The New Jersey Generals’ season came to a close Sunday in a stunning loss to the Philadelphia Stars.
New Jersey, which was tied with the Birmingham Stallions for the best regular season record at 9-1, fell to the Stars, 19-14, on Saturday in the USFL playoffs in Canton, Ohio. The loss also snapped the Generals’ nine-game winning streak.
Philadelphia, which earned just its second win against an over-500 team this season, punched its ticket to the USFL championship game next Saturday, where it will face the Birmingham Stallions, 31-17 winners over the New Orleans Breakers.
The championship will be in Canton on July 3 at 7 p.m. on FOX.
Luis Aguilar’s 39-yard field goal gave the Stars a 3-0 first-quarter lead. In the second quarter, Philadelphia took advantage of an Mazzi Wilkins interception of Luis Perez that was returned 83 yards to the 13-yard line. They capped off the short drive on an 8-yard rushing touchdown by quarterback Case Cookus to take a 10-0 leading heading into halftime.
Philadelphia Stars players Chris Rowland (12), Maurice Alexander (13) and Amani Dennis celebrate during the fourth quarter their 19-14 USFL playoff win over the Generals. Photo by Emilee Chinn/USFL/Getty ImagesIn the third quarter, Generals linebacker Mike Bell intercepted Cookus and returned it 19 yards to the Generals’ 14-yard line. New Jersey took advantage of a turnover and scored a touchdown on a 1-yard Darius Victor run to cut the deficit to 10-7.
The Generals, who defeated the Stars 26-23 in the teams’ regular-season finale last week, received a jolt from USFL MVP KaVontae Turpin, who returned a punt 78 yards for a touchdown to give New Jersey a 14-10 lead in the fourth quarter.
But that was all the scoring for the Generals, as Aguilar hit another field goal, this one from 29 yards, to cut the deficit to 14-13. The Stars special teams then made a big play of their won as Maurice Alexander had an 88-yard punt return to give the Stars a 19-14 lead — the final margin of victory.
