By Gary Lambrecht 
Baltimore Sun, Sept 16, 1995

   After three quarters at Independence Stadium last night, the Baltimore Stallions seemed to be in cruise control. They held a three-touchdown lead over the Shreveport Pirates, the home fans were silent, quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver was struggling to play with a finger injury on his throwing hand, and victory looked like a forgone conclusion. But the Pirates refused to concede. Sparked by Chris Wright's lost fumble on a punt return early in the fourth quarter, Shreveport scored touchdowns on their first two possessions of the fourth quarter, leaving the Stallions scrambling to escape with a 24-17 victory before 12,455. The victory, the fifth straight for Baltimore (10-3), moved the Stallions within a victory of clinching a playoff spot and kept them firmly in first place in the Canadian Football League's Southern Division. It also proved to the Stallions that last-place Shreveport (4-9) is somewhat better than its record indicates.
   "People expected us to just come in here and blow people out. But I've been in this league long enough to know how tough it is to win in someone else's yard. They [Pirates] have some quality athletes," Baltimore quarterback Tracy Ham said. "We know how to shoot ourselves in the foot, but we win ballgames. Those little mistakes baffle me," Ham added. "But you don't have to win like a beauty queen. You just have to win." 
   The Stallions won because their defense and special teams, led by linebacker Matt Goodwin and punter Josh Miller, buried the Pirates throughout a first half in which Baltimore scored 18 unanswered points. They won because Miller averaged 57 yards on six punts, keeping the Pirates at bay. They won because Goodwin intercepted a pass, stopped a promising drive by forcing a fumble near the Baltimore goal line, then blocked a punt that teammate Brian White scooped up and ran 20 yards with for a touchdown - all in the first half. Mainly, they won because Ham played another outstanding game and kept his cool during the game's critical sequence. Ham's leadership was badly needed after the Pirates had cut Baltimore's 24-3 lead to 24-17 with 3:03 left in the game. Shreveport did it on a daring call. 
   On third-and-five at the Baltimore 38, backup quarterback Mike Pawlawski, who traded the position with Tolliver throughout the second half, pitched out to wide receiver Wayne Walker on an end-around play. Walker raced around the right side and down the sideline untouched for the score. That was preceded by running back Norman Bradford's 28-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter, after Wright's fumbled punt return. Tolliver, who began the game with six straight incompletions, set up the score with an 18-yard completion to Freeman Baysinger.
   Tolliver overcame a broken right pinky finger to complete eight of 17 attempts for 87 yards. But Ham was the star of the evening. He completed 16 of 28 passes for 269 yards. He rushed 11 times for 57 yards. On the same night, he went over 6,000 yards rushing and 28,000 yards passing in his career. And Ham saved the victory with clutch play in crunch time. After Walkter's score, a botched kickoff return gave Baltimore the ball at its 11. Ham dumped an 8-yard pass to Robert Drummond. Running back Mike Pringle, who returned after missing last week's game with a hamstring injury and rushed for 45 yards, gained four for a first down. Ham scrambled for 12 yards. After Pringle was dropped in the backfield for a 3-yard loss, Ham produced the game's biggest play, when he ducked under the rush of safety Anthony Shelton, stepped up in the pocket and hit slotback Chris Armstrong for a 26-yard gain over the middle.
   Two plays later, Ham ran four yards for another first down. After that, the Stallions ran out the clock. "There was no quit in them [Pirates], and that's a credit to them," Baltimore coach Don Matthews said. "they got the momentum back in the fourth quarter, and it's tough to get momentum back. That was a great third-down call [on the touchdown]. And our drive at the end was awesome." Said Ham: "The safety left that hole open down the middle, and Chris made the right read. That's Chris." The Stallions also won on a night when their defense, despite scoring a touchdown, knocking out Tolliver for most of the first half and shutting out the Pirates for 40 minutes, gave up an uncharacteristically high 197 yards rushing. Martin Patton gained 97 yards on 15 carries, and Bradford added 45 yards on three carries. Baltimore entered the game giving up an average of 63 rushing yards, second best in the CFL.

STALLIONS SHOW SPECIAL TOUCH 
Punter Miller pins Shreveport down

By Gary Lambrecht 
Baltimore Sun, Sept. 17, 1995

   The Baltimore Stallions pride themselves on strong special teams, and in Friday's 24-17 victory over the Shreveport Pirates, they were at their finest in that phase of the game. Start with the team's most valuable legs. Kicker Carlos Huerta, the Canadian Football League's leading scorer, made three of four field-goal attempts to help the Stallions take a 24-3 lead after three quarters. Punter Josh Miller, also the league's best, made his biggest impact in the first half. Miller, who averaged 57 yards on five punts in the half, ruined the Pirates' field position repeatedly. Miller's 52-yard punt went for a single that gave the Stallions an 8-0 lead with 5:47 left in the first quarter. Then, he broke out the heavy artillery in the second quarter.
   Miller had successive punts of 74 and 64 yards. The 74-yarder was especially important, coming after Baltimore had stopped Shreveport's first good drive by recovering a fumble on the Stallions' 3. Baltimore's offense then stalled at that spot. Miller, standing about 10 yards deep in the Baltimore end zone, forced the Pirates to start at their 40, or 70 yards from the Stallions' end zone. Two plays later, nose tackle Jearld Baylis sacked Shreveport quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver, who suffered a broken pinkie finger on his throwing hand on the play. "He [Miller] got them out of trouble every time. He did things I've never seen a punter do," Tolliver said.
   "Their punter gets the game ball." Linebacker Matt Goodwin probably deserves one, too. Immediately after Tolliver's injury, Goodwin blocked a Pirates punt that Brian White ran in for a touchdown from 20 yards, giving the Stallions a 15-0 lead midway through the second quarter. It marked Goodwin's eighth blocked punt in two seasons with Baltimore. 
   "I've been back there four or five times this year and missed it [the block]," said Goodwin, who thought about sitting out after his sore left hamstring flared up on Friday. "I finally got it right." That wasn't all for Goodwin, who was everywhere in the first half. He set up Baltimore's first score, a one-yard run by Mike Pringle, by intercepting Tolliver deep in Shreveport territory on the game's second play. Then, early in the second quarter, he stopped the Pirates by stripping Norman Bradford inside the Baltimore 5. Charles Anthony recovered.
   NOTES: Quarterback Tracy Ham was named CFL Offensive Player of the Week. He was 25 of 35 for 315 yards and two touchdowns against the Barracudas.....Baltimore's defense, which gave up a season high 197 yards rushing, produced four sacks and forced four turnovers....rush end Elfrid Payton, who led the Stallions with seven tackles, also had his first sack in three games....Pringle's 45 rushing yards marked his second-lowest output of the season. Despite that and missing last week's game, Pringle still leads the CFL comfortably with 1,277 rushing yards.....The Stallions have mailed playoff invoices to season ticketholders, who should receive the information by this weekend. The invoices include a two-game package with a payment deadline of Oct. 6. Baltimore needs to win one more game to clinch its second straight playoff berth. With three more wins, the Stallions would clinch the Southern Division and home-field advantage throughout the divisional playoffs. If Baltimore should sweep Shreveport and Saskatchewan in the next three weeks, it would head into its Oct.14 bye weekend with the division crown sealed.