with my name on it. And there inside the folder is not the diploma with my name on it. Instead, there's a neatly typewritten piece of paper that explains why it isn't my diploma.

I didn't read it all the way through, but the word "fail" and "biology" came up on it. There was no diploma. The toughest course I had in my so-called last semester at OCC tripped me up from continuing on. I should have followed my instincts and taken chemistry -- where numbers are involved and I'm so much better in that regard!

But no! I'm hard-headed and wanted to not take the easy way out. I struggled with biology in high school, so I should have known better. But I passed by the end of the year there. College biology was not as basic as high school biology, though, and once you slip down that bunny hole of struggle, you have a hard time recovering.

So swallowing the words that I was not graduating was tough enough. Now I had to go tell the family waiting outside to celebrate.

Let's say they didn't take the news that well. We went straight home where it was explained to me that I was a failure in the family and that whatever I was doing from this time on I would have to pay for myself.

OK, I'm exaggerating when it comes to the first part -- I held down a full-time job while going to college at the Ocean County Observer. That was full-time working every day, even if it was as a correspondent. But the second part was partly true -- to get my degree and move on to Monmouth College in West Long Branch where most of my credits were transferrable I would have to pay for the course I would take during six weeks of summer school at OCC.

I rarely told a soul of what happened that humiliating May 29, 1986. More on the aftermath later.

I think I made one call to work to find out if Lacey beat Wall in the Shore Conference Girls Soccer Tournament to advance to the championship game and keep its unbeaten season going. The Lady Lions did.

I went to bed early that night, disappointed by what had transpired hours earlier. But what to do about it would have to wait until the following Monday.

By 8 the next morning, another sunny and beautiful day in the upper 70s, dad had gone to work in Asbury Park, probably still fuming over his son's failure to graduate properly. My sister had gone to school and I was left with mom. Mom was always the easy-going one who put things in perspective far better than any of us could. She, too, knew there was no reason to remain upset and that nothing could be done until after the Memorial Day weekend ended.

I had a state tournament softball game to cover in southern New Jersey that early afternoon and wanted to go to our county mall a half an hour before going on the road to a high school I had never been to before.

Breakfast eaten and newspapers read from what I missed in local sports the night before, I was off to the mall at 10:30 a.m. I was there for one reason -- I was to stop into Camelot Records, located on the eastern end of the mall by Sears. They knew me by name at both Camelot and Listening Booth, the other record shop on the west end of the mall. There in the cassette aisle was what I was looking for -- Peter Gabriel's "So" cassette. It was locked up in that orange contraption to trap thieves from stealing from the store that a single key could unlock it out of its case.

I, like millions of American music fans, became fascinated by the first single release from that Gabriel album (the first one I ever bought by him) called "Sledgehammer." And for the next hour and half while I was on the road to Hammonton High, taking Route 70 west into the Route 206 circle and going south until finding the high school, I resisted hitting rewind and replaying "Sledgehammer" repeatedly. But I listened to the tape from start to finish and found it to be one of the most fascinating cassettes I ever bought -- not really a bad song in the bunch.

So on this Friday afternoon, May 30, 1986, I found myself at Hammonton High School for a 1 p.m. softball game. Why 1 p.m. on a Friday? Because it so happened that the team I was there to cover that day -- Central Regional High School -- was having their senior prom that night, so coach Norm Selby and athletic director Jerry Golembeski asked for an earlier start, that way the "young ladies" as Selby always called the players on the team could get back home to prepare for their special night.

But since the Observer did not have a Saturday paper, I had all day to cover the story and get home whenever I wanted, This was only my second spring of covering softball, but I had been to enough Central Regional games to know the pre-game drill by now -- Selby hitting grounders to his infielders and assistant coach Gloria Garibaldi hitting fungos to the outfielders, while new assistant coach Phyllis Angellella was watching pitcher Dee Duffy warm up down by the third-base coaching line. She had been part of Selby's first varsity team in 1981 that went 26-4 and came close to winning a South Jersey sectional title, losing in the championship to Lenape in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Group IV.

Since Central Regional's population shrunk when Lacey Township High was built to open the following year and took some of the kids from the area, Central dropped from Group IV to Group III. And for the first time since losing in '81, the Golden Eagles were playing for the SJ III title against Ocean City.

The Red Raiders were 18-3 and talented up and down their lineup, a strong-hitting group with a burly, left-handed hurler named Cindy Rau in the circle throwing hard and neutralizing the opposing lineup.

On the other hand, Central Regional came into the game with one very distinct difference to its opponent -- there was not one senior starter on the team. Duffy was a three-year varsity junior and most of the starting lineup were juniors except the left side of the infield where third baseman and sometimes pitcher Angel Slack was a sophomore and shortstop Kelly McGowan was a freshman.

In other words, the expectations were not so high for Central Regional as it was for Ocean City. The Red Raiders were all but expected to win the SJ III title, but come in 1987, that was to be Central's year. After all, you'd think these young ladies from Central Regional would be distracted by the prom being that night.

Turns out, a Norm Selby-coached Central Regional team was finely focused. And the Golden Eagles sent a little message to their opponents they were ready to play from the start.

No. 2 hitter Duffy hit a dribbler that she beat out for a single with one out. Wallace singled to left field to put runners on first and second. That brought up right-handed hitting McGowan in the cleanup spot. She took a 2-1 pitch to the right side of the infield where the ball bounced off the glove of second baseman Laurie Good, who gave it a strong effort to go to her left to make the play. That allowed Selby to wave Duffy home for the first run of the game.

Rau worked her way out of trouble and for the next six innings after that, she was unhittable as she and her and her teammates were in sync in the field.

And while Rau and the Red Raiders were untouchable, Rau giving up three walks in that time, Duffy had her moments in the circle. In the third, the Red Raiders got the equalizing run as Good reached on a forceout, moved to second on a wild pitch, got to third on a Kellie Ross sacrifice bunt and scored on a single to right field by Denise Tauscher.

The fourth inning saw Duffy get into trouble by loading the bases with two outs. This could have been a pendulum-moving moment with Good at the plate, but Duffy -- always the fighter in the circle -- rebounded to strike Good out and end the threat. In the fifth inning, Ocean City put runners on base before Duffy got the third out to thwart the would-be rally.

The game remained 1-1 through the sixth inning, then the seventh. Extra innings were upon us.

So was 2:45 p.m., and the more and more time the game went on, the less and less time there would be to get on a bus, go home to Bayville and prepare for a prom that night in neighboring Monmouth County. By now, it seemed like a rush to get this game done and neither side was yielding to the other.

The Golden Eagles, who were 16-6-1 (they had a tie with Southern Regional during the season) were holding their own against the favored Red Raiders. With the top of the lineup coming up, the moment was right in the eighth inning to do something. So Slack started the inning by doing something the Golden Eagles had not done since the first inning -- get a base hit.

Duffy hit a screaming line drive -- she got a hold of the Rau delivery -- to left field. Shannon Garrity took off and made a running catch for if she didn't, Duffy and Slack could run all day. That forced Slack to scurry back to first base bringing up Wallace.

On a 1-1 pitch, Wallace hit a popup between the Ocean City dugout and the backstop. Catcher Tracy Smith backtracked and reached out just over the dugout fence to make the catch. Smith showed the ball enthusiastically and celebrated her accomplishment of a great catch over the dugout fence.

But she had a problem she totally forgot about -- there was a runner on base. And as soon as Smith caught the ball, Slack took off for second base. By the time Smith looked back to the field with her teammates and coaches screaming in her ear, it was took late. Slack safely landed at second.

Selby would tell me later, "We practice that, though it's not really a familiar play. Obviously, (Smith) did not know the ball was still in play. She made a nice play on it and while she and her teammates were celebrating, Angel took off for second."

It didn't seem like much at the moment, but it gave the next batter -- freshman talent McGowan -- a chance to knock her in. On a 2-2 pitch and after fouling off three two-strike pitches, McGowan delivered a single just out of Good's reach into right-center field, easily getting Slack to third. But when right fielder Lynn Argoe bobbled the ball, Slack headed toward the plate and easily scored the go-ahead run to make it 2-1.

Moments later, it was up to Duffy to finish things out. Three outs and the Golden Eagles were going home with the championship.

But leadoff hitter Lisa Crompton was about to make things uncomfortable. She drove a shot to the left-center field gap on the first and only truly hit hard ball of the day and didn't stop until she landed on third base with a triple. Just like that, the tying run was on base and the Golden Eagles needed to get three outs.

Smith, the catcher who forgot about the runner on base after catching that dramatic foul ball, was up next. She put down what was a safety squeeze bunt attempt. Duffy collected the ball and looked Crompton back to third base. The idea was once Crompton saw Duffy's intentions, she was to take off for home when the throw went to first base.

However, Duffy had another plan in mind. She faked the throw to first baseman Bonnie Evans and instead chased after Crompton, who had already started down the third-base line and was dead meat. Evans threw the ball to Slack, who chased Crompton to catcher Dawn Cosnoski, who got the ball and chased Crompton back to third where she threw the ball back to Slack to nail her for the all-important first out -- and the one that was closest to scoring the tying run.

Only two people I've ever covered in 36 years of high school softball have ever been successful with that fake -- I saw Michelle Carlson do that in the 1990 Ocean County Softball Tournament final for Toms River East and that successful fake by Duffy.

Still, that left Smith in scoring position at second base with one out. Dorann Foglio got under a Duffy pitch and lofted a flyball to center fielder Betty Hester for the second out of the inning. That left it up to Kristie Miller to tie things up or at least keep things going. But on a 1-2 pitch, Duffy rang her up for her ninth strikeout of the game.

And just like that, Central Regional was the unlikely South Jersey Group III champions. Teammates jumped all over Duffy and Cosnoski and after congratulating the foes they just conquered afterward, the cheers and tears began to come out of the straight-laced, businesslike Golden Eagles. 

Selby, the tough-as-nails disciplinarian of a coach, looked at the smiles and the tears and just about lost it addressing the team.

"I wish I can split both these softballs into 17 or 18 different places," he started, holding a softball in each hand and holding back tears. He gave Duffy one of the game balls for her effort that saw her allow five hits and walk five batters beside the nine strikeouts. The other game ball?

"One of these I'm keeping for myself," he said with players laughing.

Duffy was a hero in the win. So was McGowan, a freshman star in the making, who delivered both hits that drove in the Central runs. And this 15-year-old was in tears herself ... tears of joy, though.

The shy McGowan, who was more outgoing three years later when I did a feature story on her as a senior, would say, "It's been hard to be someone that is counted on. But it's worth it."

Selby said that this championship -- the second in Ocean County history after Toms River South's NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV championship in 1976 -- was for the county and not all for Central Regional, though it was a history maker at the time.

"Winning a conference title is nice and winning two Ocean County Tournament titles (at that time) is a joy, but this is the most gratifying win I've ever had," Selby said after the victory. "I think it's time Ocean County gets its due credit in softball."

The team packed up its gear and got on the bus to head back to Bayville. I tallied up my statistics and was going to head back to Toms River, but I was going to stop by the nearby Wawa that I remembered was not far from the high school heading there.

I get into the parking lot and there's Central's bus there. I saw Selby again in the store and we talked again for a few minutes about the team and how special these young ladies (again, it's what he would call the girls who played for him in his 14 years as coach) were. He said he was pleasantly surprised it would be this group that brought him he and the program's first state sectional title. He also talked about how special the ride was to take with both Garibaldi and Angellella.

Turns out the fun part of the ride was only beginning for Selby and his players. On Monday, June 2, Duffy would throw a no-hitter as Central defeated Pinelands Regional to advance to the county championship against 24-4 Toms River South. The very next day, Central would beat Hamilton East, 7-1, in the NJSIAA Group III semifinal for what would be Selby's 100th career victory. The very next day -- the third game in three days and the fourth in six days with a prom put in between, the Golden Eagles defeated Toms River South, 9-5, to win their third county tournament title.

And the following Saturday, June 7, the Golden Eagles played in the NJSIAA Group III championship game at Trenton State College (now The State Of New Jersey), but could not do anything against Pam Froehlich's fastball in a 7-0 loss to Parsippany High School.

Now as for myself, I headed back to Ocean County College that Monday and signed up for six weeks of chemistry classes. Turns out I had a better time with my beloved numbers and mixing things together in class. It also turns out that I met my first girlfriend, a senior-to-be named Mary, in that class that summer. Nonetheless, I got a B grade in the class and got my diploma about 10 days later and was off to Monmouth.

And "Sledgehammer" hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late July, one of the busiest summers I've ever been involved in during my career.

Turns out May 29, 1986 was a humbling day for me. But everything after that -- starting with the unlikely South Jersey Group III softball championship won by Central Regional -- was more than good.

The last softball waltz where I grew up

By late spring 1999, I was disillusioned.

I had come into the sports editor's position at the Ocean County Observer after working there as a correspondent and then assistant sports editor. By January 1999, I had taken over as the guy in charge of the department, the plum job you aspired to get to after 15 years. However, it was under the flag of Gannett, which had taken over from Goodson in 1998 and had us combine our efforts with our rivals of the last 100-plus years, the Asbury Park Press. So whatever it was we wrote for our publication, the exact same story would be in their publication.

I knew that was the beginning of the end of my paper and I knew it there and then, 9 1/2 years before it officially happened. We were suddenly a second-class citizen and my displeasure carried into taking the job. I had a meeting with the sports editor at the Press and he laid out what his vision for the two papers going forward was. I listened and wasn't agreeable on everything he put out there in front of me.

Let's just say I was looking for an escape route from the road to Hell. I had no problems whatsoever working with my immediate boss. It was the bosses beyond him I had issue with.

So as the 1999 spring sports season was coming to an end in Ocean County, I began to believe further and further that this was going to be it for me, the last season I was to cover in my home county for my hometown newspaper. Things were changing and they were changing for the worse. I simply had to leave.

So on Thursday, May 27, 1999, I had two county teams, Central Regional in South Jersey Group III and Jackson Memorial in South Jersey Group IV, playing for sectional championships. I chose to go down to West Deptford High School to see the iconic Central program play for its title. The Golden Eagles lost big that day. But on the way back, I heard Jackson Memorial won its first sectional title, beating Shawnee on Jessica Fiorentino's inside-the-park home run in the top of the seventh inning.

Two days later on Saturday, May 29, Jackson Memorial would win its second county tournament championship in four years by taking down Toms River East, 1-0, at Toms River High School South. It was the second time within a week, coach Al Aires' Jaguars had beaten coach Debbie Schwartz's Raiders, the first time being in the SJ IV semifinal round on that Tuesday.

The win against Shawnee meant the Jaguars earned the right to play in the NJSIAA Group IV semifinals on Tuesday, June 1, 1999 against Hunterdon Central, which was on fire, too, at 22-4. As a matter of fact, both the Jaguars and the Red Devils were 22-4 going into their matchup at Middlesex County College in Edison. There was irony in that the game was in Edison -- it was in September 1984 that the first-ever high school event I got to staff was a Sunday afternoon football game between Brick Township and East Brunswick at East Brunswick High School ... also in Middlesex County.

Somehow, I had a very strong premonition this was going to be my finale.

I knew both coaches. Obviously, for years, Aires had been head coach of the Jaguar program since 1987 and watched his program grow to this state sectional championship and two-time county winner. I also knew the opposing team's coach, too, from my years of covering high school gymnastics -- Pete Fick was the longtime head boys gymnastics coach at Hunterdon Central and I  had a number of conversations over the years with him at state championship meets, some hosted by he and his school.

Since I had never been to the Middlesex County College facility, it took me awhile to figure out where it was in an era long before GPS, Google Maps and Mapquest. We had the police department in the town to rely on, though I did have a Middlesex County map booklet to locate where I was heading toward though, admittedly, it was annoying to look at the map, look at the highway and take turns doing both until I was certain I was where I was supposed to be.

I literally got to the field as the two teams were lined up on their base lines with the national anthem playing in the backdrop, me having to scribble the lineups down from the scorekeeper for the game. The game was literally starting as I finished writing the last of the lineups down in my scorebook with hard-throwing left-hander Jenny Bender finishing up her warmup pitches.

