The seventh NFA Championship was held at Mustangs Field in Detroit, MI. The 9-3 NFA West Division Champions, the Detroit Mustangs, hosted the 9-3 NFA East Division Champions, the Boston Bluejackets. The Boston Bluejackets were defending champions and would play in a league high fourth NFA Championship. Detroit would play in their second championship in 3 seasons. The Bluejackets and Mustangs had met earlier in the season on November 18, 1945. The Mustangs defeated the Bluejackets 17-14 in Boston. This win would give home field advantage to the Mustangs for the NFA Championship. This championship would become an instant classic. It would be the first time that the "underdog" team would win. Most people did not consider the defending champions underdogs however.
GAME SUMMARY
This would be a closely contested game from beginning to end. Detroit would score first and have a 7-0 lead heading into the second quarter. By halftime, Boston would have the lead though as Fred Finley would score 2 rushing touchdowns to give the Bluejackets the lead 13-10. Detroit would retake the lead in the 3rd quarter via a passing touchdown from Giles Richland to Howard Mattingly. Detoit would add to their lead in the final quarter with a field goal to make the score 20-16. With less than 2 minutes to play, Detroit was in position to win the game. The Mustangs however would give up a huge 22 yard rush on 3rd down by Fred Finley to put the Bluejackets in position to score. Boston would run as much of the clock as they could and score with 1:17 left in the game to take a 23-20 lead. This would be the final score of the game after Giles Richland would throw a game ending interception to end any chance of a Mustangs comeback. For the second straight year, Boston won the NFA Championship. Fred Finley was awarded MVP of the game and became the first player to be MVP of the championship game back to back years. This would be Finley's last game as he would retire in January of 1946.