Pittsburgh Steelers

Vs.

San Diego Chargers

September 2, 1967

Steelers 'Boot' Chargers for 16-7 Victory

San Diego, Calif. (UPI)- A tenacious defense and Mike Clark's three field goals gave the Pittsburgh Steelers a 16-7 triumph over the San Diego Chargers in an inter-league exhibition football game here last night. The win was the Steelers second in four preseason games.

The Chargers, after failing to move the ball beyond midfield on their first series of downs, resorted to some unorthodox football after giving it up. The result was that the Steelers were rewarded with two personal foul penalties, which ate up most of the yardage on a drive from the Steelers' 20 to the Chargers 25.

Unable to advance beyond this point, Coach Bill Austin sent Mike Clark into the game and the strong-legged Texan responded with a 38-yard field goal that put the Steelers ahead, 3-0, six minutes into the first quarter.

The game continued to seesaw, neither team unleashing any threatening drives, until five minutes before the end of the half when Pittsburgh's Paul Martha recovered Russ Smith's fumble at midfield and returned it to the Charger 34.

In eight plays, the Steelers had reached the Chargers' one, but a fourth-down run by Dick Hoak, whose driving running engineered the march, lost three yards as Scott Appleton fired through to haul down the Steeler back.

The half ended with the Steelers hanging on by a 3-0 margin.

Steeler quarterback Bill Nelsen threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Marsh Cropper in the third period to open up the game. Clark added field goals of 34 and 16 yards.

The Chargers, who dropped their third straight game to an NFL opponent, were stymied by in alert Steelers defense which recovered two fumbles and intercepted three passes. Defensive back Paul Martha recovered one fumble to set up a touchdown and ran back an interception 51 yards.

San Diego quarterback John Hadl completed only two of 10 passes for 44 yards and was replaced by rookie Kay Stephenson late in the third quarter.

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

PITT- FG Clark 38

Third Quarter

PITT- FG Clark 34

PITT- Cropper 11 yard pass from Nelsen (Clark kick)

PITT- FG Clark 16

Fourth Quarter

SD- Garrison 53 yard pass from Stephenson (Van Raaphorst kick)

Att-31,620

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