The Jaguars made Bender work in the first inning, but within 14 pitches, Bender retired Fiorentino on a groundout, Erin Leonard on a comebacker and Toni Williams on a flyout.

Unlike Bender, Jackson pitcher Dara DeVincenzo wasn't a hard-thrower, but she was crafty with what she threw and placed around the plate. The daughter of Freehold Township High softball coach John DeVincenzo, she got a foulout and struck out Bender swinging. Lori Notaro singled to right field, but was wiped out on a forceout by Kristin Cass as shortstop Williams tossed to second baseman Fiorentino to end the inning.

The second inning was a different story for the Jaguars. Kelly Czubak singled to center field to lead off. This brought up Shannon Baldwin. On an 0-1 pitch, Baldwin hit a slow roller that got past Bender and headed for second baseman Crystal Epright. She fielded the ball, but things got complicated -- Epright was a left-handed second baseman and a right-handed second baseman could have flipped the ball easily to shortstop Katie Jenkins to get Czubak. But having to twist even the slightest bit to make the play at second took a few valuable milliseconds and Czubak beat the play to second.

The Jaguars had two on with no one out. And after Cheryl Fossati walked on four pitches, the bases were loaded and a run, maybe two coming across in this major point of the game was all but inevitable. However, the bottom of the Jaguars' lineup was coming up and Bender was about to change the Jaguars' hopes. She caught No. 7 hitter Tara Bailey looking on strikes for the first out. Then she wiped out DeVincenzo swinging on the same 1-2 count. This left it to Casey Bartolf. But on a 1-0 pitch, Bartolf grounded out to Epright, who made the play to first with ease.

Fick clapped and cheered the girls back to their dugout. Aires jogged back dismayed by the lost opportunity.

DeVincenzo had a 1-2-3 bottom of the second. Then the Jaguars had another potential threat in the third. Fiorentino led off with a walk. Leonard grounded out to first baseman Dayna Egan, but on the play, Fiorentino moved into scoring position at second. Bender got Williams to fly out to right fielder Annie O'Keeffe for the second out, setting up the most important moment of the game.

On a 2-1 count, Aires had Fiorentino stealing with Czubak at the plate. Notaro's throw to third base bounced past shortstop Jenkins covering the bag with third baseman Nicole Gacos playing up. The ball skipped into left field and it looked like Fiorentino was on her way to the plate.

But with Jenkins arriving the same time as the ball being thrown toward third and Fiorentino arriving at the base, things got messy. Fiorentino tripped over Jenkins' feet after sliding in to third and she stumbled to the ground. Left fielder Cass retrieved the ball quickly and got the ball back to the infield. Fiorentino was forced to hold at third and Aires was a tad bit upset that no interference was called on the play.

Was the play interference? I say it was close. Everything happened in such a flash -- and both were trying to do something after the ball got by Jenkins. By the letter of the rule, it probably should have been ruled interference and Fiorentino should have been allowed to continue home with the run automatically. Turns out it was a huge play for a few pitches later, Czubak grounded out to Egan.

Another opportunity wasted.

In the bottom of the third, Allison Pricer beat out an infield single and was sacrificed to second, but a flyout by Epright and a comebacker by Bender ended that threat.

The fourth inning saw Jackson Memorial strand Fossati at first after a one-out walk. The bottom of the fourth got a bit contentious when Cass doubled to left field with one out. Gacos walked, but DeVincenzo struck out Egan for the second time and O'Keeffe forced out Gacos as Williams tossed to Fiorentino to end the inning.

The fifth went by quickly as Bender set the Jaguars down in order and Pricer's leadoff single in the fifth was wasted by a strikeout by Sarno and a popout and lineout by Epright and Bender, in order, both going to Williams ended the inning.

With two outs in the sixth, Baldwin walked and moved to second on a wild pitch, another possible threat for the Jaguars. But just like she did all afternoon, Bender was able to bear down in the circle and got Fossati on a comebacker. In the bottom of the inning, Cass reached on an infield single and got to second on a sacrifice, but Egan flied out to right fielder Fossati to end the frame.

The game was flying fast, but the more the zeros got put up on the scoreboard, the less time I had to beat the ridiculous 11 p.m. deadline that our newspaper neighbors to the north slapped on us almost immediately after the company made the sale official on July 7, 1998. I had over an hour to get back to work, write my story, then layout my pages on a system I still had trouble understanding since the company took us off our reliable systems we worked on for years that May 17 ... just another reason to want to check out of what I slowly started calling Club Clusterf*ck.

Meanwhile, Bender was still going strong. She got two groundouts and a strikeout of the bottom three hitters in the Jaguars' lineup in the top of the seventh. Not to be outdone, though, DeVincenzo got a popout, flyout and strikeout of the bottom of the Red Devils' lineup to send the game to extra innings as the sun was sinking a little further and I was looking at my watch a little more with each passing half-inning. Good thing this game started at 3 p.m. instead of 4 p.m.

With one out in the top of the eighth, Leonard sharply singled to left field. After Williams grounded out to move Leonard to second, Czubak won an eight-pitch at-bat by walking, putting runners on first and second. But Bender found the little extra and fouled out to Gacos to end the last big threat the Jaguars had.

Onto the bottom of the eighth. Epright led off. She hit a grounder to third baseman Bailey, who bobbled the grounder for an error. It would turn out to be the only error of the game, but it set the tone for what was to happen next. Bender singled to right field to move Epright to second base. Notaro put down a perfect sacrifice bunt that DeVincenzo fielded and threw on to first baseman Michelle Goldych for the out.

With the open base at first and the game on the verge of ending, Aires instructed DeVincenzo to throw four wide ones to intentionally walk Cass, who had singled and doubled. That brought up Gacos, who was 0-for-1 with a walk and sacrifice. Aires had his middle infielders move in as well as his outfielders. Gacos didn't waste time -- on the first pitch, she hit a low line drive that right fielder Fossati came charging in for.

The ball bounced in front of Fossati, but that was just the start of things getting entertaining. Having to wait for the ball to fall in, Epright took off for the plate. Fossati was able to get the ball and make a throw to Leonard at the plate. For a moment, it looked as if Fossati and Leonard had gotten Epright for a forceout.

The home plate umpire made the "safe" call instead. And once again, Aires came charging out from his position and argued the call at the plate, asking for help. But it was to no avail.

Hunterdon Central 1, Jackson Memorial 0. Just like that, it was over. The careers of Fossati, utility player Erica Meyer and Leonard, the best athlete in Ocean County, came to an end. I can still remember asking Leonard if she thought they had gotten Epright at the plate on the bang-bang play.

"I knew I had my foot on the plate, but the umpire said (Epright) had got in," she said.

In this pitcher's duel, Bender was wildly effectively with five walks and five strikeouts. She allowed just the hits to Czubak and Leonard. DeVincenzo scattered seven hits in allowing the one unearned run, walked just the one batter intentionally in the eighth and struck out five.

Both pitchers had done their job. It came down to who would take advantage of the other team's gift. It was the error by Bailey that eventually led to that one run in the eighth inning.

I left the college, found my way back to Route 9 and ended up getting back to work by 6:45 p.m., writing my story for our paper first, then for the Press, and then laying out my section. On Friday, July 30, 1999, I flew down to Key West, interviewed with my former Observer editor in chief, Steve Sosinski, and a day later, I took the job as sports editor at the Key West Citizen. I worked my final day at the Observer on Sunday, August 15, 1999, glad that the end came of a short, six-and-a-half-month stint as sports editor ... the plum job that turned out to be nothing more than rotten fruit.

Four days later after that game at Middlesex County College, Hunterdon Central would beat hard-throwing pitcher Michele Walker and Paramus High in the state 4A championship at Toms River East for Fick's first state title as the program's head coach. He eventually stepped down after the 2012 season, winning 741 games in his career.

Aires remained head coach with the Jaguars until 2006 when he finished a 20-year career to become Jackson Memorial athletic director, and then an administrator at another Jackson-based school.

I won't forget that '99 Jackson Memorial and players like DeVincenzo, Williams, Fiorentino, Fossati and especially Leonard, who would say of her time as a four-year varsity member of the team and move on to Caldwell. She said, "I'll always remember the togetherness and how we won as a team and that it's not one or two people that carried the team."

Yeah, 22-5 wasn't bad. To this day, I believe the Jaguars would have figured out a way to get to Walker and Paramus and win the state title. But like so many other times I watched before or after that 1-0 loss, I was left with "What if?"

That Jackson Memorial-Hunterdon Central game would be the last high school game of any sport I would cover for the Observer.

Turns out it was a heck of a way to end my career in covering high school sports there .. even if it was a loss for the team I covered.

Remembering Earle

Long enough time has passed since I lost one of my first sports colleagues from my first real job, the Ocean County Observer, on May 21, 2020, at the age of 65, cancer taking him away from us.

Well, not all of it has been spent in deep thought -- during these days that the COVID-19 pandemic has sidelined those with jobs, I'm still having to do mine at my current employer, the Palatka Daily News, while playing radio hero one hour each morning, five hours a day, at another outlet. So I've been a bit busy and there are chores that need to be done, too.

But I'm prepared. Or at least I think I am.

Was John Earle Livingston the best sports writer I ever came across in my lifetime? No. I've come across numerous award-winning sports writers in my career who I admire for their work. But was Earle the most colorful writer I ever came across? That one is a resounding, "Yes." Before you could get into the first two or three paragraphs of the story, he had painted a picture so vivid that you were already there.

Of course, he painted it for you without giving you much of the "what actually happened" detail. Many an editor I worked for -- Ken, Mike, Al, Tom, Greg, Dave, even me -- were driven nuts by his storytelling from a journalistic aspect. Even if you told Earle yourself that the story might be a tad bit better if you had kinda, sorta put the main details in those first three paragraphs as they taught you in journalism school, it would've been fruitless.

Earle painted pictures without "who, what, when, where and why within 90 words" journalistic rules. That was not his style. If you tried to ruin what he had painted for public consumption because journalism meant everything, all you were doing in the process was ruining what local wrestling and football fans looked at was the latest Monet, Picasso, Rembrandt or Van Gogh.

Again, he drove us editors crazy!!

Still, the truth was no one was more passionate about the sports he reported on in all my career than John Earle Livingston. And he saved his best for wrestling. Every year during my 15 winters at the Observer and in years before and after I wasn't there, Earle would regale the viewing audience with match stories and previews that made you sit up and read. even if you weren't a wrestling fan. He knew everything about the good wrestler as well as the future state champion like Damian Hahn of Lakewood or Maurice Worthy of Central Regional or Bobby Martin from Brick Memorial.

Earle knew 'em all. A key matchup involving an Ocean County team could be broken down individual match by individual match. Those 13 or 14 individual matches were dissected like a high school biology class frog. Many times, he was correct. And if he couldn't be at a match himself, you could almost be assured he would have had something in a roundup he took from a phone conversation that made it sound like he was there, sometimes making you believe he was at two matches at the same time if he was covering a match himself.

As for myself, I had a very good working knowledge of wrestling going into the paper. I went to Toms River High School East -- we had a kick-ass wrestling program that included standouts such as Joe Hadge, Denis Thesing, Chris Sierchio and Eric Priest, coached by a great coach and one of the nicer people you will ever come across, Warren Reid. My parents regularly went to East wrestling matches because they knew people in our Georgetown neighborhood who wrestled for the Raiders. It was second nature, really.

My first year at the newspaper had me covering a couple of wrestling matches, but they weren't of "great" note compared to what Earle got to cover. I didn't know the technicalities of the sport like he did, but I did know how to describe the action to Earle for which he could understand -- and that would be the tone of our conversations for years until I got to become an assistant sports editor and had my own girls basketball beat to cover in 1993, which kept me away from wrestling.

And if I had anything to ask about a certain match he was at, Earle would explain it as if I was there. If I close my eyes now, I can still hear him that first winter explain how Brick Memorial's Dean Kanabrocki caught Toms River East's Tim Rioux in the right position with a memorable bear hug, would not let him go and eventually pinned him in the heavyweight class to score Brick Memorial's memorable first Shore Conference Tournament championship over East. Ultimately, I saw Clear Cable-8's replay of the match ... yup, exactly how Earle described it.

There were other matches along the way he wanted to know about that I covered -- that February night in 1986 when Lacey stunned host Point Pleasant Boro in the Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinals or the night in February 1987 when defending state Group III champion Brick Memorial lost to coach Ralph Ross' Highland Regional Tartans in Blackwood and how the place became a near-riot when Tod Narwid took his Highland opponent down hard and eventually got disqualified for a slam that I personally thought the kid was not hurt enough to stop wrestling. Narwid was dominating him and if he won, there was no doubt Brick Memorial would have won that match. I can still hear coach Tony Caravella's voice cracking to the point of near soprano as he broke into tears over the loss and slammed the locker room door behind him to have to deal with his unhappy Mustangs wrestlers.

Earle knew the nuances of the world of wrestling because he, too, was a wrestler back in the day at Toms River High School North for the legendary John Nemetz. Wrestling wasn't just a sport Earle wrote about ... it was a way of life, too, though his other way of life were both the Seaside Heights boardwalk stands and memorabilia businesses he owned.

And it's because of that passion and love he won many over as fans. It also made it easier for the wrestling coaches to warm up to the non-wrestling writers. Some of my favorite coaches over the years were Ed Gilmore at Point Boro, Mike Baldi at Toms River North, Al Aires at Jackson Memorial, the late Don Burstein at Lacey, Steve Sasse at Point Pleasant Beach, Bill Savage at Pinelands Regional as well as the venerable Warren Reid and Tony Caravella.

Was I as passionate about covering wrestling as Earle? Hell, no! I did it, though, because it was a continuing growing sport, even though a boys basketball match between Lakewood and CBA or Lakewood against anyone was more appealing. But knowing Earle could tell you things you needed to know before you headed out to a wrestling match made it that much easier to cover.

Individual stories about Earle? Well, I have three in particular.

The first one came at the NJSIAA wrestling championships in 1987 at Jadwin Gymnasium. I was at the Dillon Pool facility on the Princeton University campus that March 14 to see if Toms River South standout swimmer Terence Donnelly could win a state championship in either the 50 or the 100. He did not, but he got a medal for his efforts. When I got done dictating my story to Chris Christopher, our fastest typist in the sports department, I headed over to where the state wrestling championships were. I had my press pass so I could easily walk in and find my way to press row. I found Earle. He was getting into each match, so I found a spot sitting next to him. For the next hour, he was going over what each individual wrestler was doing right and wrong with me or anyone else willing to listen -- whether he was an area wrestler or not. You could get a quick education listening to Earle talk about these wrestlers.

The second one came in a more contentious time for us at the paper. It was February 1993. Pinelands Regional High School had some big-time wrestlers who suddenly weren't on the lineup sheet for the district tournament. Earle, obviously, was inquisitive. He pressed Savage on the matter. Most coaches wouldn't pry the "real" reason out of themselves for protection purposes. But Bill Savage was not one to hold back. Turns out, he told Earle that those wrestlers had been suspended for an incident involving the egging of another coach's car at the school. Earle reported what Savage told him. Let's just say that time was not fun because Savage spent an entire day having to explain himself to higher-ups for his comments in the paper and, to top that, the once-affable athletic director at the school refused to talk to any of us in the sports department ever again. I know, I know ... what a freakin' cry baby! But Earle had no fear to report something that involved a key member or members of the team, good or bad. He proved his worth.

The last of the three came in a more sentimental time. Now I was not around Toms River at the time -- I was up in Bristol, Conn., covering the Toms River East American Little League All-Stars ride to the East Region championship and ultimately, their first trip to the Little League World Series in 1995. It was during this trip to Bristol that two iconic figures of a generation or two ago -- baseball star Mickey Mantle and Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia -- passed away. Mickey Mantle died on a Sunday morning, August 13, 1995. Earle was working his boardwalk stand that morning in Seaside Heights and one of his young workers at the stand, a young lady who had just graduated from North named Renee Larson, has no idea who Mickey Mantle was when he brought up his death to her. He had to take initiative -- after he got done with his work at the stands, he headed over to the paper's 8 Robbins Street location and told our boss, Mike Lazorchak, he wanted to write a column on Mickey Mantle and who he was to a generation of kids growing up. And so Mike gave him the green light to do so.

It was, in my opinion, the best column Earle ever wrote.

