49er Victory Climaxes Dream Season

Joe Montana and Ray Wersching led the San Francisco 49ers to their first Super Bowl championship yesterday with a commanding 26-21 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich.

Montana, in just his third NFL season, ran for one touchdown and passed for another while leading his team to a 20-0 halftime edge. Wersching's four field goals provided the rest of San Francisco's scoring.

The 49ers capitalized on all four Cincinnato turnovers, driving to scores after two fumbles and two interceptions. Ironically, the Bengals led the league in fewest turnovers committed this season.

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San Francisco's secondary, which includes three rookies, contained the passing attack of league MVP Ken Anderson. The 49er linemen aided their backs, sacking Anderson four times.

Bengal fullback Pete Johnson, who had terrorized defenses all year, couldn't bulldoze his way through San Francisco's line. A dramatic goal-line stand late in the third quarter silenced a Bengal rally and symbolized the 49ers' domination of the trenches.

The first big play by the San Francisco defense, an interception by safety Dwight Hicks on his own five-yard line, illustrated both the first-half luck of San Francisco and the numerous errors committed by Cincinnati.

Amos Lawrence had fumbled the opening kickoff for San Francisco, giving the Bengals point-black field position on the 26. But Anderson tried to force a pass to his tight end over the middle, and Hicks stepped in front to make the interception.

From there, Montana led the 49ers on a 68-yard drive to the game's first score. After completing five of six passes on the 11-play march, which included a flea flicker to tight end Charle Young, Montana drove over from the one with nine minutes gone in the first period.

Another Bengal turnover deep in 49er territory began the drive to San Francisco's second touchdown during the second quarter. Cincinnati's heralded rookie wide receiver Cris Collinsworth fumbled a pass from Anderson after being hit at the eight-yard line. Lynn Thomas, yet another rookie, recovered the ball for the 49ers.

The ensuing 12-play drive was the longest in Super Bowl history, covering 92 yards in all. A 15-yard penalty on Cincinnati's Jim LeClair for unnecessary roughness positioned the 49ers for the score, which came on an 11-yard pass from Montana to fullback Earl Cooper.

The 49ers increased their lead to 20-0 with two more field goals in the last 15 seconds of the half. After Wersching had kicked the first from 22 yards, he squibbed the kickoff, a tactic which makes the skidding ball difficult to return.

This strategy worked perfectly for San Francisco, as Archie Griffin of the Bengals fumbled the kick and his brother, Ray Griffin, also mishandled it. The 49ers' Milt McColl, a reserve linebacker, finally recovered the ball in a large pileup at the Cincinnati four.

After a five-yard penalty, Wersching converted a 26-yarder for three more points. The 20-point advantage San Francisco enjoyed at halftime was the largest lead any team has ever held in a Super Bowl.

The game's changing momentum, however, sufficed to keep interest high during the second half. On their first possession the Bengals put together an impressive 83-yard drive, which included a flea flicker of their own. Anderson scored on a six-yard run on a boot-leg play to cut the lead to 20-7.

The Bengals got the ball back moments later as the 49er offense began to stall, and a 41-yard bomb from Anderson to Collinsworth put Cincinnati in business on the 14. But Pete Johnson, after picking up a first down at the three, failed to get the ball into the end zone on first and second downs.

Dave Bunz of the 49ers stopped Bengal running back Charles Alexander just inches away from a touchdown on the next play, and Johnson was denied once more on fourth down when middle linebacker Jack "Hacksaw" Reynolds met him over the right guard hole.

The Bengals did come back to score on their next possession, with Anderson throwing to tight end Dan Ross for a four-yard touchdown with five minutes gone in the final period.

But San Francisco's offense, after playing the entire third quarter without a first down, regrouped and set up two more field goals by Wersching, from 40 and 23 yards.

A touchdown pass, again from Anderson to Ross, cut the margin to 26-21 with just 16 seconds left, but Clark sealed the Bengals' defeat by recovering an attempted onside kick.

Montana, a hero for Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl just three years ago, completed 14 of 22 passes for 156 yards.

Montana was voted the game's Most Valuable Player by writers covering the event.

The 49ers' win in Super Bowl XVI completed a remarkable season in which they compiled the National Football League's best record, winning 16 of their 19 games. Last year, San Francisco struggled to a 6-10 won-lost record and a third-place finish in the National Conference Western Division.

Ross, one of Cincinnati's few heros, blamed nervousness for his team's poor first-half performance. "The big difference is that they played loose and we didn't. It was just like stage first for us," he said to reporters after the game.

Bengal punter Pat McInally '75, only the second Harvard player to appear in a Super Bowl, averaged 43 yards on three kicks for the Bengals. McInally led the NFL in punting this season and will play in the Pro Bowl in Honolulu next week.