Quarterback Virgil Carter threw three touchdown passes to lead Chicago to a 29-22 victory over the Portland Storm.

Game 3: Portland Storm (W 29-22) – July 24, 1974 at Portland

Virgil Carter shook the Chicago Fire out of its early raggedness with his passing en route to a 29-22 victory over the winless Portland Storm before 19,359 in Civic Stadium. It was Chicago’s third victory in a row and left the Fire tied for first in the Central Division of the World Football League with powerful Birmingham. Portland is 0-3.

For the night, Carter completed 10 of 18 passes for 206 yards scattering passes to seven different receivers. He threw touchdown passes to Running Backs Mark Kellar (a swing pass that Kellar turned into a 51 yard romp) and Cyril Pinder (for just one yard) and a 69-yard-bomb to speedy James Scott for the nights longest score. Pinder added another TD with a 4-yard run for Chicago’s highest scoring triumph of the young season.

“That Virgil Carter is one fine quarterback, “ Portland Coach Dick Coury said of the veteran of six National Football League campaigns.

For the Storm, the loss was a bitter pill. Again key mistakes thwarted them from victory.

“Damn, 22 points should be enough to win in football,” Storm Couch Dick Coury exclaimed. “ Any time you make the mistakes we did and give up the big touchdowns, you can’t win.”

“We gave up some cheap touchdowns, like that last one [69-yard to Scott],” Coury said. “The safety tried for the interception instead of playing it safe.”

Portland made it a game late in the second half adding two touchdowns to pull within 7 points. But, it was not enough. The 69 yard strike to Scott proved to be a dagger that the Storm could not overcome.

Joe Womack, whose 1 yard run last week, was a pivotal turning point in the Fire’s victory over the Jacksonville Sharks, was the defensive star of the game. Womack lead the Fire in tackles with eight, blocked a field goal attempt, recovered a fumble and intercepted a Greg Barton pass. Womack also returned kicks and is the holder for Chuck Ramsey on field goal attempts.

Portland scored first when ex-Detroit Greg Barton found Greg Specht for an 18 yard scoring strike. The action try was missed to make the score 7-0.

After a stalled drive by the Fire, the Storm were again on the march.

Defensive end Ken Sanduk recovered a Barton fumble at the Chicago 45-yard line to stall the drive.

It was one of the few bright spots for the Fire defensive line who was not able to get much pressure on Barton, who completed 8 of 9 passing attempts in the first half.

“I am a little surprised our defensive line has played so well during the first two games,” said Fire publicist Jim Walker. “I’ve said all along that they’re very young and that would be one of our problem spots. The played well the first two games but not tonight.”

The Fire scored on the next series. With the ball at the 45, Carter connected with Tight End Don Burchfield for a short gain to move the ball to midfield.

Virgil Carter then connected with Kellar on a short pass that Kellar took 50 yards to tie the score. Taking the screen pass, Kellar broke a tackle and evaded on potential tackler and then rumbled the rest of the way for the score. Carter followed that with a flip pass to Pinder who waltzed in easily to score the Action Point. The Fire led 8-7.

On the next drive by Portland, Joe Womack blocked Ken Clark’s punt at the Portland 45 again setting up Carter and the Fire with good field position. One play later Pinder rambled 26 yards to the 19. Kellar gashed Portland for 14 more yards to the five. Carter completed a short pass to Pinder who took it the rest of the way to put the Fire in front 15-7.

Mistakes haunted Portalnd all night. Two minutes later, Womack pounced on a fumble by Running Back Marv Kendricks at the Storm 30, but the Fire failed to move the ball. Ramsey missed a field goal for the second time in two weeks.

The Fire would get the ball back and move the ball down field behind the running of Pinder, who finished the drive with a 4 yard run to close out the third quarter. The score was 22-7

Portland rallied in the fourth quarter to make it a game taking advantage of suspect Fire kick coverage.

Storm Running Back Rufus Ferguson had kick returns of 40 and 61 yards to the Storrm in excellent field position.

Fortunately, the Fire defense stood strong. After a 40 yard return in the Third Quarter, Hal Phillips blocked a 42-yard Ken Clark field goal attempt to squealch one threat.

Rufus Ferguson’s 61 yard kick return almost resulted in a score. Only a Joe Womack tackle prevented the touchdown.

Womack, voted the game’s Most Valuable Defensive player, was cut down by a Marty Schottenheimer block.

Womack said that if Schottenheimer hadn’t held him down so long, “I probably would have been sucked into the flow and Ferguson would have scored.”

But the damage was done. Running back Marv Kendricks added a 1 yard touchdown. A failed Barton pass made the score 22-14.

Ferguson was difficult for the Fire to corral all night. In a replay of their struggles with Tommy Durrance’s quick cuts, Ferguson was able to get huge runs against the Chicago defense tallying 54 yards on only 6 carries.

“We didn’t scout that little old draw play that Ferguson ran on us,” Spavital said.

The Fire offense did just enough to hold on. Storm Backup quarterback Don Van Gelder marched 80 yards in the final minutes and found Ferguson on a three yard touchdown pass. But, by that time it was too late. Van Gelder added the action point passing to Christensen as time expired. The Final score as Chicago 29- Portland 22.

“We were real fortunate to win tonight,” said Fire Head Coach Jim Spavital. “Portland’s a better football team than people give them credit for being. They’ve improved a little every week and they’ll end up being a find club.”

The question for the Chicago Fire is how much have they improved? After narrowly escaping defeat against Jacksonville last week, the Fire offense and defense looked very average against the winless Storm. The huge kick returns seem to point to additional troubles. The Fire are 3-0, but just how good are they?

The Fire next play in Honolulu against the Hawaiians.

Game Notes/Injuries:

The Fire ground game shows signs of coming to life. Behind Kellar and Pinder, the Fire ran for 166 yards on 42 carries.

The Fire's rookie WR continue to be a dangerous threat: James Scott had 3 catches for 89 yards while little receiver Jack Dolbin had 3 catches for 58 yards.

For the second straight week, Fire kicker Chuck Ramsey missed a field goal attempt.