As the assistant sports editor from 1993-99, then sports editor for the last winter I was there, I understood the frustration of other editors before me who had to deal with Earle's personal touch in writing stories. The one thing I could never understand was the three-dot statement in his stories -- the ..., which drove me crazy! The ellipsis, I came to find out, meant leaving a word or a whole phrase or sentence out of the text of the story. It left me wondering what the heck else Earle had to say in his story that was missing.

But years later, I came to appreciate that three-dot interlude. Now ... because of Earle ... I regularly use the ellipsis in stories and on my Facebook page. It's ... helpful.

So there! There's the Earle influence on me journalistic-wise! I can't paint pictures in five or six paragraphs to start a story like he did, but hey, I can take something from him!

The only times I saw Earle after I left the Observer in the summer of 1999 would be at either his boardwalk stands or in the Ocean County Mall at his sports souvenir and memorabilia kiosk. In 2003, he, my former boss, Al Ditzel, and photographer, Pete Picknally at the paper, and some others went to what was the final opening day at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia between the Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates during the time I was in between my jobs in Key West and Palatka. It was 43 degrees that day. God, it was cold!

The last time I saw Earle was the Summer of 2014 while I was up in Toms River for my 30th class reunion and got to see my old Little League, Toms River, win a state championship. It was just a passing "Hi!" and to catch up on things.

And so with his passing, so much thought comes to mind. I think to my former Observer compatriot, Steve Falk, who has taken what Earle passed down to him in my later years at the paper, and run with the wrestling baton as the main man in covering that sport at the Asbury Park Press. And believe Steve when he said how much he hated wrestling -- I was there to hear it back then!

Wrestling was already a top sport in Ocean County, the Shore area, the state of New Jersey when Earle began writing about it in 1983 -- he helped elevate it to a point no one had seen it, especially in a time period when the newspaper was the only way to find out how matches went in detail if you could not be there yourself. And if you were there, you just wanted to read Earle's take on the match just to see if he and you were thinking the same thing about that match and its key moments.

Being at the Observer was a lot of work, but I could not have picked a better time to be working at the newspaper, which I did from 1984-99. We elevated all local high school and college sports to a new level not quite seen before. But no sport in Ocean County got elevated the way wrestling was.

That was all Earle, colorful writing and all, even if it took him a number of paragraphs to get to the main point.

R.I.P. Earle. It was always knowledgeable what you wrote ... entertaining, too.

Ranking the 51 Super Bowls

Hard to believe that what once was an idea to unite the two professional football leagues with a game that carried a bulky name to it has been played 51 times.

It's hard to do anything 51 times these days, let alone doing them once a year every 51 years. But the game once called "The AFL-NFL Championship Game" has been edited down to the name we know it by and celebrate every time it happens -- the Super Bowl.

Some even ask to make it a national holiday. That's how big it's become.

And in honor of the previous 51 games played and with No. 52 (that's Roman numeral LII), I thought it was a good time to take the first 51 games and rank them in order of worst to first. There once was a period there were the game was a clunker. But there are games that are just beyond explanation. Those games -- and the clunkers for that matter -- I will do my best to rank and describe. Like most countdown lists, there's always debate. Feel free to do that.

Without further adieu, here those rankings are:

51. Super Bowl XXVII (Dallas 52, Buffalo 17, January 31, 1993, The Rose Bowl)

All of these young and hungry Dallas Cowboys didn't look like scared puppies when they walked into the Rose Bowl against the two-time runners-up Buffalo Bills at the Rose Bowl. And when a brutal hit on a sack by Charles Haley leveled quarterback Jim Kelly, allowing Jimmie Jones to score a touchdown on the fumble recovery in the end zone, the beginning of the end was starting to take place for the Bills ... once again. Kelly would get hammered on a sack by Ken Norton Jr., meaning backup Frank Reich would come into the game. And Reich would get more of that same beating from the Cowboys' defense. Meanwhile, Troy Aikman would have a day to remember. The MVP of the game went 22-of-30 for 273 yards and four touchdowns, two to Michael Irvin and one each to Jay Novacek and Alvin Harper. The Cowboys -- a 1-15 team just three years earlier -- would run up 408 yards of offense and cause the Bills to fumble the ball an inexcusable nine times, a Super Bowl record, another of them being a Norton return of a fumble in the fourth quarter. And it looked as if another fumble would establish the Super Bowl record for most points in the game as Leon Lett took said fumble down the sideline for what should've been a touchdown except as he was about to move his hand with the ball over the goal line, Bills wide receiver Don Beebe hustled back to knock the ball away and out of the end zone for a touchback, one of the few highlights of the day for the Bills.

50. Super Bowl XII (Dallas 27, Denver 10, January 15, 1978, The Louisiana Superdome)

And the maddening thing about this particular game is the fact the Denver Broncos defense did everything it could to keep them in the game that night. The three touchdowns the Broncos gave up included two long passes, one thrown by Cowboys running back Robert Newsome to Golden Richards. Unfortunately, quarterback Craig Morton did everything he could to help his old teammates in Dallas. Morton was a putrid 4-of-15 passing for 39 yards and threw as many interceptions as he did receptions. Yeah, he was really bad. On the other hand, Roger Staubach was 17-of-25 passing for 183 yards and a long touchdown bomb to wrap up the deal to Butch Johnson. The MVP was split among Harvey Martin and Randy White, who spearheaded Dallas' defense to make Morton and the Broncos' night miserable by making them cough the ball up eight times. Eight! Morton's night was so bad that coach Red Miller pulled him in the third quarter and the lone Broncos score was a touchdown drive engineered by backup Norris Weese.

49. Super Bowl 50 (Denver 24, Carolina 10, February 7, 2016, Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, Calif.)

Here's all you have to know about this Super Bowl: There were only three touchdowns scored in this game, one came on a fumble recovery in the end zone, another coming off a turnover that led to a 4-yard, three-play drive that clinched the Broncos' third championship. Von Miller was the deserving MVP of the game, leading a Broncos defense that made regular-season MVP and Panthers quarterback Cam Newton look like he wanted to go back to the locker room and hide, sacking him seven times. Newton may have thrown for 265 yards, but he was 18-of-41 in doing that and threw an interception and fumbled the ball off a Miller sack that led to Malik Jackson landing on it for the touchdown. Still, if you think the losing quarterback's performance wasn't hot, the winning quarterback's performance was satisfactory at best. In what would be his final NFL game, Peyton Manning did an OK job in leading the Broncos to three field goals and finally a touchdown drive -- albeit, three plays, four yards after another Newton fumble that his defense picked up. C.J. Anderson scored the touchdown and Manning's last hurrah was a 2-point conversion throw to Bennie Fowler. Manning was 13-of-23 passing for 141 yards and an interception, far from the guy who lit defenses up his entire career. The defense saved the day in what turned into nothing more than a defensive tug of war and yawn-fest.

48. Super Bowl XXIV (San Francisco 55, Denver 10, January 28, 1990, The Louisiana Superdome)

Sure, it feels like we're picking on the Denver Broncos, win or lose, but boy did they get involved in some bad Super Bowls. And this one was a soul-crusher. After being there two of the previous three years, John Elway and Co. won the AFC Championship and had the right to meet the defending champion and NFC juggernaut San Francisco 49ers. Let's say it didn't go too well: David Treadwell's field goal was sandwiched in between Joe Montana touchdowns to Jerry Rice and Brett Jones and a Tom Rathman 1-yard plunge, giving the 49ers a 27-3 halftime lead. If you weren't sure the game was over at the half, Montana made sure it was in the third quarter with two more hook-up TDs to Rice and John Taylor. Add in TD runs by Rathman and Roger Craig in the fourth quarter, you have the laugher of all Super Bowl routs, so bad that even The Simpsons mocked the game in one of their episodes. Montana finished 22-of-29 for 297 yards and five TDs to easily win MVP honors as the 49ers rolled up 461 yards, while the Broncos mustered 167 as a team and turned it over four times.

47. Super Bowl VIII (Miami 24, Minnesota 7, January 13, 1974, Houston Bowl)

If not for the fact that game MVP Larry Csonka rushed for 145 yards on 33 carries and scored on touchdown runs of 5 and 2 yards, nobody would even remember this game unless you are the most die-hard Dolphins fan there is around. The Dolphins, coming in as defending champions, methodically made life miserable on Minnesota's vaunted Purple People Eater defense and made things uncomfortable for quarterback Fran Tarkenton, who they sacked twice and forced an interception. Tarkenton did scramble for a fourth-quarter touchdown, but by then, the Vikings were down 24-0 in the fourth quarter. As seemingly was heard when the Vikings got to this particular game four times in the '70s, "Thanks for coming."

46. Super Bowl XXVI (Washington 37, Buffalo 24, January 26, 1992, The Minnesota Metrodome)

When the one thing you remember from this particular game was running back Thurman Thomas misplacing his helmet as his Buffalo Bills took the field to open up on offense, you know it's a bad game. And it was a bad day for the Bills, who found themselves down 24-0 early in the third quarter and started realizing they weren't going to come back and win. By the time Scott Norwood kicked a field goal and Thomas scored on a run, they were down 24-10. And all Washington did was add a 30-yard TD pass form MVP Mark Rypien to Gary Clark and two Chip Lohmiller field goals before the Bills answered with beautiful window dressing at the end on two TDs. The Bills actually had more first downs (25) than Washington (24), but Jim Kelly probably needed a month or two to rest his arm after throwing 58 passes with four of them getting intercepted. Buffalo turned the ball over five times.

45. Super Bowl IX (Pittsburgh 16, Minnesota 6, January 12, 1975, Tulane Stadium)

The beginning of what would be the Steeler Curtain defensive dynasty. Pittsburgh's defense was dominant on this day and it had to be -- the Vikings' Purple People Eaters were up to the challenge against Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw and the rest of the offense. The Steelers provided the only offensive scores of the game with Franco Harris scoring on a 9-yard run and Larry Brown catching a 4-yard score from Bradshaw. That touchdown had been ruled originally a fumble and recovered by the Vikings, but after the officials talked things over, it was ruled a score instead. Otherwise, it was yet another horror show for Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton, who was 11-of-26 passing for 102 yards and three interceptions and was sacked in the end zone in the first quarter by Dwight White for a safety. The lone Vikings score? That came after big Matt Blair, a linebacker and punt-block specialist, blocked a punt and Terry Brown recovered it in the end zone, making it 9-6 at the time after Fred Cox missed the extra-point kick. Even with all that terrific play defensively, it was Harris who earned the MVP honor with 158 yards on 34 carries, which proved once again you could run on the Vikings defense when you needed to.

44. Super Bowl XXIX (San Francisco 49, San Diego 26, January 29, 1995, Joe Robbie Stadium)

The record performances in this game amazed, especially game MVP Steve Young throwing for six touchdowns, breaking the mark of five set five years earlier by former teammate Joe Montana. And though the first-time Bowl competitor San Diego Chargers knew what to expect from two weeks of watching film, they still couldn't stop the 49ers on offense. And just 1:24 into the game, Young unloaded with a perfect down-and-out strike to Jerry Rice for a 44-yard TD score. Just 2:29 later, Ricky Watters scored the first of his three touchdowns when he turned a screen pass into a 51-yard score. Natrone Means made it close early on with a Chargers touchdown run of one yard, but short  TD passes from Young to William Floyd and Watters made it 28-10. And it got worse from there as Watters scored on a run and Young threw two more TD strikes to Rice to finish out a 24-of-36 night for 325 yards, while also running for 49 yards. The only thing the Chargers gave us in the end: Two 2-point conversion passes by Stan Humphries, the first two 2-point conversions in Super Bowl history.

43. Super Bowl XLI (Indianapolis 29, Chicago 17, February 4, 2007, Pro Player Stadium)

Here's a Super Bowl that Peyton Manning won for the first time. But it was awfully hard to watch this game, especially with a South Florida driving rainstorm throughout the second half. If the only thing you remember from this game is Prince's memorable halftime musical performance, we all understand. Devin Hester, a South Florida native from Riviera Beach, got the game going in the right direction with a 92-yard kickoff return score to start it off. And after Manning connected with Reggie Wayne for a touchdown, the Chicago Bears answered back with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Rex Grossman to Muhsin Muhammed to take a 14-6 lead after one quarter. That's when the Colts kicked in and the Bears went into hibernation the rest of the night. An Adam Vinatieri field goal and Dominic Rhodes touchdown run gave the Colts a 16-14 halftime lead. And the second half in that horrible rainstorm was no better with Vinatieri kicking two field goals and Kelvin Hayden intercepting a Grossman wounded duck and returning it 56 yards to seal the deal for the Colts and coach Tony Dungy, the first African-American to win a Super Bowl.

42. Super Bowl XXXV (Baltimore 34, N.Y. Giants 7, January 28, 2001, Raymond James Stadium)

The Baltimore Ravens flexed some mean muscle when the postseason began. Relegated to a wild card, they stormed to the Super Bowl with an impressive defensive effort against the Oakland Raiders in the AFC Championship. No one suspected they could do the same thing to quarterback Kerry Collins and the New York Giants, right? Apparently the Giants didn't think about preparing for the Ravens all that well. The Ravens defense treated Collins like he stole something from it. Collins was 15-of-39 passing with four interceptions. The only touchdown the Giants would get (they had a Jessie Armstead 43-yard interception return for a TD nullified early in the game by a defensive holding call) would be on special teams as Rod Dixon returned a kickoff 97 yards for a score. But the Giants couldn't even celebrate that! A moment later, Jermaine Lewis took the kickoff after the scoring return and brought it back 84 yards for a touchdown to give the Ravens a 24-7 lead. Collins would be sacked four times and the Giants would end up turning the ball over five times, one of those a Duane Starks interception for a 49-yard touchdown. Jamal Lewis would rush for 102 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown to seal the deal. Ray Lewis, who grew up in Lakeland, just an hour away from where the game was played in Tampa, sealed his MVP honor with three solo tackles, two assists and four blocked passes.

41. Super Bowl II (Green Bay 33, Oakland 14, January 14, 1968, Orange Bowl)

The NFL kept thumbing its nose at the AFL because between the two leagues, it had the dominant team in the business with Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers. After surviving the minus-15 degree conditions to beat the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL title game, they took on the AFL champion Oakland Raiders. Two Don Chandler field goals would be followed by a 62-yard TD strike from game MVP Bart Starr to Boyd Dowler, making it 13-0. Daryle Lamonica connected with Bill Miller for a 23-yard score before the break, making it 13-7. But the Packers ... well they were the Packers. And they leveled their will on the Raiders in the second half with two more Chandler field goals, a Donny Anderson 2-yard run and a 62-yard interception return by Herb Adderley to seal the deal. Lamonica and Miller connected for another 23-yard TD score in the fourth, but by then the Packers began celebrating Lombardi's going-away game ... and smirking at the AFL, wondering if there ever would be a team that would challenge for a championship.

40. Super Bowl V (Baltimore 16, Dallas 13, January 17, 1971, Orange Bowl)

The game itself was a nail-biter. But it was far from poetry. In what may be the sloppiest Super Bowl ever, the two combatants soiled themselves to the tune of 11 turnovers. And the Baltimore Colts had to play most of the game with backup Earl Morrall after starter Johnny Unitas was knocked out with a rib injury. And yet, the game was filled with exciting "moments," mostly John Mackey's 75-yard touchdown catch that scraped off the hands of Baltimore's Eddie Hinton and Dallas' Mel Renfro before being pulled in by the Hall of Fame tight end or defender Mike Curtis punching the ball out of Dallas running back Duane Thomas' hands as he was going in for a touchdown. In the end, though, a high pass from Dallas quarterback Craig Morton to running back Dan Reeves bounced off Reeves' hands and into the arms of Curtis with 57 seconds left in a tie game. The Colts ran two plays before rookie kicker Jim O'Brien was summoned to kick the game-winning 32-yard field goal with five seconds to go, giving the Colts their first title in a memorable game filled with sloppy, unmemorable moments. It's the only Super Bowl to this day where the losing team had the MVP (Cowboys linebacker Chuck Howley).

