1955 AFL Championship

A relatively mild mid-December evening allowed for Washington and Cincinnati fans to flock in droves to Washington Stadium, overflowing the stadium to watch two bitter rivals fight it out for the championship. Another title for the hometown Federals would cement themselves as the next-best team behind Chicago challenging them for AFL supremacy, while a title for the Rivermen would put themselves firmly up with the contenders of the league, and their first professional title in nearly 2 decades.

Q1
The Federals would start out with the ball after the Rivermen deferred their kickoff to the second half. QB Johnnie Sellers would start out doing what he does best: exploit the secondary to move their way downfield. It was not the immediate start that the home crowd wanted to see, but the Federals were relatively quick, moving 60 yards in about 5 minutes. RB Rip Rooney would run around the end of the offensive line and the Rivermen defense for the final eight yards and the score. K Eugene Hickman would not make the extra point, so Washington would take the early 6-0 lead. Cincinnati would ensue on a long and grueling drive, with QB Lester Parker relying on the RB tandem of Perry Ferguson and Billy Garcia to move their way across the field. It was a grueling 80 yard, 11 play drive, capped off by RB Perry Ferguson diving in from 1 yard out to tie the game. K Brian Singer would drive the ball through the uprights to take a 1 point lead. The Federals would quickly get their offense going, converting three straight first downs of 10 yards or more to get within the 30. However, two incompletions and a loss of 1 yard forced K Eugene Hickman onto the field for the lead. Hickman’s kicking woes continued, as he shanked the kick to the left and the Federals remained behind by a point. Cincinnati wasted no time with the given opportunity, as QB Lester Parker tossed a pass to WR Alfred Dunn over the middle on the ensuing first down, and Dunn ran by every Washington defender on his way to a 69-yard touchdown. The Rivermen would get their extra point, and go up two possessions at the end of the first quarter.
CIN 14, WAS 6

Q2
Washington would not be deterred by their special teams woes, embarking on a drive that only took the first 5 minutes of the second quarter. QB Johnnie Sellers executed some excellent passing, efficiently moving the ball almost to the endzone. They were stopped at the 1 yard line, but RP Rip Rooney plowed his way up the middle for the score. K Eugene Hickman would finally get his first good kick of the day, putting the game back within a point for the home team. The Rivermen would unfortunately be forced to put the ball away after almost crossing midfield, giving Washington just enough time to potentially put themselves back on top. The Federals made a first down but were stopped on a third and medium to get within Hickman’s range. RB Daniel Wall would take a handoff to the outside, but was stopped by LB Jeff Blankenship. Blankenship would knock the ball loose while tackling Wall, and a scrum ensued to claim the ball. Cincinnati LB Edgar Abney was at the bottom of the pile with the ball, and the Rivermen had one last shot to score before the end of the half. QB Lester Parker got the ball moving on, dumping it off to RB’s Perry Ferguson and Billy Garcia, but looked deep on a second down and found WR Chris Marks streaking down the sideline. Parker threw a bullet to Marks, who narrowly caught the ball and tip-toed in bounds for a huge gain of 33 yards. The Rivermen would run just 1 more play before letting K Brian Singer on field to kick a short field goal, nailing the kick to take the lead as the half expired.
CIN 17, WAS 13

Q3
The Rivermen were re-energized after extending their lead at the half, as QB Lester Parker would command a drive that took them nearly the entire length of the field to begin the second half. Parker would float a short pass to TE Floyd Rankin, who trotted in the remaining 11 yards for the touchdown. Each team proceeded to go three-and-out on the next three drives, leaving Washington with the ball with half the quarter left. The Rivermen defense finally broke, with QB Johnnie Sellers dumping the ball off to TE Bill Danowski for a big gain to put them inside the 30. After a draw play by RB Rip Rooney that put them past the 20, Sellers looked to the endzone and found a wide-open Daniel Wall in the back. Wall caught the ball, but couldn’t get both of his feet inbounds to secure the catch. Sellers tried the same play once again on third down but this time it sailed incomplete. The Federals remained behind for the time being, as K Eugene Hickman’s kick was good from short. It was now time for Cincinnati’s offense to get going, beginning with a 21 yard scorcher from Parker to WR Alfred Dunn to get them past midfield. They pivoted to the run game, which did not work out as well as Cincinnati had wanted, only getting a single first down before sending K Brian Singer for the 32 yard field goal. The ball sailed directly through the uprights, once again giving the Rivermen a two possession lead.
CIN 27, WAS 16

Q4
After a brief spark of offense at the end of the third quarter, punts continued to rain down on the field for the first half of the final frame. That action would fade with the Cincinnati Rivermen facing a third and short directly at midfield. RB Billy Garcia took the handoff up the middle and nearly found himself with open space, but got clobbered by LB Howard Treadaway as soon as he passed the defensive line. The ball came loose, and S Josh von Bank was right there to scoop up the ball. He got himself to the outside and outran the remaining Rivermen chasing him down for the 50 yard score. Cincinnati took their time, believing that the more time they took off the clock the less of a chance the Federals would have to get that go-ahead touchdown. The Rivermen stole around 5 minutes off the clock, leaving just enough for Washington to potentially mount a game-winning drive. The Federals got going when they needed to, as QB Johnnie Sellers found WR Joseph Atkins for a 26 yard gain to start the drive off strong. That momentum would unfortunately die off quickly after, but K Eugene Hickman chipped in a field goal so that they would only need another one if they got the ball back. If they were to get the ball back, they would either need to force the Rivermen to punt or force a turnover for favorable field position. Cincinnati would recover the kickoff, and was just about to close out the game, but a pass from Parker to Dunn on second down was swatted away at the last second by DB Johnathan Moon. The Rivermen would attempt once again to seal the game on a crucial 3rd and 8. Parker would look to his left and right, and tossed it to WR Anthony Wheatland over the middle. Wheatland would nearly get the first, but was met by LB Russell Bauer who then began to take him down. As Wheatland was beginning to extend the ball for the first, DB Alan Small came in to finish the tackle, knocking the ball loose as it came across the line. The Federals would quickly jump on top of the ball, but whistles sounded almost immediately after Wheatland extended the ball over the line, with the referees ruling that he was down and awarded him the first down. Washington players and fans were livid at the ruling, with boos raining down from the stands as Washington head coach Irving Barry angrily pleading the referees for a second view to no avail. The Rivermen would run out the remaining clock to clinch their first title since 1934 in the Championship.
CIN 27, WAS 26

 

 

Post-game ceremonies were delayed due to some extremely rowdy Washington fans hurling anything ranging from insults to beer bottles at the referees after a controversial call that cost them a second title. After controlling the crowds to a manageable level, league president Donovan Hasenkamp would hand the championship trophy to game MVP Lester Parker, who threw for 218 yards and 2 TD’s while keeping the Cincinnati offense under control for the entire game. While the Rivermen were celebrating their title win, Washington coach Irving Barry was already being interviewed by the local papers. “That was the worst jobbing I have ever seen in nearly two decades of pro football,” said the livid Barry. “It was a disgrace to permit that pass from Parker to Wheatland. [Wheatland] was in the grasp of two of our players and upright and fumbled. We got it. They said it was a fast whistle.” What was supposed to be a crowning achievement for one team only fueled the fire between these two teams’ rivalry.