The rays of the morning sun cut through the thin mist that hung over the WBC field. It had been far too long since the green turf had felt the bite of cleats and tasted the salty sweat of competition; too long since the roar of victory and cries of despair had echoed along its sidelines. But the field knew that now it was time. Time for the champions of yesteryear and the rookies of today to meet on its hallowed ground and determine the victor of tomorrow. Time for Football Strategy.

Wednesday's heat got off to a rousing start as two past champions went at it with Paul O'Neil getting the best of his nemesis, Bruce Reiff, and forcing the master of the grid iron to rearrange his schedule for the suddenly needed second heat if he was to defend his title.

Another prominent Wednesday match-up pit Ray Stakenas II and Bill Cleary. In a big upset, Ray came out on top, besting the two-time champ by 22 points. During the second quarter Bill learned that scoring a touchdown only infuriated Ray's offense which responded by scoring back-to-back touchdowns. As Bill said, "It's hard to win when you give up 43 points."

Ray continued his drive towards wood by meeting Dave Rynkowski in a brutal game that saw four interceptions and a fumble. Unfortunately for Dave, Ray recovered four of those turnovers, one leading to a touchdown and another to a field goal. "It was tough," Ray commented, "my goal line offense needs work." This was to prove telling later on. Nonetheless, Ray had managed to advance to the final four where he would meet the Cinderella story of the year.

From humble beginnings, Jason Levine was a long shot. Admittedly having only played five times hence, he persevered through two games, one against a former champion, to find himself facing Art Davis. Art took an early lead with a field goal, but Jason stormed back in the second quarter to go up by seven points. The third quarter saw Art score a touchdown, and although Jason couldn't find the end zone for the second half, his kicker came through for nine additional points. It was the telling factor and Jason moved on.

In his next round Jason found himself opposite Ken Whitesell, the man whose vocabulary does not contain the word 'punt'. Once again, Jason's kicker scored nine points in the first half and his defense held Ken scoreless. Ken decided at the half to switch to an aerial offense which caused Jason some discomfort since he had to readjust his game plan. Ken came on strong in the fourth to score ten, but a fumbled kickoff late in the fourth gave Jason a scoring opportunity and the game.

Now Jason faced Ray and the victor would advance to the final. It was a close game with both scoring first quarter touchdowns. In the second quarter Jason's offense found pay dirt while Ray had to settle for a field goal. In the third quarter a spectacular punt return by Ray put his offense on Jason's one yard line. His goal line offense, however, was unable to convert in four downs against Jason's defensive line. In the fourth quarter Ray finally managed to punch in a touch down but Jason's offense marched down the field to make the winning score. "It was a tight game," Jason acknowledged, "we had three ties in this game." When Ray was pressed he echoed the sentiments of both Art and Ken. "One thing holds true," he said shaking his head, "s- happens."

On Friday morning the second heat commenced with a few new faces joining the familiar returnees from Wednesday still pursuing glory. Ray II, seeking vengeance against Jason, once again broke into the elite eight. A leak from within his organization revealed that the hiring of a professional psychic had enabled him to defeat his previous opponents this day. But now he was facing Kevin Keller, who had taken the precaution of encasing his head with tinfoil to thwart the machinations of Ray's clairvoyant. Without the aid of his soothsayer, Ray was only able to connect twice, once in the first and then late in the fourth. Kevin, meanwhile, managed to score three touchdowns -- two off of interceptions, and two field goals -- one resulting from a blocked punt.

Kevin advanced to the final four where he met Stuart Tucker, a fellow AH football league alumni, who earlier that morning had upset five-time champion Bruce Reiff for the second time in a close match that went down to the final minutes. Apparently, Stuart had spent all his offensive energy on defeating the top dog: a field goal late in the first was to be his only score the entire game. From the second quarter on, Kevin took command of the field, scoring five unanswered touchdowns. At the end of the game Stuart seemed unfazed. "It's been a good playoff season," he said smiling. "Don't let this defeat diminish my team's accomplishments. We're happy to have gotten this far over Reiff's dead body!" And Kevin? "I'm just happy to be playing for wood," he said leaning back in his chair.

And so the stage was set for the final showdown between Jason and Kevin, to determine the crown. A touchdown midway through the first quarter put Kevin up, but only momentarily as Jason quickly answered with a score of his own. Early in the second Kevin kicked one through the uprights for three. Then, in the following drive, a costly mistake by Jason's offense gave Kevin an interception that led to a quick touchdown. It was to be Kevin's last touchdown of the game. Jason's next drive ate up nearly eight minutes off the clock, but only netted a field goal. Kevin responded with a field goal of his own to end the half.

The third quarter found Jason unable to make any headway against Kevin's stout defense which forced two interceptions, both of which led to field goals, and ended up being the only scores during the third quarter. Within the first three minutes of the fourth quarter Jason found the end zone and connected on the two point conversion. A little over three minutes later, after stopping Kevin's offense, he was once again in possession of the football, and had a chance to tie the game. His drive was cut short, however, when he fumbled the ball and Kevin recovered. A few plays later, Kevin's kicker split the uprights for the fifth time and put him up by 11 points. With three and a half minutes left in the game Jason's situation was desperate and he needed two scores to pull out a win. However, Kevin's iron defense had other ideas and ground out the clock forcing Jason to take a shot at a field goal, which went wide - thus ending any hope of a miracle comeback. It was Kevin's third wood and his first in five years. It was also the first time that he was the last man standing in a Football Strategy event - having competed in the Baltimore league for 13 years and the WBC tournament since.

It was a stunning year. A year of Cinderella stories, upsets, and grim determination. A year that saw amazing drives and stubborn goal line stands. A year where special teams both flopped and performed impossible feats. In short, it was a year worthy of WBC Football Strategy.