39. Super Bowl XXXVII (Tampa Bay 48, Oakland 21, January 26, 2003, Qualcomm Stadium)

Rich Gannon was the league's Most Valuable Player for the Oakland Raiders in 2002. He couldn't do any wrong and the Raiders were back in their first Super Bowl in 19 years, a joyous occasion, right? Well, unfortunately for Gannon, he came up against the one coach whose defense was confident enough to stop him. And that coach was Jon Gruden, who happened to be the Raiders' coach for four seasons. Simeon Rice's early sack of Gannon in Bucs territory was key to limiting the Raiders to a Sebastian Janikowski field goal. After that, Gannon got nothing the rest of the first half. A pair of Martin Gramatica field goals make it a 6-3 lead, then a touchdown run by Mike Alstott and a touchdown pass from Brad Johnson to Keenan McCardell gave the Bucs a 20-3 halftime lead. And then it got worse as Gannon got picked off three times in the second half, and all of them, two by Dwight Smith and one by Derrick Brooks, would be returned for touchdowns. McCardell would catch another touchdown pass to complete the rout. Gannon would get touchdown passes to Jerry Porter and Jerry Rice, but had to suffer the indignity of a 24-for-44 day passing for 272 yards and five interceptions, very un-MVP like.

38. Super Bowl XLVII (Seattle 43, Denver 8, February 1, 2014, Met Life Stadium)

This would be the first time a Super Bowl would be held outdoors in a northern climate, which should have favored the high-flying offense of Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos. Nope! On this day, Seattle's defense of head coach Pete Carroll and coordinator Dan Quinn ruled the day. The game had disaster written all over it when center Manny Ramirez misunderstood Manning's snap count, fired the ball back too soon and New Jersey native Knowshon Moreno had to sit on the ball in the end zone for a safety and a 2-0 lead. Two Seahawks field goals would be followed by a Marshawn Lynch 1-yard scoring run, then the play of the night as Malcolm Smith took a deflected Manning pass out of the air and rumbled 69 yards for the touchdown to make it 22-0 at the half. And if you weren't sure this game was over, Percy Harvin sure did by taking the opening kickoff of the second half 87 yards for a touchdown to make it 29-0. It became 36-0 on a Russell Wilson touchdown pass to Jermaine Kearse. The Seahawks' "Legion Of Boom" defense made life rough on the Broncos this day as Manning couldn't get anything going until a fourth-quarter TD pass to Demaryius Thomas. But Doug Baldwin's TD catch sealed the deal in what was a terrible game to watch unless you were a Seahawks fan and loved their defense.

37. Super Bowl XX (Chicago 46, New England 10, January 26, 1986, The Louisiana Superdome)

They had the swag. They had the celebrities. They had that "Shuffle" song and video. The only thing left for the Chicago Bears to do was win the Super Bowl. And they did. And they destroyed a New England Patriots team that was happy to be there after they upset both the Oakland Raiders and Miami Dolphins in the AFC playoffs to reach the big game. Tony Franklin gave the Patriots a 3-0 lead with a field goal ... and then the Bears scored the next 44 points. Quarterback Jim McMahon scored two touchdowns, running back Matt Suhey had a TD run, Reggie Phillips intercepted backup quarterback Steve Grogan and returned it for a 28-yard touchdown and to add insult to injury, defensive lineman William "The Refrigerator" Perry got to score a touchdown on a 1-yard plunge. About the only thing the Bears did wrong was never allow legendary running back Walter Payton a chance to score in the game. Seemed like everyone else did. Both coach Mike Ditka and defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan were carried off the shoulders of their players and the '85 Bears were legends forever.

36. Super Bowl XIX (San Francisco 38, Miami 16, January 20, 1985, Stanford Stadium)

Dolphins QB Dan  Marino had rung up a record 5,084 yards passing and was the darling of the 1984 season. That, still, wasn't impressive to 49ers players, especially the defense, which "contained" Marino to 318 yards passing on 29-of-50 accuracy and two interceptions. The one touchdown -- a 2-yarder to tight end Dan Johnson. As for the "other" QB in the game, MVP Joe Montana would go 24-of-35 passing for 331 yards and three TDs, two to running back Roger Craig, one to Carl Monroe. Montana and Craig would score rushing touchdowns. The 49ers defense held Marino and the Dolphins to as many points as you and I scored that day in the second half -- zero. Marino may have been all the rage in '84, but the 18-1 49ers were the team of that season.

35. Super Bowl XI (Oakland 33, Minnesota 14, January 9, 1977, The Rose Bowl)

The victory in this Super Bowl was the coronation of one of the greatest seasons in NFL history by one of the flagship franchises ever produced. Arguably the most talented Raiders team of all-time (with a group of players that seemed to come from the swash-buckling pirate days of yore), the Raiders went 16-1 and capped the season by thoroughly dominating a Minnesota Vikings team that had seen this script had gone before in three Super Bowls. This, as they say, was a thorough whippin': Fran Tarkenton was 17-of-35 passing and threw two interceptions, the last sent back 75 yards by "Ol' Man" Willie Brown to all but lock up the Raiders' first Bowl title. Ken Stabler didn't have to have a dominant game, just an efficient one. He was 12-of-19 for 180 yards passing and a touchdown pass to ol' reliable Dave Casper. The MVP? That went to receiver Fred Biletnikoff, who caught four passes for 79 yards, even though he never scored. And somewhere, Sammy White is having nightmares of his helmet being knocked off by Jack Tatum.

34. Super Bowl VI (Dallas 24, Miami 3, January 16, 1972, Tulane Bowl)

Everything about this one was bad for the Miami Dolphins, from the weather (a chilly 39 degrees) to the offensive effort to the Dallas Cowboys' efficiency. Now the fulltime starting quarterback for the Cowboys, game MVP Roger Staubach was 12-of-19 passing for 112 yards and two touchdowns, both by players whose star had come and gone, one to wide receiver Lance Alworth, the other to tight end Mike Ditka, both of seven yards. Duane Thomas rushed for 95 yards and a TD. The Dallas defense made a mature Miami team look like rookies as the Dolphins became the first and only team to not score a touchdown in a Super Bowl, held to just a Garo Yepremian field goal before halftime and relegated to a lowlight 29-yard sack by the great Bob Lilly of Bob Griese. But as Griese would tell yours truly 36 years later, that loss would be the motivator for what would turn out to be a 17-0 season in '72.

33. Super Bowl XL (Pittsburgh 21, Seattle 10, February 5, 2006, Ford Field)

It's a Super Bowl that may be remembered more for some of the questionable calls made by officials, including one on Ben Roethlisberger's 1-yard sneak that replay officials had to rule a touchdown just after the two-minute warning to give the Pittsburgh Steelers a 7-3 lead over the first-time Bowl participant Seattle Seahawks of coach Mike Holmgren. Willie Parker's 75-yard touchdown run gave the Steelers a 14-3 lead, but QB Matt Hasselbeck wasn't going to give the Steelers an easy run to a title. He fired a 16-yard TD pass to Jeramy Stevens to cut the lead to 14-10 going to the fourth quarter and giving Seahawks fans hope. But in one trick play, those hopes faded away as game MVP and wide receiver Hines Ward took an end around from Roethlisberger, then fired a 43-yard strike to Antwaan Randle-El. It would be the first and only Super Bowl championships for coach Bill Cowher and for running back Jerome Bettis, who would retire a championship in his home town of Detroit.

32. Super Bowl I (Green Bay 35, Kansas City 10, January 15, 1967, L.A. Memorial Stadium)

Two things about this one: One, it was the first game (the original AFL-NFL Championship). Two, it was on two networks (CBS and NBC). Oh, and a third: The game was close at halftime, Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers leading Hank Stram's Kansas City Chiefs, 14-10. Then the Packers unleashed their will on the Chiefs, who were holding the hopes of an entire league (American Football League) on their shoulders in proving they were not the "inferior league." Elijah Pitts scored on touchdown runs of 1 and 5 yards and the game's initial MVP, Bart Starr, threw a 13-yard TD strike to Max McGee, McGee's second TD catch of the game after coming in off a night on the town blitzed himself. McGee finished with seven catches for 138 yards, Starr ending up 16-of-23 passing for 250 yards. Lombardi's Packers were the elite of all football. Stram's Chiefs were only building to bigger things in the coming years. And a championship game was born.

31. Super Bowl XV (Oakland 27, Philadelphia 10, January 25, 1981, The Louisiana Superdome)

This was supposed to be the Philadelphia Eagles' coronation as a franchise that once was a laughingstock. Dick Vermeil, through his toughness and tears, had built the franchise into an NFC championship club. The Oakland Raiders were nothing more than a wild card team at 12-7, having to play through Houston, Cleveland and San Diego with a quarterback (Jim Plunkett) who was nothing more than a backup and got the chance to take over after regular starter Dan Pastorini broke his leg. But the former Heisman Trophy winner from Stanford a decade earlier proved he was a vital part to the team's success right at the start by throwing a TD strike to venerable receiver Cliff Branch, then hitting Kenny King out of the backfield and King outracing defenders 80 yards for what was then the longest TD strike in history. Plunkett and Branch connected for a 29-yard strike in the second half and Chris Bahr added two field goals to finish out the scoring as the defense did the rest, frustrating Ron Jaworksi to 18-of-38 passing for 291 yards and a touchdown pass to Keith Krepfle. But he also threw three interceptions, all to linebacker Rod Martin. Plunkett would be the MVP with 13-of-21 passing for 261 yards and the three scores. The Raiders became the first wild card team to win a Super Bowl.

30. Super Bowl XXII (Washington 42, Denver 10, January 31, 1988, Jack Murphy Stadium)

A year after losing in the Super Bowl, John Elway was back in the big game with the Denver Broncos, hoping to rectify things for Broncos fans. And it looked good after one quarter as they built a 10-0 lead thanks to a 56-yard TD pass from Elway to rookie Ricky Nattiel. Then came the second quarter and the all-time greatest Super Bowl eruption. Veteran Doug Williams, who took over the team after regular starter Jay Schroeder got hurt, exploded for four touchdown passes, two to Ricky Sanders, one to Gary Clark and the last one to tight end Clint Didier. Timmy Smith would run for a 58-yard score in between all the TD passes and a 10-0 deficit turned into a 35-10 Washington lead at halftime. The competitive portion of the game was over, especially with Washington's defense tormenting Elway to the tune of 14-of-38 passing for 257 yards and three interceptions. Meanwhile, Smith would finish out a 204-yard rushing night with a 4-yard, fourth-quarter score. In winning the MVP with a lights-out performance starting in the second quarter, Williams was 18-of-29 passing for 340 yards and the four scores.

29. Super Bowl XXIII (Denver 34, Atlanta 19, January 31, 1999, Pro Player Stadium)9

The Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcons were both 14-2 and this game had all the makings of another great Super Bowl. But the arrest of Falcons safety Eugene Robinson the night before the game in Miami highlighted the pre-game ceremony and it may have had an effect on the first-time Bowl participants against Broncos veteran quarterback John Elway. The Falcons took a 3-0 lead on a Morten Andersen field goal, but the Broncos answered back with a Howard Griffith 1-yard TD run and a field goal by Jason Elam. Then came the big play -- Elway going over the top to wide receiver Rod Smith, who was covered by Robinson, for an 80-yard touchdown pass to make it 17-3. That was it ... the Falcons never recovered. Griffith and Elway would score on runs and by the fourth quarter, Elway would leave in a blaze of glory in what would be his last game, ironically against old coach Dan Reeves. He would finish 18-of-29 passing for 336 yards with the one TD pass and one TD running. At 38, he was named the game's MVP. The Falcons didn't help themselves as they turned the ball over four times.

28. Super Bowl XVIII (L.A. Raiders 38, Washington 9, January 22, 1984, Tampa Stadium)

Washington was the favored team after beating the Los Angeles Raiders in a wild battle in November. But the Raiders were taking notes and watching film. And it all paid off the second time around in this game at Tampa Stadium. Derrick Jansen blocked a Jeff Hayes punt and landed on it in the end zone for a touchdown for an early 7-0 lead. Then the venerable Jim Plunkett hit veteran receiver Cliff Branch for a 12-yard, second-quarter strike for a 14-0 lead. Mark Moseley would get Washington on the board with a 24-yard field goal and after Ray Guy pinned Washington back at its 12 late in the first half, coach Joe Gibbs attempted a play that worked during the regular-season game against the Raiders. Quarterback Joe Theismann rolled out right, then threw back to running back Joe Washington for a score then, but this time, the Raiders had it scouted out. Linebacker Jack Squirek jumped in front of Washington and returned the ball 5 yards for the touchdown. The defending champions were shell-shocked. Though John Riggins would score on the first drive of the second half for Washington, Los Angeles dominated from there. Actually, Marcus Allen would dominate the second half, scoring two third-quarter touchdowns, the last a 75-yard score in which he started right, saw trouble, back-tracked the other way, then burst through a hole opened up by the Raider offensive line. Allen finished with 191 yards on 20 carries and would win the MVP. Washington, meanwhile, would need years to regroup.

27. Super Bowl XXI (N.Y. Giants 39, Denver 20, January 25, 1987, The Rose Bowl)

The New York Giants were putting together a special season under coach Bill Parcells, led by league MVP and linebacker Lawrence Taylor. Their reward was winning the NFC title game against Washington and facing off in the Super Bowl with Dan Reeves-coached Denver and quarterback John Elway, playing in his first Super Bowl. Elway's 4-yard score gave the Broncos a 10-7 lead and they looked for more late in the first half. But veteran George Martin crashed through to grab Elway in the end zone for a safety, making it 10-9 at halftime. And that was the momentum shaker for the Giants. Phil Simms hit Mark Bavaro for a 13-yard TD pass on the opening drive of the second half to give the Giants a 16-10 lead. Raul Allegre kicked a 21-yard field goal and Joe Morris slammed into the end zone for a 1-yard score, giving the Giants a 26-10 lead going into the final quarter. A deflected pass from Simms to Bavaro was caught by receiver Phil McConkey for a touchdown and Ottis Anderson scored on a 2-yard run to make a close game into a rout. In a record-breaking performance, Simms won the MVP, going 21-of-25 passing for 268 yards and three TDs, the other going to the other tight end, Zeke Mowatt, in the first quarter.

26. Super Bowl XXVIII (Dallas 30, Buffalo 13, January 30, 1994, The Georgia Dome)

Finally, it looked as if the fourth time would be the charm for the Buffalo Bills, who led 13-6 at halftime over the Dallas Cowboys in the first rematch of a Super Bowl. Then the Cowboys reminded the Bills and their fans why Bills stood for "Boy I Love Losing Super (Bowls)." Thurman Thomas was stripped by Leon Lett and James Washington took the ball back 46 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 13-all. On the next possession, the Cowboys would go 64 yards on eight plays and cap the drive with a 15-yard scoring run by Emmitt Smith to give Dallas a 20-13 lead. Smith, who would earn MVP honors in a season that saw him hold out for more money until the third game, would add a 1-yard plunge and Eddie Murray kicked a 20-yard field goal to seal another Dallas title. Smith would rush for 132 yards on 30 carries and would wear down the Bills in the fourth quarter. Jim Kelly would go 31-of-50 passing for the Bills, but would not find paydirt and would end up throwing an interception in yet another frustrating loss for Bills Nation.

25. Super Bowl XXXI (Green Bay 35, New England 21, January 26, 1997, The Louisiana Superdome)

In his first Super Bowl, Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre was having a monster night with a 54-yard TD pass to Andre Rison, an 81-yard strike to Antonio Freeman, and a 2-yard plunge. But the New England Patriots of coach Bill Parcells were making things close thanks to Drew Bledsoe TD passes to Ben Coates (4 yards) and Keith Byars (1 yard). Late in the third quarter, the Patriots cut the lead to 27-21 when Curtis Martin dashed 18 yards for a score. But on the ensuing kickoff, former Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard darted up the middle, found a hole and burst through for a 99-yard touchdown. Howard would win the MVP honor. The Packers' defense would do the rest with four interceptions and five sacks of Bledsoe in a dominant performance.

