San Diego Chargers vs. San Francisco 49ers, 1968

San Diego Chargers

Vs.

San Francisco 49ers

August 3, 1968

Late Charger Surge Nets 30-18 Victory Over San Francisco

By Mal Florence (LA Times)

SAN DIEGO- The San Diego Chargers, frustrated and chagrined the past year for having blown three exhibition games to NFL teams last summer, took a giant stride Saturday night to even that score.

Sid Gillman's team rallied in the closing minutes to defeat the San Francisco 49ers, 30-18, before 39,553 elated fans at San Diego Stadium.

The Chargers dispelled a couple of misconceptions by beating the 49ers, who are not considered to be among the NFL's weaker entries. First, they proved they could whip a representative NFL team. Second, they put a lie to the charge that AFL teams fold in the second half when NFL clubs apply the pressure.

As it was, it appeared that the Chargers had frittered the game away after stepping out to a 17-3 halftime lead.

Veteran quarterback John Brodie had replaced hard, but wild throwing George Mira in the final half and calmly directed the 49ers to an 18-17 advantage with slightly more than five minutes to play. The Chargers, who were impotent offensively in the second half, then rallied behind quarterback John Hadl, rugged fullback Brad Hubbert and linebacker Chuck Allen to sweep the 49ers off the field and ruin the coaching debut of Dick Nolan.

Hubbert, a 6-foot, 227-pound AFL sophomore from Arizona, was the catalyst in the Chargers' go-ahead touchdown drive. He barged through the 49ers' line dragging tacklers with him and then applied the coup de grace. He accepted a swing pass from Hadl, turned up the sideline and sent 49ers cartwheeling in every direction in bulling 24 yards to the goal line.

There were only a minute and 45 seconds remaining when Hubbert stormed into the end zone. Allen applied a window-dressing touchdown with 48 seconds left when he stole a fourthdown Brodie pass and ran 29 unmolested yards to score.

A year ago at this time, the Chargers were suffering from injuries and were in a rebuilding stage. Now they're a team. It is very unlikely that the Rams will be able to approach the 50-7 victory that they achieved over San Diego last summer in the Chargers' darkest hour. The teams meet here in an Aug. 24 rematch.

"What was the difference between this year and last year at this time," said Gillman, repeating a question. “A year ago we didn't have anything going for us.”

"I was tickled to death with our defense tonight. It is coming around fast."

The Chargers are improved in other areas, too.

Hadl was not skitterish in the passing cup as he was in the Rams' game last year. He called a smart game and, for the most part, was accurate in completing 9 of 18 passes for 103 yards and three touchdowns. The big play seemed to be his Saturday night

Dicky Post, the Chargers' starting halfback, didn't play, but he wasn't missed. The best combination was Hubbert and clever-running Russ Smith, a second-year man from Missouri.

Lance Alworth, the great AFL flanker, who was facing NFL competition for the first time, wasn't a dominant factor in the game. However, Hadl mixed up his attack and didn't direct as many passes to him as he usually does. Alworth was a first-draft choice of the 49en six years ago.

The Chargers also have an astounding kicker, 285-pound Tom Dempeey of Palomar JC. Dempsey, a cripple, has only a stump for a kicking foot, but that doesn't deter him from booting the highest trajectory kickoffs ever seen in Southern California. He also came through with a sky-scraping 45-yard field goal Saturday evening.

As for the 49ers, Mira lost the first round in his battle with the veteran Brodie for the starting quarterback assignment. He ran the team in the first half and, although the 49ers (namely Ken Willard, 15 carries, 60 yards) were tearing through the Charger line, nothing came of it. It appeared that Mira's play selection was faulty as he passed when he should have handed off and vice-versa.

Brodie, the old smoothie, who is criticized in San Francisco for his inconsistency, was sharp. He completed 11 of 17 passes for 84 yards compared to Mira's 8 of 20 output for 88 yards.