FIRE AT HIS FEET – Ron Porter (50) of the Chicago Fire reaches behind himself in an attempt to trip up Charlie Harraway (31) of Birmingham Americans during first quarter WFL action Thursday night at Chicago. Harraway eluded Porter and ran for three-yard gain and a first down on the play. (AP Wirephoto)

Americans near perfect win

Except for getting a “little greedy” near the end of the first half, Jack Gotta thought his Birmingham Americans played a perfect game Thursday night when they turned back the Chicago Fire in a pivotal World Football League game.

“There’s no doubt that this was a big game for us,” said Gotta. “It was against a team in our division and in their own backyard.”

The victory enabled the undefeated Americans, who boosted their record to 8-0, to open a two-game gap over the Fire which had to settle back to a tie for second with Memphis at 6-2.

“It might have been our best defensive effort of the season,” said Gotta. “We played a good team and might have shut them out if we hadn’t gotten a little greedy.”

The Americans got a “little greedy” near the end of the first half. They were leading 14-0 on a two-yard touchdown run by Jimmy Edwards and a 19-yard touchdown pass from George Mira to Paul Robinson.

With less than a minute to go in the first half, Matthew Reed went in to throw a bomb only to have Harry Howard intercept.

Fire Quarterback Virgil Carter went into action and completed three straight passes for 65 yards in 27 seconds capped by a 28-yard scoring aerial to Jim Scott. Carter then hit Jack Dolbin with the action point to cut Birmingham’s lead to 14-8 and put Fire back into the game before a hopeful home crowd of 44,732.

Still the Americans never panicked and after a scoreless third quarter, they marched 66 yards in nine plays late in the game to clinch it on a three-yard run by Art Cantrelle.

The Americans rushed 46 times for 212 net yards while the Fire had only 18 attempts for 70 yards.

Cantrelle, out of Louisiana State and formerly of the Canadian Football League, set up his own touchdown with runs of 6 and 22 yards.

“Man the blocking was something else,” said Cantrelle. “Our offensive line and Charlie Harraway really did all the work. All I had to do was walk.”

Before Cantrelle’s clinching touchdown, the Americans were hit with a costly penalty.

“We didn’t lose confidence or our poise,” said Mira. “The penalty didn’t stop us. We just came back and moved the ball well. I went to Alfred Jenkins a lot because of man-to-man coverage.

“Sure, we would have been happy to have a 14-0 lead at the half,” said Mira, “but we wanted to put another score on the board. The fact that they scored and it was 14-8 made us come out to do something about it.”

Mira, a veteran of the National Football League with five years with San Francisco and shorter stays with Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Miami said, “I really enjoy this league. It’s more wide open and exciting. I like the idea of wide open play.”

Mira and Carter of the Fire did their best to keep it a wide open game despite the lack of scoring. Mira completed 12 of 28 passes for 139 yards while Carter hit on 18 of 43 for 263 yards.

“Birmingham has a solid team in all areas,” said Carter, also a former NFL player. “They have good offense, defense and a fine kicking game.”

Jim Spavital, coach of the Fire, said “They simply controlled the ball against us and our defense was in the game 80 percent of the time. They put the pressure on us.”