24. Super Bowl XLIV (New Orleans 31, Indianapolis 17, February 7, 2010, Sun Life Stadium)

The Colts of coach Jim Caldwell and quarterback Peyton Manning held a 10-6 halftime lead, mainly on the strength of a Manning TD pass to Pierre Garcon. But Saints coach Sean Payton had a plan to start the second half -- an onside kickoff. It worked as Jonathan Casillas took the ricochet off of Hank Baskett's arms for the recovery. The Saints drove from there and quarterback Drew Brees hit Pierre Thomas for a 16-yard score to give the Saints a 13-10 lead. The Colts would fight back as Joseph Addai would score on a 4-yard run to make it 17-13. But the Saints would take it from there the rest of the evening. After a Garrett Hartley 47-yard field goal cut the lead to a point, Brees hit Jeremy Shockey for a 2-yard TD score, then delivered the 2-point conversion pass to Lance Moore to make it 24-17 with 5:42 left in the game. Needing to move the ball quickly, Manning made his only mistake of the night ... but it wa a biggie as Tracy Porter stepped in front of a pass and returned it 74 yards for the game-clinching score. Game MVP Brees was 32-of-39 passing for 288 yards. In losing, Manning was 31-of-45 passing for 333 yards. But over four years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, New Orleans was on top of the sports world.

23. Super Bowl XXX (Dallas 27, Pittsburgh 17, January 28, 1996, Sun Devil Stadium)

This was Dallas' third Super Bowl in four years, but first for former Oklahoma Sooners coach Barry Switzer. And unlike the first two Super Bowls, this one was going to be an open struggle to the end against coach Bill Cowher's Pittsburgh Steelers. In the end, a short-time hero was born in a cornerback named Larry Brown. Two Chris Boniol field goals and a Troy Aikman TD pass to tight end Jay Novacek gave the Cowboys a 13-0 lead in the second quarter. But the Steelers awakened as Neil O'Donnell fired a TD strike to Yancey Thigpen to make it 13-7 at halftime. Emmitt Smith answered with a 1-yard burst for a score to make it 20-7, two plays after Brown intercepted O'Donnell. But the Steelers were determined to make it a game. Norm Johnson delivered a 46-yard field goal to cut the lead to 10 points, then Cowher rolled the dice on an onside kick and won as Deon Figures recovered it and Bam Morris would close the drive with a 1-yard score, making it 20-17. The Steelers got another stop and took over at their 32. On second down, O'Donnell once again got a case of color-blindness and found the No. 24 uniform of Brown, who took the ball back to the Steelers' 6. Two plays after that, Smith put the game away with 3:43 left with a 4-yard score. Brown would win MVP honors as O'Donnell would finish 28-of-49 passing for 239 yards in his final game with the Steelers.

22. Super Bowl XXXIX (New England 24, Philadelphia 21, February 6, 2005, Alltel Stadium)

OK, this is the Super Bowl that I got to cover for my newspaper. It was a dream to finally cover a Super Bowl. I enjoyed the experience in Jacksonville ... and got a fairly decent game in the process. The Patriots came in as the defending champions, the Eagles finally arriving at the big game with coach Andy Reid after three straight NFC Championship game losses. After a scoreless first quarter, it was the Eagles who jumped on board first when Donovan McNabb hit L.J. Smith with a 6-yard strike. But the Patriots showed why they were as good as advertised. Tom Brady hit David Givens with a 4-yard score, then took the lead with a little trickery as for the second straight Super Bowl, Brady hit linebacker Mike Vrabel with the tackle eligible TD pass of 2 yards to give the Patriots a 14-7 lead early in the third quarter. The Eagles would tie it in the third quarter as Brian Westbrook grabbed a 10-yard pass from McNabb for a score. But the Patriots would go on a nine-play, 66-yard drive and would cap it with a 2-yard scoring run by Corey Dillon to take the lead again. After a punt, a 19-yard catch by game MVP Deion Branch, which was punctuated by Corey Simon's 15-yard roughing-the-passer penalty, led to an Adam Vinatieri field goal of 22 yards to make it 24-14 with 8:40 left. Two possessions left and down 10 points, McNabb unusually was taking too much time, reportedly due to the dry-heaves he was suffering. Seemingly taking forever, McNabb picked up the pace with a 30-yard scoring strike to Greg Lewis to cut the lead to three points, but only 1:48 was left. They used up their timeouts stopping Brady and forcing a punt that Josh Miller delivered to the Eagles' 4-yard line with just 46 seconds left in the game. In super-hurry mode, McNabb missed Smith and Rodney Harrison had his second interception of the game to seal the Patriots' third title in four years. Branch caught 11 passes for 133 yards. Brady was 23-of-33 passing for 236 yards. McNabb ended up 30-of-51 passing for 357 yards, but three interceptions hurt him and the Eagles in the end.

21. Super Bowl IV (Kansas City 23, Minnesota 7, January 11, 1970, Tulane Stadium)

In 2005, the late Steve Sabol told me that even though the Jets' win over the Colts in Super Bowl III was a landmark, the American Football League could not gain legitimacy it deserved until its last game in Super Bowl IV. By now, the Kansas City Chiefs of coach Hank Stram were a more mature team, but the Minnesota Vikings, the NFL champions, were a dynamo under coach Bud Grant, going 15-1 and led by quarterback Joe Kapp and the men known as the Purple People Eaters -- defensive linemen Jim Marshall, Gary Larsen, Alan Page and Carl Eller. They were favorites in the game. That only served to motivate the Chiefs. Three Jan Stenerud field goals gave the Chiefs a 9-0 lead in the second quarter. After the third field goal, Vikings kick returner Charlie West fumbled the ball and the Chiefs' Remi Prudhomme recovered at the Viking 19. Though Marshall would sack quarterback Len Dawson on the first play, the Chiefs recovered and on the sixth play of the drive from the 5 as Stram called Dawson to run "65 Toss Power Trap." It worked to perfection as Mike Garrett burst through a hole into the end zone for a touchdown to make it 16-0 at halftime. Dave Osborn cut the lead to 16-7 with a 4-yard score, but on the ensuing drive, Dawson hit receiver Otis Taylor with a short pass in the flat. Earsell Mackbee blew the tackle and Taylor was on his way down the sideline, breaking another tackle attempt by Karl Kassulke, to finish out a 46-yard score. The Chiefs defense forced the Vikings into five turnovers, two of those being Kapp passes. They beat Kapp up enough to force Grant to bring in Gary Cuozzo late in the game. Dawson would win the MVP honor by going 12-of-17 passing for 142 yards and the Chiefs had redemption from three years earlier as the two leagues would become one by 1970.

20. Super Bowl XLV (Green Bay 31, Pittsburgh 25, February 6, 2011, Cowboys Stadium)

The game started auspiciously as Christina Aguilera botched the national anthem. But Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers would get it back on track. He threw a touchdown pass to Jordy Nelson of 29 yards, then 24 seconds later, the Packers made it 14-0 when Nick Collins picked off Ben Roethlisberger and took it back 37 yards for the score. Sean Suisham kicked a 33-yard field goal to get the Steelers on the board, but Rodgers hit Greg Jennings for a 21-yard score to make it 21-3. Roethlisberger, though, got it close with an 8-yard strike to Hines Ward, making it 21-10 at the break. On their first drive of the second half, the Steelers cut the lead to 21-17 as Rashard Mendenhall scored on an 8-yard run. The Packers dodged a bullet late in the third quarter when they stopped the Steelers and Suisham missed on a 52-yard field goal. They took advantage and with 11:57 left in the game, Rodgers hit Jennings for his second TD of the day, an 8-yard strike, to make it 28-17. On the ensuing drive, the Steelers answered when Roethlisberger hit Mike Wallace with a 25-yard score. An Antwaan Randle El 2-point conversion run out of the Wildcat formation made it a 3-point game with 7:34 to go, but Rodgers answered again with a 10-play, 70-yard drive that took 5:27 off the clock, made the Steelers burn timeouts and ended in a 23-yard Mason Crosby field goal with 2:07 left. Roethlisberger and the Steelers had to go 87 yards, and though he got one first down, the Packers would stop him on downs and claim their fourth Super Bowl championship. Rodgers was MVP, going 24-of-39 passing for 304 yards and the three scores. Nelson had nine catches for 140 yards and established himself as Rodgers' go-to guy for years to come.

19. Super Bowl XLVII (Baltimore 34, San Francisco 31, February 3, 2013, Mercedes-Benz Louisiana Superdome)

The first Super Bowl played in New Orleans in 11 years and first after Hurricane Katrina eventually turned into a classic ... that is, after the lights went out and came back on. Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco threw first-half touchdowns to Anquan Boldin, Dennis Pitta and Jacoby Jones to build a 21-6 lead at the break. Then Jones made history with a 108-yard kickoff return to start the second half for a score, the longest in Super Bowl history, to make it 28-6. This was a rout. The 49ers had no hope. Then early into the 49ers' first drive after the score, the lights went out in the Superdome and would take 34 minutes to turn back on, the first delay of any kind in the game's history. That seemed to rejuvenate the team and quarterback Colin Kaepernick. He hit Michael Crabtree for a 31-yard score to cut the lead to 28-13. They got the ball back on a punt and 32-yard return by Ted Ginn Jr. to the Ravens' 20. From there, it took two plays to get the job done as Frank Gore darted 6 yards for the score that made it 28-20. The teams would swap field goals before Kaepernick struck again, this time on a 15-yard run to cut the lead 31-29. They went for two points, but failed, keeping the game where it was. Justin Tucker's 38-yard field goal made it 34-29 with 4:19 left. The 49ers had one last drive and Kaepernick had them moving, hitting Crabtree for a 24-yard pass and handing off to Gore for a 33-yard run, putting the 49ers in scoring position at the Ravens 7. A 2-yard run by LaMichael James was followed by two incompletions. It was on fourth down that  Kaepernick lofted a pass into the end zone to Crabtree. Though defensive back Jimmy Smith seemed to grab onto Crabtree's jersey,  no flag was thrown. The ball fell incomplete and punter Sam Koch provided the final points by running out of the end zone for a safety with four seconds to go. It was the 49ers' first Super Bowl loss in six tries. Meanwhile, it was the Ravens' second title in what would be linebacker Ray Lewis' final game. Flacco, the MVP of the game, was 22-of-33 passing for 287 yards and the three TD passes.

18. Super Bowl VII (Miami 14, Washington 7, January 14, 1973, L.A. Memorial Coliseum)

One year after the devastation by the Dallas Cowboys in the Super Bowl, the Miami Dolphins were back and back with a vengeance. They went 14-0 in the regular season, then defeated Cleveland and Pittsburgh to reach the Super Bowl again. This time, the opponent was the "Over The Hill Gang" of coach George Allen, who helped motivate the team to go further than maybe they thought they could go. The Dolphins were actually a one-point underdog in the game. Yes, an unbeaten team was the underdog! That only motivated them to do more. On the final play of the first quarter, quarterback Bob Griese hit Howard Twilley for a 28-yard touchdown pass and running back Jim Kiick scored with 18 seconds left in the half to double the lead to 14-0 at halftime. The Dolphns defense harassed quarterback Billy Kilmer into 14-of-28 passing and three interceptions. Still, Washington's defense kept the game close. And it looked as if the game was about to end when the Dolphins sent kicker Garo Yepremian in for a field goal. But Yepremian's kick was blocked by Bill Brundige. To make matters worse, Yepremian tried to pick the ball up, but fumbled it out of his own hands and into the arms of Washington's Mike Bass, who returned it 49 yards to cut the lead to 14-7. Washington had a chance. But instead of an onside kickoff with 2:07 left, Allen decided to kick off and use timeouts to save the clock deep in Miami territory. They forced a punt, but Miami's defense came to the rescue with the last heroic effort being a Vern Den Herder sack of Kilmer on fourth down to seal the deal on the one and only unbeaten team in the Super Bowl era at 17-0. Safety Jake Scott won the MVP honor with a pair of interceptions, highlighting the spirt of Miami's famous "No-Name Defense."

17. Super Bowl XVII (Washington 27, Miami 17, January 30, 1983, The Rose Bowl)

After nine years, the Miami Dolphins were back in the Super Bowl against a Washington team that finally put it together in what was a shortened season due to a strike early on. The Dolphins' "Killer Bs" defense, led by Bob Baumhower and Kim Bokamper, helped make the team the favorite in this one. It looked good early when quarterback David Woodley hit Jimmy Cefalo with a 76-yard scoring strike. The teams traded field goals before Washington quarterback Joe Theismann hit Alvin Garrett with a 4-yard TD strike to tie it up. But before halftime, Fulton Walker took the ensuing kickoff and returned it 98 yards for the first-ever kickoff return for a touchdown, giving the Dolphins a 17-10 lead at the break. All looked good. Mark Moseley's field goal cut the lead to 17-13 and after getting the ball back, Washington was in a bind. Theismann had his pass batted by Bokamper, who was ready to catch it and fall into the end zone for the score, but Theismann knocked the ball away. It proved large for early in the fourth quarter, Washington had the ball back and on the Dolphins' 43, facing fourth down and 1. Coach Joe Gibbs called for what would be "I Right 70-Chip." Theisman pitched the ball to fullback John Riggins, who took the ball, broke free of Don McNeal's tackle attempt and was off to the races for the touchdown that gave Washington a 20-17 lead with over 10 minutes left. On the next possession, Washington moved the ball into scoring territory and right after the two-minute warning, Theismann hit Charlie Brown, one of Washington's "Smurf" wide receivers, for the 6-yard touchdown strike to put it away. Riggins won the MVP honor with 166 bruising yards on 38 carries. The franchise had its first Super Bowl.

16. Super Bowl XVI (San Francisco 26, Cincinnati 21, January 24, 1982, The Silverdome)

The Super Bowl moved north for the first time in history as it was played in the comfortable indoor confines of the Pontiac Silverdome, while it was minus-8 degrees outside. For the first time since Super Bowl III, two different teams that had never been there before were playing in the big game. But if there was one team that wasn't intimidated by the big moment it was the 49ers and quarterback Joe Montana. In the first 30 minutes of the game, the 49ers took a 20-0 lead with Montana hitting running back-turned-tight end Earl Cooper with a 13-yard TD and running for a short score, while Ray Wersching kicking two field goals, the final one coming after Archie Griffin flubbed a squib kick. But the Bengals bounced back with Ken Anderson running for a 5-yard score in the third quarter, then had a first and goal from the 1, but couldn't break through into the end zone on four tries, the last one seeing Jack "Hacksaw" Reynolds, Dan Bunz and Ronnie Lott stopping Pete Johnson short of the goal line instead of taking the field goal. Anderson hit Dan Ross for a 4-yard score to make it 20-14. Wersching kicked two more field goals to give the 49ers a 26-14 lead, but the Bengals would strike again with an Anderson-to-Ross 3-yard TD strike, making it 26-21. One problem, though -- there was 16 seconds left in the game. Dwight Clark recovered the onside kickoff and the 49ers secured their first Super Bowl. Montana went 14-of-22 passing for 157 yards and earned his first MVP honor. In a losing effort, Anderson was 25-of-34 passing for 300 yards, but hurt himself with two interceptions. The Bengals actually had more TDs in the game than the winning team (3-2).

15. Super Bowl XLIX (New England 28, Seattle 24, February 1, 2015, University of Phoenix Stadium)

The defending champion Seattle Seahawks were back in the big game, but matched up this time with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. Brady threw TD passes to Brandon LaFell and Rob Gronkowski, while Seattle matched that with a Marshawn Lynch TD run and a Russell Wilson-to-Chris Matthews TD pass to go to halftime tied at 14-all. Seattle went ahead 24-14 in the third quarter on a Steve Hauschka field goal and a Wilson 3-yard TD pass to Doug Baldwin. Then Brady, who would earn his third game MVP, would engineer two long drives leading to fourth-quarter TDs, the first a 4-yard score to Danny Amendola, the second a 3-yard TD pass to Julian Edelman with 2:02 to play. That left the Seahawks that much time to win it. And Wilson made big plays in the drive, the final one a 33-yard circus catch by Jermaine Kearse to the Patriots' 5 with 1:05 to play. The Seahawks handed the ball on first down to Lynch, who got to the 1. Seattle called timeout with 24 seconds left. Most everyone acknowledged that they were anticipating Lynch would get the ball. But the Seahawks surprised everyone -- Wilson dropped back and looked for Ricardo Lockette just inside the end zone, but Malcolm Butler read the play, stepped inside of the passing lane and stunned the football world at large with the interception. It left many a jaw dropped and people began demanding the firings of both head coach Pete Carroll and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell for even calling the play when Lynch was nearly unstoppable with 102 yards on 24 carries. To this day, it is considered the single worst play call in Super Bowl history. Though he threwtwo interceptions, Brady ended up 37-of-50 passing with the four scores for 328 yards and tied himself with Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw as a four-time Super Bowl champion quarterback.

