The USA dominated Canada to retain its crown in international football, blasting Canada 50-7 at the 2011 IFAF World Cup Final Saturday night in Vienna, Austria.
On its opening drive, the US drove all the way down the field, with Nate Kmic scoring on a 2 yard run. On its ensuing drive, Michael Faulds nearly missed on a deep throw that got behind the US defenders. That was the closest the Canadians would get to threatening to unseat the US team all night.
A key play in the game occurred with 8 minutes remaining in the 2nd quarter. Trailing 7-0, Canada had driven from its own 28 mostly on passes from Faulds and runs form Walters. With 2 and 7 at the US 10, Faulds scrambled and fumbled just short of the goal line. The ball hit the pylon, so it was ruled a touchback.
Matt Bassuener drove the US down the field, completing the drive with a 23 yard TD run to make it 14-0.
Things went downhill quickly for the Canadians from there. They went backwards on their next possession, so on 4th and 31 from their own 9, they decided to take a safety. DeWayne Lewis took the kick back 47 yards to the Canada 32. Four plays later, Hawkins ran in from 7 yards out to make it 23-0 with 1:51 remaining in the half.
The Canadians went 3 and out, and they US came back and scored in three plays, as Hawkins connected with Joe Sturdivant to bring it to 30-0 with 0:40 remaining.
34 seconds later, Canada was finally able to get on the board with a 19 yard pass from Faulds to David Stevens with 6 seconds left in the half. Canada decided to try for an onside kick- the US recovered and made the Canadians pay for it on a 38 yard pass from Cody Hawkins to Ricardo Lenhart as time expired to bring the score to 37-7.
Both coaches tried hard to keep their teams motivated at half time, and the second half was physical, but lacked much of the scoring of the first half.
Kmic and Harry Harris added TDs in the 3rd quarter, with the only blemish being a missed extra point. Greg Berkshire made his other 6 extra points. A final Canadian drive was stopped just short of the goal line as time expired.
Canada seemed to lack some of the composure it had showed in beating Japan on Wednesday afternoon. They fumbled twice and suffered two costly interceptions, and gave up 69 yards on 7 penalties (while the US had 78 yards, with no turnovers.
Harris gained 114 yards on 15 carries and was named game MVP, and the US ended up with 257 yards on the ground, and 183 yards passing. Cody Hawkins went 13-21 and 2 TDS. Faulds went 16-28 for 161 yards.
Nate Kmic had 49 yards on 8 carries and another 42 yards on 5 receptions, and was named World Cup MVP.
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