Bert Schoose (left) survives Ken Whitesell's kamikaze puntless style while a different brand of football - Paydirt - fills the stadium behind them.	Ray Stakenas sweats against Nicole Reiff ... yes that Reiff. Now the truth can be told, Nicole made her father the player he is today by practicing with her dad.

Dan Dolan Jr. had a dazed look in his eyes as the first quarter of the Football Strategy Final ended. Bruce Reiff had just made mincemeat of his team and looked poised to run away with yet another WBC title. Dan leaned back in his chair and ran a hand through his hair. "That was brutal," he quipped, "like a manatee getting hit by a motorboat."

The road to the title match started on Wednesday evening as twenty grid-iron warriors arrived to match wits with one another. By evening's end, the field had been narrowed to seven-time champ Bruce Reiff (of course), and an unlikely Ray Stakenas. Ray usually doesn't make it past the first round, but that's fine with him as "one game of FBS is enough for the year." This year though, Ray decided to take in enough games to last him for the rest of the decade.

Ray started things off by taking on Nicole Reiff (yes, she is Bruce's daughter) and advanced after defeating her 16 to 10. Next he faced Bert Schoose, whom he pounded 38 to 17.  His next victim was Kevin Keller's aerial offense which fell 19 to 18.

Bruce's march to the semi-final saw him besting Craig Yope 24 to 21 before taking on Jeff Mullett, his teammate. Jeff made an attempt at competing before throwing in the towel and handing Bruce a 23 to 14 win. Next Bruce faced Josh Cooper who gave Bruce quite a scare as it took four quarters before he relinquished the lead.

Ray and Bruce faced off for a spot in the Final with Bruce quickly gaining the upper hand with two first quarter touchdowns. Ray was unable to advance against Bruce's strong defense and as the first half ended Bruce was up 17 to 0. In the third quarter both teams found the endzone leaving the spread still at 17 going into the final 15 minutes. Ray had made a terrific run, but he sensed it was at an end. A safety by Bruce sealed the game and he moved on to the Final with a resounding 26-7 win.

On Thursday evening, only eight coaches appeared for the second heat, a disappointment, to be sure, but at least it made bracketing easier. This semi-final match-up pitted Dan Dolan Jr. versus Bert Schoose. Dan's climb had been over the bodies of Bruno Passacantando, whom he defeated 20 to 16, and Michael Schoose. The victory over Michael was an exceedingly tough one as the game dragged on into sudden death overtime. Neither Dan nor Michael seemed able to get within scoring distance and as the game dragged on and on and on Dan finally kicked one through the uprights giving him the victory 24 to 21.

Bert had not been daunted by his defeat at the hands of Ray the preceeding evening, and made his way to the semi-final game by winning over Ryan Myslinski 20 to 13 and Erik Arneson 17 to 10. In both games, Bert had the lead by halftime and never relinquished it, surrendering only a single field goal after halftime.

Dan, coming off of his narrow victory over one Schoose, now prepared to play another. In the first half of the game, neither player could penetrate the endzone and they had to settle for field goals. As the half closed, Dan led 6 to 3. On the opening kickoff of the second half, Dan fumbled the ball, setting up Bert for an easy 9 TD yard pass with 12 minutes to go in the third. The rest of the quarter again saw tough defense by both teams and two missed field goal attempts leaving the score at Dan 6 and Bert 10. In the opening moments of the fourth quarter, Dan's offense finally came together and managed to punch into the endzone with 13:25 to go, putting him up 13 to 10. Neither player was able to make much headway the rest of the quarter and as the final seconds ticked down, Bert set up for the longshot, a 49 yard field goal. The dice were kind and with 15 seconds left Bert tied the game. The miracle kick only postponed his demise though as Dan won in overtime on a field goal of more reasonable distance.

Dan was obviously nervous, having to face the best FBS player at WBC, Mr. Reiff, and his nervousness showed. The first quarter was a romp for Reiff, who scored a touchdown on his opening drive, intercepted Dan on the next series and threw a 35 yard pass for a second touchdown. As the seconds of the first quarter ticked away, Bruce led 14 to zip and it looked like it was going to be an easy win.

Another steady drive by Bruce in the opening minutes of the second gave him another score, putting him up 21 to nothing. Then, for whatever reason, Dan decided that he should start playing football instead of ogling the cheerleaders on the sidelines. In an impressive display of play calling, he managed, with five minutes left in the half, to score two touchdowns and cut the lead to 7 at the intermission.

During Dan's first possession of the second half he fumbled the ball on the power off tackle play setting Reiff up for an easy field goal. The rest of the quarter was a see-saw battle with neither team able to make much headway. An interception by Dan with 3 minutes left set up some momentum that carried him into the fourth quarter.

Reiff still led 24 to 14, as the 4th quarter started but Dan was driving and managed to add a field goal with 10:45 left. On the following kick-off, Bruce's special teams gave him excellent field position on the 50, but Dan's defense only allowed another field goal. Dan's offense then marched down the field to cut the lead to 3 with only 2:30 left on the clock. The ensuing on-sides kick was recovered by Bruce who tried to run out the clock. Dan managed to stop him but in the process used all of his time-outs. There was only 1:15 left in the game for Dan's offense, who got the ball one final time. The tension was palpable as Dan set up his team for a passing play to cover the distance needed to get in field goal range. Bruce, however, anticipated his move and intercepted the ball on the down and in pass, effectively ending the game. The final score was 27 to 24 and Bruce had yet another FBS plaque to add to his collection of coasters.

Kevin Keller is in cheesehead uniform for the game - right down to his Favre jersey.	Jim Vroom and Joe Powell, a couple Football Strategy League veterans, relive past battles.