14. Super Bowl X (Pittsburgh 21, Dallas 17, January 18, 1976, The Orange Bowl)

Under South Florida's sunny skies, the defending champion Steelers and the wild card-winning Cowboys swapped first-quarter scores, Dallas striking on a Roger Staubach-to-Drew Pearson 29-yard TD pass and Pittsburgh answering with a 7-yard TD pass by Terry Bradshaw to Randy Grossman. Toni Fritsch's 36-yard field goal gave the Cowboys a 10-7 halftime lead, but the Steelers' "Steel Curtain" defense began to unleash its fury. Reggie Harrison blocked Mitch Hoopes' punt out of the end zone for a safety, then Roy Gerela added a pair of field goals, the second one coming off of a Mike Wagner interception of Staubach to the 7-yard line. After a Dallas punt, the Steelers took over at their own 36. Bradshaw dropped back and was blitzed by both Harris and D.D. Lewis. Both nailed Bradshaw as he got rid of the pass, but it was a perfect strike to game MVP Lynn Swann, who made the catch and scampered to the end zone for the touchdown that made it 21-10. Gerela, though, missed the extra-point kick with 3:02 left in the game. Staubach furiously brought the Cowboys back on an 80-yard drive in five plays, finishing it off with a 34-yard TD pass to Percy Howard, which, would be the only reception in Howard's entire NFL career. And it wasn't over there -- Gerry Mullins recovered the onside kick for the Steelers, but the Cowboys called what timeouts they had left. On fourth down, Steelers coach Chuck Noll, not liking his shaky kicking game, elected to go for it on fourth down and is stopped short at the Dallas 39-yard line. The Cowboys had one more life. Staubach brought the Cowboys down to the Steelers' 38. Two incompletions led to one final play and a Hail Mary that Glen Edwards came up with in the end zone for an interception to seal the victory. Swann caught four passes for 161 yards to earn his MVP honors. The Steeler defense also had a starring role by collecting three turnovers and sacking Staubach seven times.

13. Super Bowl XIV (Pittsburgh 31, L.A. Rams 19, January 20, 1980, The Rose Bowl)

Three Super Bowls in five seasons made the Pittsburgh Steelers a dynasty. And now they had a chance to put the capper on Hall of Fame careers against a surprise competitor from the NFC as the Los Angeles Rams stunned the Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers to reach the big game. And if the Steelers were taking the Rams of backup quarterback Vince Ferragamo as an afterthought, they were clearly mistaken. Matt Bahr gave the Steelers an early 3-0 lead on a 41-yard field goal, but the Rams gave their fans with a short jaunt from Los Angeles to Pasadena some joy when fullback Cullen Bryant ended an eight-play, 59-yard drive with a 1-yard plunge to make it 7-3 after the first quarter. Pittsburgh responded with a 1-yard Franco Harris score, but kicker Frank Corral delivered a 31-yard field goal to tie it, then a 45-yarder with 14 seconds left before halftime to give the underdog Rams a surprising 13-10 lead. But quarterback Terry Bradshaw had some big plays he was ready to unleash on the Rams' secondary in the final 30 minutes. The first came as he found Lynn Swann for a 47-yard score to make it 17-13. But coach Ray Malavasi and his offensive coaches had a play up their sleeves -- and on the possession after the TD, bounced right back as running back Lawrence McCutcheon took a handoff from Ferragamo, went right, then zipped a 24-yard scoring strike to Ron Smith, making it 19-17 after Corral missed the extra point. The Rams' defense, anchored by legendary lineman Jack Youngblood, playing on a broken ankle the entire postseason, kept pushing the Steelers back, and had one more quarter to go. Early in the fourth quarter, two plays generate two yards for the Steelers, leaving them with third-and-8 from their 27. On the play, Bradshaw fakes a handoff, then sees receiver John Stallworth in one-on-one coverage with Rod Perry as safety Eddie Brown does not react to the one-on-one coverage. Bradshaw fires down the middle and Stallworth catches the pass -- over the wrong shoulder, no less -- to finish a 73-yard TD to give the Steelers a 24-19 lead with 12:04 left to play. Ferragamo takes the Rams down the field on two possessions later, but from the Steelers' 32, he looks for Smith in the open, except the great linebacker Jack Lambert steps in front to pick the pass off. The Steelers would drive 70 yards from there to put the finishing touches on their fourth Super Bowl as Harris races to the outside, then cuts in for a 1-yard score with 3:35 to go. Ferragamo would have a decent day, going 15-of-25 for 212 yards, but the costly pick. Meanwhile, Bradshaw would earn his third MVP honor in spite of three interceptions, going 14-of-21 passing for 309 yards and the two TD strikes.

12. Super Bowl XLVI (N.Y. Giants 21, New England 17, February 5, 2012, Lucas Oil Stadium)

These two famous dance partners of four years earlier were once again teamed up for the biggest prize in the league on the line at Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium. And once again, neither team disappointed on the big stage. Lineman Justin Tuck set the tone of the day by flustering quarterback Tom Brady into a throw to no receiver down the middle while being rushed in his own end zone. A flag for intentional grounding was thrown on Brady and the Giants had an early 2-0 lead. After the safety, Giants quarterback Eli Manning took his team 78 yards on nine plays and capped the drive with a 2-yard scoring strike to Victor Cruz to make it 9-0 after one quarter. But the Patriots owned the second quarter. Their defense tightened up on Manning and on offense, they got a 29-yard field goal from Stephen Gostkowski and with eight seconds to go before the break, Brady hit Danny Woodhead for a 4-yard scoring strike to give the Patriots a 10-9 lead. Knowing they had the ball to start the second half, the Patriots and Brady went 79 yards on eight plays and finish the drive with a Brady-to-Aaron Hernandez 12-yard score to make it 17-9. But that would be all the Patriots would get the rest of the night. Two Lawrence Tynes field goals of 38 and 33 yards make it a 17-15 lead going into the fourth quarter. The Patriots defense had held firm throughout the final quarter, but with 3:46 to go, the Giants had one more drive, but had to start from their own 12. The big play early in the drive was a Manning pass to receiver Mario Manningham, who caught the sideline pass just over his shoulder for 38 yards and a first down at the 50. Two more passes to Manningham and one more to Cruz got the ball to the Patriots' 18 at the two-minute warning. The Giants got another first down and Patriots coach Bill Belichick was forced to use all his timeouts. Knowing Tynes had not missed a field goal within 30 yards the last four years, Belichick had his defense open up to allow Ahmad Bradshaw to score on a 6-yard run with 57 seconds to go -- even though Bradshaw tried to stop at the 1, realizing what the Patriots were doing -- making it 21-17. The Patriots got the ball back and reached their own 49, leaving one last desperate Hail Mary try. Brady looked for Hernandez in the end zone on the final play, but it was the other tight end, a gimpy-kneed Rob Gronkowski, who made a valiant diving attempt at the batted pass, but came up short. In winning his second MVP honor, Manning was 30-of-40 passing for 296 yards and the one TD pass. Brady finished 27-of-41 for 276 yards and two TDs, but one interception. And Tom Coughlin had his second Super Bowl title as Giants head coach.

11. Super Bowl XXXVIII (New England 32, Carolina 29, February 1, 2004, Reliant Stadium)

From a halftime entertainment standpoint, this is the Super Bowl of the infamous and accidental exposure of Janet Jackson's nipple by Justin Timberlake during their performance. But the game was just as memorable, featuring the Super Bowl champions of two years earlier, the New England Patriots, going up against the surprising Carolina Panthers, who made it to the big game under head coach John Fox in their ninth season as a franchise. Most of the first half is a defensive struggle between the teams with the Panthers making big plays, one by Will Witherspoon on a 10-yard loss off an end around by Troy Brown, the other a blocked field goal attempt by Shane Burton. The Patriots get the first big break of the game, though, as Mike Vrabel sacks quarterback Jake Delhomme and forces a fumble that Richard Seymour recovers at the Panthers' 20. Four plays later, quarterback Tom Brady finds receiver Deion Branch for a 5-yard score to make it 7-0 with 3:05 left before halftime. But Delhomme and the Panthers respond with a 95-yard drive in under two minutes, capped by a 39-yard strike from Delhomme to Steve Smith to tie it up. Not to be outdone, the Patriots go 78 yards on six plays on the very next possession and Brady hits David Givens with a 5-yard scoring strike with 18 seconds left before the break to make it 14-7 Patriots. But the Pats decide to squib-kick the kickoff and Kris Mangum picks it up and goes 12 yards to his 47. With a timeout still in hand, Stephen Davis goes 21 yards up the middle with a run to the Patriots' 32. They call timeout and John Kasay delivers a 50-yard field goal to take the game to 14-10 at the half -- after there had been no scoring in the first 26:55, a Super Bowl record for longest wait for a first score. Neither side budged in the third quarter, but it was late in the period the Patriots went on an 79-yard, eight-play drive that culminated in an Antowain Smith 2-yard score to make it 21-10. Delhomme and the Panthers respond with an 81-yard, six-play drive the next time they touch the ball and DeShaun Foster goes 33 yards for the score that makes it 21-16 as they failed on the two-point conversion try to cut the lead to a field goal. It won't matter anyway as the Panthers stop Brady and the Patriots on the next drive as Reggie Howard intercepts Brady in the end zone and brings the ball back out to the 10. On the third play of the ensuing possession, Delhomme delivers an 85-yard scoring strike to Muhsin Muhammad, the longest scoring play from scrimmage in the game's history, to give Carolina 22-21 lead with 6:53 to go. The Patriots didn't back off, though. Brady took the team 68 yards on 11 plays, capping it off when he threw a 1-yard strike to linebacker Mike Vrabel, who had reported in as the team's tight end on the play. Kevin Faulk's two-point conversion run gave the Patriots the 29-22 lead with 2:51 to go. Still, Delhomme, who finished the game 16-of-33 with 323 yards, would show his resiliency. In 103 seconds, he took the Panthers 80 yards on seven plays and finished the drive with a 12-yard scoring strike to reliable receiver Ricky Proehl, tying it at 29-all. However, any momentum the Panthers would take into the next drive all but got wiped out when Kasay delivered his kick out of bounds for a penalty that gave the Patriots the ball on their 40. Though an offensive pass interference stymies the drive momentarily, Brady is able to get two first downs in the final 1:08 he has remaining, the last being a 17-yard strike to Branch at the Panthers' 24. Coach Bill Belichick summons Adam Vinatieri in to kick the game-winning, 41-yard field goal, which he does with four seconds left to secure the team's second Super Bowl title. Brady finishes 32-of-48 passing for 354 yards and three TDs and wins his second MVP honor in three years.

10. Super Bowl XXXII (Denver 31, Green Bay 24, January 25, 1998, Qualcomm Stadium)

Though quarterback John Elway was older and more mature, the thoughts of three blowout Super Bowl losses still had to linger in his head. And the Denver Broncos were facing a Green Bay Packers team that were defending champions and, in many circles, believed to be better than the previous season's team. So when the Packers took the opening kickoff and drove 76 yards on eight plays and finished the drive with a Brett Favre-to-Antonio Freeman 22-yard scoring strike, many thought this would more of the same for the Broncos, who had made it to this game as a wild card. Those that thought that were definitely mistaken -- Terrell Davis scored on a 1-yard run to tie it up on the Broncos' first possession. The Broncos took the lead at 14-7 on an Elway 1-yard run in which he faked the handoff to Davis, suffering through migraine headaches in the first half, and went into the end zone untouched. Favre would fumble after being sacked by Steve Atwater and Neil Smith would recover at the Green Bay 33. Jason Elam, who had kicked a 63-yard field goal earlier in the season, delivered a 51-yarder to make it 17-7. After trading punts, the Packers go 95 yards on 17 plays as Favre finishes it off with a 6-yard scoring strike to tight end Mark Chmura with 12 seconds left before halftime, making it 17-14. Ryan Longwell's third-quarter field goal of 27 yards ties it at 17-all, but Davis scores his second 1-yard run with 34 seconds left in the quarter to give the Broncos the lead again at 24-17 with one quarter left. The touchdown is set up the previous play by the now-famous Elway run in which he "helicopters" to the 1 after being hit by Packers defenders LeRoy Butler and Mike Prior. The Broncos recover a fumble on the kickoff and look to add to the lead, but Elway gets picked off by Eugene Robinson, who returns the ball to the Packers' 15. From there, Favre takes the Packers just four plays to tie it up, his third connection with Freeman being a 13-yard score to tie it up at 24-all with 13:32 to go. Both defenses hold tight, but with the ball at the Packers' 49 after a punt with 3:27 left in the game, Elway can make history. A facemask penalty against Darius Holland costs the Packers 15 yards and Elway hits fullback Howard Griffith for a 23-yard pass and Davis delivers a 17-yard run after a Broncos holding penalty to get the ball to the Green Bay 1 with 1:45 to go. Wanting to maximize what time he had on the clock, Packers coach Mike Holmgren has his defense part a path for Davis to score a 1-yard run to make it a 31-24 lead. They would get the ball back with plenty of time and Favre takes the Packers to the Broncos 35 after two key completions to Dorsey Levens. A 4-yard pass to Levens is followed by two incompletions, leaving fourth and 6 at the 31 with 32 seconds to go and needing a touchdown. Favre dropped back and looked for Chmura over the middle. However, linebacker John Mobley was there to knock the ball away and secure the Broncos' first Super Bowl victory, prompting owner Pat Bowlen to famously say as he got the Lombardi Trophy, "This one's for John."

9. Super Bowl XIII (Pittsburgh 35, Dallas 31, January 21, 1979, Orange Bowl)

Three years after delivering an absolute classic at the Orange Bowl in Super Bowl X, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys were back in the Orange Bowl and delivered an even greater game. Superstar quarterbacks Terry Bradshaw and Roger Staubach traded first-quarter TD passes, Bradshaw to John Stallworth for 28 yards, Staubach to Tony Hill for 39 yards. Then on the Steelers' first possession of the second quarter, Bradshaw collides with running back Franco Harris and fumbles the ball. He recovers, but gets immediately harassed by Cowboys defenders Mike Hegman and Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson. Henderson holds up Bradshaw and Hegman strips him of the ball, returning the fumble 37 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. But the lead didn't last long. On the third play of the next possession, Bradshaw hit Stallworth with a simple 10-yard pass. However, Cowboys defender Aaron Kyle failed to make the tackle and Stallworth got blocks from receiver Lynn Swann and other teammates, who led him on a convoy to the end zone for a 75-yard score to tie it at 14-14. Pittsburgh would take the lead late in the first half as Bradshaw finished a 56-yard, five-play drive with an acrobatic 7-yard TD pass to running back Rocky Bleier, giving the Steelers a 21-14 lead at the half. Midway through the third quarter, Staubach had the Cowboys on the move to a tying score. On third down from the Steelers' 10, Staubach drops back and sees a wide-open Jackie Smith, a veteran tight end who played most of his career with the St. Louis Cardinals, for what is the tying touchdown pass. But Smith surprisingly drops the pass and a disgusted coach Tom Landry has to send Rafael Septien in for the 27-yard field goal that cuts the lead to 21-17 going to the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter is simply a show-stopper. Harris caps an 85-yard, eight-play drive with a 22-yard burst up the middle that may have been aided by the umpire inadvertently being in Cowboys safety Charlie Waters' way. This came after Cowboys defender Benny Barnes is detected for pass interference on Swann on a pass play that Swann ran into Barnes instead of Barnes interfering with the receiver. Then to make matters worse, kicker Roy Gerela slips on the kickoff, delivering a groundball that linebacker Randy White picks up. White, though, is wearing a heavy cast on his hand and can't grip the ball firmly. Steelers defender Tony Dungy knocks the ball loose and teammate Dennis Winston jumps on the ball at the Cowboys' 18. One play later, Bradshaw delivers a high pass to Swann, who goes acrobatically up for the ball and pulls it in the end zone to make it 35-17. Game over, right? No! Staubach showed why he was an original gun-slinger. He takes the Cowboys 89 yards on eight plays after the Swann score and finishes it off with a 7-yard TD pass to tight end Billy Joe Dupree, making it 35-24 with 2:27 left. Dennis Thurman recovers the onside kick and Staubach goes back at it. From his 48 and with the two-minute warning to stop the clock, he and the Cowboys are a machine, going nine plays and finishes the drive with a 4-yard TD pass to Butch Johnson with 22 seconds to go. They try the onside kick again, but Bleier wraps the ball under him and the Steelers have another Super Bowl title. Bradshaw, who was accused earlier in the week by Henderson of not being able to spell the word "cat" if you spotted him the "c" and "a," is once again smart enough to win the Super Bowl MVP, going 17-of-30 with four TDs and 318 yards passing. Staubach, too, is 17-of-30 passing for 228 yards and three scores. Tony Dorsett nearly has a 100-yard rushing game, taking the ball 16 times for 96 yards.

8. Super Bowl III (N.Y. Jets 16, Baltimore 7, January 12, 1969, Orange Bowl)

Two times before, the AFL representative had failed against the mighty Green Bay Packers of the NFL. And though this time, the team representing the NFL is Don Shula's Baltimore Colts, the NFL is favored to continue its dominance in the big game. Odds makers have staked the Colts as a 17-point favorite against the young New York Jets, coached by former Colts mentor Weeb Ewbank and led by quarterback Joe Namath. Sick and tired of hearing about the dominant Colts and how much better they are compared to his Jets, Namath finally pipes up and tells the media surrounding him at the Miami Touchdown Club that the Jets "will win the game." Though Ewbank was reportedly upset by Namath's offering, Namath assured his coach they were confident enough to go in and take on the big, bad Colts and starting quarterback Earl Morrall, who won the league's Most Valuable Player honor stepping n for an injured Johnny Unitas. The game's tone is set on the Colts' first possession of the battle as they get the ball down the field methodically, but kicker Lou Michaels misses a 27-yard field goal wide left. Later in the first quarter, the Colts are on the move again, but deep in Jets territory, Morrall throws a pass that bounces off the hands of Jets linebacker Al Atkinson, off the hands of Colts tight end Tom Mitchell and into the waiting arms of Jets cornerback Randy Beverly in the end zone for an interception. From there, Namath would take the Jets on their most famous drive in franchise history -- 12 plays, 80 yards -- running the ball behind lineman Winston Hill for most of the drive. The drive ends with Namath handing off to running back Matt Snell, who dashes left and crashes into the end zone for a 4-yard score, giving the Jets a 7-0 lead. The Colts would come back on the next drive, but Michaels misses another field goal try, this time from 46 yards out. Jets kicker Jim Turner misses a 41-yard field goal on the next Jets drive. From there, Morrall took the Colts down to the Jets' 15, on the verge of tying the game up. But Morrall is picked off by Johnny Sample at the 2, thwarting that drive. After a Jets punt, the Colts get one more chance. From the Jets' 41, the Colts try a flea-flicker on the final play of the half and receiver Jimmy Orr is wide open in the end zone. However, Morrall never sees him and his pass to running back Jerry Hill is intercepted by linebacker Jim Hudson. As Orr would say later of the failed play, "Earl said he just didn't seem me. I was open from here to Tampa." The Jets had the ball for all but three minutes in the third quarter and got Turner field goals of 32 and 30 yards to make it 13-0. A third drive late in the third quarter would end in another Colts stop deep in their territory and Turner came on to squib through a 9-yard field goal to make it 16-7. By now, Shula had seen enough of the ineffective Morrall and brought in Unitas late in the third quarter, gimpy arm and all. He takes the Colts down the field, but he, too, is picked off deep in Jets territory as Beverly gets his second interception of the day. After Turner misses a 42-yard field goal, the Colts go 80 yards behind Unitas and finally punch in a drive for a touchdown as Hill scores from a yard out with 3:19 left. The Colts gain the onside kick and move the ball to the Jets' 19 on three straight Unitas completions. But he misses on his next three attempts and the Colts are looking at fourth down. Knowing Michaels had been shaky all day on attempts, Shula opts to go for it on fourth down, but another Unitas attempt is incomplete. The Jets run all but eight seconds off the clock to secure the biggest upset in Super Bowl history at that time. Though he never throws a touchdown pass in the game, Namath is named the game's MVP, going 17-of-28 passing for 206 yards against the sturdy Colts defense. Snell has a big game with 121 yards rushing on 30 carries and the TD. Colts running back Tom Matte runs for 116 yards on 11 carries in the loss.

7. Super Bowl XXXVI (New England 20, St. Louis 17, February 3, 2002, The Louisiana Superdome)

Like the Jets in Super Bowl III, no one gave the upstart New England Patriots much of a chance in Super Bowl XXXVI against the St. Louis Rams and "The Greatest Show on Turf." No one! The Rams were 14-point favorites and had not one, but two MVPs on their team in quarterback Kurt Warner and running back Marshall Faulk. And its defense was better than the one that had won Super Bowl XXXIV under previous coach Dick Vermeil. Under coach Mike Martz, these Rams seemingly looked unstoppable. But no one told the Patriots of second-year coach Bill Belichick this. Playing all season with a backup quarterback with a hot hand named Tom Brady, the Patriots, a unified team who came out together instead of individually either offense or defense before this Super Bowl were supposedly "just happy to be there." Given a 3-0 lead by kicker Jeff Wilkins, who delivered a 50-yard field goal in the first quarter, Warner and the Rams went for more in the second quarter, but a 52-yard field goal try by Wilkins was no good. That's when the game shifted. On the Rams' next possession, Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel blitzed his way through, forcing Warner into an errant pass that cornerback Ty Law picked off and returned 47 yards for a touchdown, making it 7-3. Late in the first half, Warner completed a pass to reliable wide receiver Ricky Proehl, but Antwan Harris forced a fumble that Terrell Buckley recovered at the St. Louis 40 with 1:20 to go. It takes Brady 49 seconds to go five plays and the 40 yards, finishing the drive with an 8-yard strike in the back of the end zone to David Patten, making it 14-3 and stunning Rams fans in the crowd. Kicker Adam Vinatieri delivers a 37-yard field goal to make it 17-3 as the Patriots defense swallows up Warner, Faulk and company. But that will be severely tested in the fourth quarter as the Rams start warming up. They go 77 yards on 12 plays and chew up nearly seven minutes of time before Warner runs it in the end zone himself for a 2-yard score to make it 17-10. The Rams had gotten a break just before the score when Tebucky Jones recovers a Warner fumble and goes 97 yards for the score, but the TD is wiped out on a Willie McGinest penalty on the play. McGinest, though, atones for his mistake by making a big 16-yard sack on Warner on the next Rams' drive, forcing a punt. The Rams get the ball back one more time with 1:51 left. Warner wastes little time (21 seconds) to get three completions, the last being a 26-yarder to Proehl that ties the game at 17-all. With 1:30 to go and no timeouts, the first overtime Super Bowl is becoming evident. But Belichick and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis have other ideas. They give Brady the go-ahead to win the Super Bowl right here and now. From his 17, Brady hits J.R. Redmond with three dump-off passes to get to the 41 with 33 seconds left. Then Brady delivers a 23-yard strike to Troy Brown, who gets out of bounds. Brady then hits Jermaine Wiggins with a 6-yard pass to the 30 and then he spikes the ball with seven seconds left. That brings in Vinatieri, who delivers the 48-yard field goal on the final play of the game to give the Patriots their unthinkable victory and their first Super Bowl championship. Brady wins MVP honors by going 16-of-27 passing for 145 yards, while Smith goes for 96 yards on the ground and Law makes eight tackles and has the interception for the touchdown. Warner finishes 28-of-44 passing for 365 yards with one TD, but his two interceptions hurt in the end. And a dynasty is born.

6. Super Bowl XXV (N.Y. Giants 20, Buffalo 19, January 27, 1991, Tampa Stadium)

Seemingly, nothing could stop the Buffalo Bills on their way to the Super Bowl. They had flattened the Los Angeles Raiders in the AFC Championship, 51-3, and had offensive weapons most teams envied, starting with quarterback Jim Kelly and continuing with running back Thurman Thomas and wide receivers Andre Reed and James Lofton. Their defense was anchored by the NFL Defensive  Player of the Year, Bruce Smith, who had 19 sacks. There seemed to be nothing stopping these Bills from a date with destiny. Well ... almost nothing. New York Giants head coach Bill Parcells and offensive coordinator Ron Erhardt had the perfect remedy for the Bills' high-flying offense -- keep them off the field. They played ball-control offense with Jeff Hostetler, who became the team's starting quarterback after Phil Simms broke his foot, making passes when needed and running back Ottis Anderson handling the running duties. Looked good, too, on the first possession, one that chewed up 6:15 off the clock and led to Matt Bahr delivering a 28-yard field goal for an early 3-0 lead. But while the Giants were looking to make the game shorter, the Bills were looking to make the game more open. They marched six plays for 66 yards, but when they did get stopped by the Giants' defense, Scott Norwood came on to kick 23-yard field goal to even things up at 3-all. Early in the second quarter, the Bills looked to take command with Kelly driving the team 80 yards on 12 plays, ending it with a 1-yard scoring run by Don Smith, a former Mississippi State quarterback turned running back in the NFL. Two Giants possessions later, Hostetler got into trouble and was sacked in the end zone by Smith for a safety, making it 12-3. But just when it looked like the Bills would take over, Hostetler recovered and took the Giants on a 10-play, 87-yard drive late in the first half, finishing it out with a 14-yard TD pass to Stephen Baker with 25 seconds left, taking it to 12-10 in favor of the Bills at the half. This was big because the Giants got the ball to start the second half and kept Kelly and Co. on the sideline, driving 75 yards on 14 plays, mostly runs, and taking 9:29 off the clock before Anderson scored on a 1-yard plunge to give the Giants a 17-12 lead. The Bills would recover a couple of drives later and were back in the end zone when Thomas took a handoff from Kelly and dashed right, picked up some blocks and went into the end zone on a 31-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter, making it 19-17. Once again, though, the Giants had a "long-winded" answer for the Bills. In a game that saw them have the ball for just over 40 minutes, they took 7:32 off the clock, going 14 plays and 74 yards, half those yards passes by Hostetler to tight end Mark Bavaro. The Giants got to the Bills' 3, but when Cornelius Bennett broke up a third-down pass for the end zone, Parcells sent Bahr in to kick a 21-yard field go to take the lead back at 20-19. After the teams punted, the Bills had one last chance, starting from their 10 with 2:16 to go. It was Kelly at this best with short passes, while Thomas continued to gain yards on the ground, finishing the night with 135 yards on 15 carries. They got to the 29 with eight seconds to go, allowing Norwood to win the game for them. But Norwood pushed his kick wide right of the post and the Giants had their second Super Bowl in five seasons. Anderson was named MVP with 102 yards rushing on 21 carries and Hostetler finished 20-of-32 passing for 222 yards as a so-called "game manager." In an emotionally charged game at Tampa Stadium under the duress of the Persian Gulf War raging and an amazing rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" by Whitney Houston before the game, the emotion culminated with Parcells resigning as Giants coach after eight seasons. Two Giants assists on staff -- Bill Belichick and Tom Coughlin -- would go on to win a combined seven Super Bowl titles starting in 2001.

5. Super Bowl XXIII (San Francisco 20, Cincinnati 16, January 22, 1989, Joe Robbie Stadium)

The San Francisco 49ers and Cincinnati Bengals had given football fans a show seven years earlier in Detroit. This time around in much more tropical conditions, the teams heated up for a night to remember at Miami's Joe Robbie Stadium. San Francisco still had Joe Montana playing quarterback, but now had a receiving corps of Jerry Rice and John Taylor that had matured. A lot of the players from the Super Bowl wins in Detroit and Palo Alto, Calif., four years earlier against Miami, were still with the team. The Cincinnati Bengals had turned things around from 4-11 the year before to this game, led by 3,500-yard left-handed passer Boomer Esiason and running backs Ickey Woods and James Brooks. But they got a setback the night before when third-leading rusher and fullback Stanley Wilson was caught using cocaine in his hotel room and made inactive for the game. The Bengals also suffered another blow when rookie defensive standout lineman Tim Krumrie broke two bones in his ankle and was taken off the field in stretcher. The 49ers suffered a big blow when offensive lineman Steve Wallace broke his ankle. For nearly three quarters, this was a defensive struggle as 49ers kicker Mike Cofer (41 and 32 yards) and Bengals' kicker Jim Breech (34 and 43 yards) swapped field goals. But it was after Cofer's 32-yarder that things started heating up. Stanford Jennings took the kickoff and dashed 93 yards for the touchdown to give the Bengals a 13-6 lead with 34 seconds left before the end of the quarter. Kept under wraps by the stingy Bengals defense, Montana finally got untracked and took the 49ers 85 yards in four plays, finishing the drive with a 14-yard scoring strike to Rice to tie it at 13-all with 14:03 left in the game, moments after Bengals cornerback Lewis Billups dropped a sure interception in the end zone. Two Bengals possessions later, they took the lead back as Esiason, who failed to get the ball in the end zone the entire night, marched Cincinnati 46 yards on 11 plays as Breech kicked his third field goal, giving the Bengals a 16-13 lead with 3:20 to go. Things looked disastrous for the 49ers when on the ensuing kickoff, they could return it to the 16 and had it go back to the 8 on an illegal blocking penalty. Coming out to the huddle with his team, Montana looked up and thought he saw actor John Candy on the sideline, remarking to his teammates, "Hey, isn't that John Candy?" The tactic of distraction seemed to work and the 49ers began to march down the field. Mixing a pair of Roger Craig runs in with passes to Rice and tight end John Frank, Montana then threw a 13-yard pass to Craig to get to the Bengals' 35. An incompletion was followed by lineman Randy Cross penalty for being illegally down field put the 49ers at second and 20 from the 45. It was here where Montana connected with Rice and Rice evaded three tacklers to get to the Bengals' 18. An 8-yard pass to Craig got the ball to the Bengals' 10 with 39 seconds left. As Bengals coach Sam Wyche began to have a sinking feeling about what was to happen next, it was the wrong receiver who burned his defense in the end. Montana dropped straight back, then found Taylor on a slant-in play for the go-ahead touchdown with 34 seconds left. The Bengals had one final shot, but Esiason's pass to receiver Chris Collinsworth, playing his final game, fell incomplete. The 49ers had their third Super Bowl title of the decade as Montana finished 23-of-36 passing against the stingy Bengals defense for 357 yards and two TDs and teammate Rice earned MVP honors by hauling in 11 passes for 215 yards and a touchdown. Esiason had a long day, going 11-of-25 passing for 144 yards and an interception by Bill Romanowski. After the game, longtime 49ers coach Bill Walsh all but confirmed he was retiring after breaking down in tears after being asked that question of stepping away from the 49ers.

4. Super Bowl XXXIV (St. Louis 23, Tennessee 16, January 30, 2000, The Georgia Dome)

If you had picked the St. Louis Rams and Tennessee Titans to play in this particular Super Bowl, you would have made a lot of money off of it. The Rams, coached by third-year mentor Dick Vermeil, were the darlings of the 1999 season, especially after starting quarterback Trent Green had broken his ankle in a preseason game with the San Diego Chargers and Vermeil turned to former Arena Football League quarterback and former grocery store stock guy Kurt Warner to take over the reins of the team. Picked by many to be one of the worst teams in the league to start the season, the Rams got off to a 6-0 start before losing to the Tennessee Titans in Nashville, 24-21. Warner teamed up with receivers Isaac Bruce, Az-Zahir Hakim and Torry Holt, along with new running back Marshall Faulk, to form "The Greatest Show on Turf." The Titans, meanwhile, were maturing under quarterback Steve McNair and running back Eddie George. The Titans were a wild card team from the AFC Central and managed to make it to the AFC Championship, where they stunned the Jacksonville Jaguars, a team they beat three times that season to hand Jacksonville its only losses, 33-14, to make it to this game. For a game, though, that had so many offensive weapons, the only points put up in the first half were by Rams kicker Jeff Wilkins on field goals of 27, 29 and 28 yards. The Titans got going to start the second half, driving to St. Louis' 29, but Todd Lyght blocked Al Del Greco's 47-yard field goal to keep the Titans off the board. The Rams took the ball from there, marching 68 yards and finishing the drive with a 9-yard scoring strike by Warner to rookie Holt for a 16-0 lead. Still, after gaining some confidence from the drive before, McNair got the ball back and marched the Titans back the other way and ended a methodic 12-play, 66-yard drive with a George 1-yard run. A two-point pass attempt failed, keeping it 16-6. They kept the momentum going on the next drive, a 13-play, 79-yard drive that ended in a George 2-yard scoring run, making it 16-13 after the Del Greco extra-point kick. After stopping the Rams again, the Titans took over from their 47 after a punt and marched to the Rams' 25. Del Greco booted a 42-yard field goal with 2:12 left in the game to tie it up at 16-16. The possibility of the first-ever overtime Super Bowl loomed. Warner and Vermeil weren't thinking that way, though. On the first play after the kickoff at the Rams' 27, Warner dropped back and heaved a long pass toward Bruce, who hauled in the pass, then beat a couple of defenders to the inside then weaved outside to give the Rams the lead back at 23-16. The Titans, though, would get the ball back with 1:54 to go, but had to start at their own 12. McNair hit on a couple of completions for a first down, then after he scrambled for 12 yards, 15 more yards were tacked on when McNair's face mask was grabbed by Dre' Bly, putting the ball at the Rams 45. They'd get another first down, then on third and 5 from the 26, McNair scrambled out of trouble from two Rams pursuers. He was able to get a 16-yard pass to Kevin Dyson at the 10. Still in bounds, the Titans called their final timeout with six seconds left. For the final play, Titans coach Jeff Fisher called a slant-in for Dyson, trying to get in behind the Rams' linebacking crew. However, as McNair hit Dyson with the perfectly placed pass, linebacker Mike Jones stayed home and close to the play. He wrapped up Dyson and stopped him at the 1- yard line -- one yard short of paydirt and tying the game. The clock expired and te Rams had their first (and only) Super Bowl title. In winning game MVP honors, Warner was 24-of-45 passing for a then-record 414 yards and two TDs. McNair finished 22-of-36 for 214 yards and George rushed for 95 yards and two TDs. Vermeil retired from coaching the Rams and offensive coordinator Mike Martz would take over the team.

3. Super Bowl XLIII (Pittsburgh 27, Arizona 23, February 1, 2009, Raymond James Stadium)

One franchise had been here numerous times before, most recently three years earlier. The other franchise was a laughingstock until the 2008 season. Then that franchise, the Arizona Cardinals, once a team based in Chicago, then St. Louis, then finally in Phoenix, put everything together to win the NFC title behind veteran quarterback Kurt Warner, now guiding the Cardinals at 37 years old and with an array of wide receivers that were as favorable as in his days with the St. Louis Rams, led by Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and Steve Breaston. The Pittsburgh Steelers, five times a champion and most recently in 2006, were back in the big game under their third different coach (Mike Tomlin) and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who had matured in his five seasons with the team. He, too, had big-time targets with receivers Hines Ward, Nate Washington, Heath Miller and Santonio Holmes. But their defense was the trademark, led by safety Troy Polamalu, linebacker James Farrior and the NFL Defensive Player of the Year, linebacker James Harrison. The Steelers looked to have gotten the first touchdown of the game, but replay overturned Roethlisberger's 1-yard run, so the Steelers settled for an 18-yard field goal by Jeff Reed for a 3-0 lead. After getting the ball back from the Cardinals, the Steelers drove again, but this time finished the drive with a Gary Russell 1-yard scoring run to make it 10-0. Finally, Warner and the Cardinals offense got going. They drove the ball 83 yards on nine plays and ended the drive with a Warner TD pass to tight end Ben Patrick, cutting the lead to 10-7. Then two drives later, the Cardinals seemed to have a break when a Roethlisberger pass was tipped and intercepted by Karlos Dansby at the Steelers' 34. Warner got the Cardinals to the 1-yard line with 18 seconds left. On his next play, though, Warner looked for Boldin, but Harrison slipped in ahead of Boldin and picked the pass off. From there, Harrison darted and weaved his way through a maze of players on both teams to complete a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown, then the longest play in Super Bowl history, giving the Steelers a 17-7 lead at the break. Reed would add a 21-yard field goal, moving the Steelers up to 20-7 and one quarter away from the trophy. But with 7:33 left in the game, the Cardinals started their way toward making history. Warner finished an 87-yard drive by throwing a perfect fade pass to Fitzgerald over defender Ike Taylor to make it 20-14. Late in the game, Cardinals punter Ben Graham delivered a perfect punt to the Steelers' 1-yard line. On the first play after the punt, Roethlisberger dropped into his end zone and delivered a 20-yard pass to Holmes to get them out of danger. But center Justin Hartwig was detected of holding in the end zone and that meant an automatic safety to make it 20-16 and give the ball back to the Cardinals. They got the ball back on their 33, and two plays later, Warner called for a slant-in pass to Fitzgerald. He hit Fitzgerald in stride and the All-Pro receiver never broke stride in going 64 yards for the touchdown that gave the Cardinals a 23-20 lead and stunned Steelers fans. Still, with 2:37 to go, Roethlisberger had one more chance to at least tie the game with a field goal. From his 12 after a holding call against his team, Roethlisberger hit Holmes for two receptions and Washington for 11 yards. Eventually getting to the Cardinals' 46, Roethlisberger hit Holmes with a pass. When defender Aaron Francisco fell, Holmes went untouched until finally getting taken down at the 6 with 52 seconds to go. Two plays later, Roethlisberger dropped back to pass, but saw receiver Mewelde Moore and Ward both covered well. He found his third option, Holmes, in the corner of the end zone. It was there he found Holmes on a leaping catch. Holmes got both feet down in play for the touchdown with 35 seconds left. Warner, though, had one more shot left. He completed a 20-yard pass to Fitzgerald and a 13-yarder to J.J. Arrington, getting the ball to the Steelers' 44. But with 15 seconds left, Warner's arm was hit by linebacker LaMarr Woodley, causing a fumble that Brett Keisel recovered to finish it out. Holmes earned MVP honors with nine catches for 131 yards and the game-winner. Roethlisberger finished 21-of-30 passing for 256 yards and a TD and interception. Warner had another big game in the Super Bowl, throwing for 377 yards on 31-of-43 passing and the three TDs as well as the interception returned for a touchdown. The Steelers became the first franchise to win six Super Bowls.

2. Super Bowl XLII (N.Y. Giants 17, New England 14, February 3, 2008, University of Phoenix Stadium)

The 2007 New England Patriots were being anointed as the greatest team ever assembled. They did little wrong that season in amassing a perfect regular season, then playoff wins against Jacksonville and San Diego. With Tom Brady throwing for 50 touchdowns this season and a record-breaking 23 of them caught by Randy Moss, while the other receiver, Wes Welker, had 112 receptions and eight TDs, who was going to stop these Patriots from their date with destiny? Turns out the New York Giants, who gave the Patriots fits in the final game of the regular season before the Patriots won, 38-35, were the answer. Led by quarterback Eli Manning and defensive ends Osi Umenyiora and Michael Strahan, the Giants were back in the big game under fourth-year coach Tom Coughlin. Unlike the Patriots, the Giants had to stun their way through the playoffs as a wild card, beating Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay to make it to this game. And to show the Patriots they meant business on this Arizona evening, they drove the ball down the field on the longest Super Bowl drive in history -- nine minutes and 59 seconds, going 63 yards on 16 plays and featuring the conversion of four third-down plays. Kicker Lawrence Tynes ended the drive with a 32-yard field goal. The Patriots answered with a 12-play, 56-yard drive of their own and got help from linebacker Aaron Pierce on a third-down pass play when he interfered with tight end Benjamin Watson in the end zone, giving New England a first and goal from the 1. They cashed in as Lawrence Mahoney scored to give the Patriots a 7-3 lead. The Giants tried to answer in the second quarter, driving down to the Patriots' 19-yard line, but Manning was picked off by Ellis Hobbs. Late in the first half, Brady had the Patriots in Giants territory, but he was sacked on a pass attempt by Justin Tuck and Umenyiora recovered to end that threat. In the third quarter, the Patriots were faced with a fourth-and-13 call at the Giants 31. Instead of sending kicker Stephen Gostkowski to kick a 48-yard attempt, Patriots coach Bill Belichick went for it and came up short as Brady could not hit receiver Jabar Gaffney. With the ball to start the fourth quarter, Manning took to the Giants 80 yards on six plays, the big play in the drive a 45-yard hookup by Manning to rookie tight end Kevin Boss. Manning ended the drive by hitting little-known wide receiver David Tyree for a 5-yard strike to give the Giants a 10-7 lead with 11:05 to go. The Patriots got the ball back for a second time after the Giants' score with 7:54 left in the game at their 20. Passes to Moss and Welker got Brady a first down. A 9-yard run by Maroney got the ball to the 44. Then Brady hit Welker for another first-down pass and passes to Kevin Faulk and Welker had the ball to the Giants' 29-yard line. This would be followed by an 11-yard strike to Moss and a 12-yarder to Faulk, moving the ball to the Giants' 6. Two incompletions later, Brady took advantage of Giants defender Cory Webster slipping, allowing Moss to catch the touchdown uncontested that gave the Patriots a 14-10 lead with 2:42 to go. Ballgame over, right? Unbeaten season in the books, right? No one told Eli Manning to roll over, though. With 2:39 left and starting at his own 17, Manning began the drive with a pair of completions to Amani Toomer to the 37. The Giants were stuck at fourth and 1 at the 46. Brandon Jacobs took the handoff and got the first down to keep the drive going. Two plays later, Manning tried to find Tyree, but was nearly picked off by Asante Samuel. On the next play, Manning looked like he was in trouble and ready to go down for the sack. Somehow, though, he escaped attempts by Adalius Thomas, Richard Seymour and Jarvis Green and fired the ball down the field toward Tyree. Tyree went up against defender Rodney Harrison and caught the ball against his helmet for a first down at the Patriots' 24, a 32-yard reception. On third and 11, Manning hit rookie Steve Smith for a 12-yard gain at the 13 as he stepped out of bounds. From there, Manning dropped back and saw receiver Plaxico Burress badly beat Hobbs on a slant-and-go route and hit Burress in the back of the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown with 35 seconds to go, finishing an 83-yard, 12-play drive. The Giants stopped Brady on downs the next time he touched the ball and the 18-0 season became 18-1 as Miami Dolphins players from the memorable 1972 unbeaten Super Bowl championship team began to uncork champagne bottles in honor of remaining the lone unbeaten team. Manning earned MVP honors with 255 yards on 19-of-34 passing and two TDs. Brady was 29-of-48 for 266 yards and a TD, while Welker caught 11 passes for 103 yards.

1. Super Bowl LI (New England 34, Atlanta 28, OT, February 5, 2017, NRG Stadium)

Admit it -- midway through the third quarter, you thought this game was over. The Atlanta Falcons, the NFC champions, had thoroughly frustrated the New England Patriots and were now leading 28-3 with a quarter and a half to go. No one believed what was happening to the Patriots on the biggest of stages. By the end, though, no one would believe what happened to the Falcons after they got their big lead. Let's start with the first part of the game -- the one where the Falcons took the big lead. After Deion Jones stripped Patriots running back LaGarrette Blount of the ball and Robert Alford recovered on the Atlanta 29, quarterback Matt Ryan went to work, hitting Julio Jones for completions of 19 and 23 yards for first downs, then handing off to running back Devonta Freeman three times for the final 29 yards, the last run five yards for the touchdown that gave the Falcons a 7-0 lead. After a Patriots punt, Ryan pushed the Falcons toward the end zone again on a five-play, 62-yard drive with the last play a 19-yard strike to tight end Austin Hooper to make it 14-0. Three defensive holding calls against the Falcons allowed Brady to move the ball on the next drive. But on a third-down call, Brady was picked off by Alford, who brought the ball back 82 yards for the touchdown that made it 21-0 with 2:21 to go before halftime. Trying to get some dignity back before halftime, Brady and the Patriots marched 52 yards on 11 plays and got a Stephen Gostkowski 41-yard field goal to cut the lead to 21-3 at the half. But if there was any though the Patriots were on their way back, it wasn't right after halftime. They punted to the Falcons and Ryan led the offense on an eight-play, 85-yard march that saw Ryan hit running back Tevin Coleman for a 6-yard scoring strike. With the extra point good by kicker Matt Bryant, the Falcons led the Patriots, 28-3 with 8:31 left in the game.

Yes ... 28-3. That's when the second half of this game began.

It took Brady 6:25 to get his team down the field, but finally, the Patriots hit paydirt when Brady hit running back James White with a 5-yard TD pass. But even with the good, the bad lingered -- Gostkowski's extra-point kick hit the right upright and bounced away no good. But it was a start. The Patriots went for an onside kick, but failed in the attempt as LaRoy Reynolds recovered for the Falcons. In good shape to add to the lead, the Falcons went backward when a holding call against Jake Matthews was followed by a sack of Ryan by Trey Flowers and Kyle Van Roy, forcing Atlanta to punt. From his 13, Brady hit on four passes and ultimately landed at the Falcons' 7. However, two Grady Jarrett sacks of Brady forced coach Bill Belichick to send Gostkowski in to kick a 33-yard field goal, which he did, cutting the lead to 28-12. On the next Falcons possession, Dont'a Hightower got to Ryan and sacked him, forcing him to fumble. Alan Branch recovered the fumble for New England at the Falcons' 25. Five plays later, Brady hit receiver Danny Amendola for a 6-yard scoring strike. White took the two-point conversion from center and ran it in to cut the lead to 28-20 with 5:56 left to play. The Falcons started hot against the Patriots on the next possession -- a 39-yard pass by Ryan to Freeman was followed by a 27-yard strike from Ryan to Jones, putting the ball at the Patriots 22 with 4:40 left in the game and in perfect placement of a Bryant field goal that would all but clinch the win. But a 1-yard loss by Freeman was complicated further when the Falcons decided to pass and Ryan was sacked by Flowers for a 12-yard loss. The Falcons thought they'd get the yards back when Ryan hooked up with Mohamed Sanu for a 9-yard gain, but a holding call against Matthews ruined that idea and on third and 33, Ryan threw an incompletion, forcing the Falcons into a punt instead of what looked like a sure field goal. Matt Bosher delivered a punt that was

downed at the 9-yard line. Starting there with 3:30 left in the game, Brady hit receiver Chris Hogan with a 15-yard pass on a third-down play to give the Patriots a first down. After an 11-yard strike to Malcolm Mitchell, Brady looked like he would be intercepted by Alford again. But the ball went off his hands and Julian Edelman dove to catch the ball in one of the all-time great Super Bowl catches for a 23-yard gain to the Atlanta 42. Brady hit on passes to Amendola and White, getting the Patriots to the Falcons' 1. From there, White took a handoff and pounded the ball in to make it 28-26. Brady hit Amendola with the two-point conversion and the game was amazingly tied at 28-all. The Falcons opted to let the clock run out and force the first-ever overtime in Super Bowl history. The Patriots won the coin toss and opted to receive. After a touchback, Brady hit Amendola, White and Hogan to get the ball to the Falcons' 37. After White lost three yards on the next run, Brady hit Edelman for a 15-yard gain to the 25. White took a Brady pitch and ran to the 15, then after De'Vondre Campbell was detected for pass interference on tight end Martellus Bennett, the Patriots were set up at the Falcons 2 with first and goal. On the second play after Falcons linebacker Vic Beasley broke up a pass for Bennett, White took a handoff from Brady, got stopped at the 1, but managed to stretch out into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown. In earning a fifth MVP honor, Brady was a mind-blowing 43 of 62 passing for 466 yards, all records for the game, and two TDs. Ryan finished 17-of-23 passing for 284 yards and two TDs.

When teams leading by 17 or more points going to the fourth quarter, they were 133-0 in previous playoff games. The Patriots were the first team to break through and win.