NFL Exhibition Roundup : 49ers Beat Seahawks, 23-21, as Wersching Kicks Final-Play Field Goal

Ray Wersching kicked a 29-yard field goal on the final play of the game Friday night to give the defending Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers a 23-21 victory over the Seattle Seahawks in a National Football League exhibition finale at Seattle.

The 49ers came from behind after trailing, 21-10, in the third quarter following three touchdown passes by Seattle quarterback Dave Krieg, two to Daryl Turner.

Matt Cavanaugh and Mike Moroski ran the San Francisco offense in place of Joe Montana, who was held out because of an ailing back.

Cavanaugh completed 21 of 27 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns. His favorite receiver was fullback Roger Craig, who caught eight passes for 68 yards. Craig also led San Francisco’s rushing game with 13 carries for 63 yards.

The 49ers completed their exhibition season with a 3-1 record, while the Seahawks finished at 2-2.

Jim Zorn, Krieg’s backup, threw a pair of interceptions that the 49ers converted into 10 points on a 37-yard field goal by Wersching in the third quarter and a four-yard scoring pass from Cavanaugh to John Frank early in the fourth period.

Washington 20, Tampa Bay 7--Darrell Green returned an interception 42 yards for a touchdown, and George Rogers scored on a one-yard run at Tampa as the Redskins finished with a 4-0 record.

Green twice intercepted Buccaneer quarterback Steve DeBerg and also returned a fumble 62 yards for an apparent touchdown that was nullified by a clipping penalty.

DeBerg completed only 3 of 14 passes for 31 yards as Tampa Bay wound up 1-3.

N.Y. Giants 24, Pittsburgh 14--Third-string quarterback Jeff Hostetler threw two touchdown passes, and Lawrence Taylor had an interception and a fumble recovery for the Giants at Pittsburgh.

The Giants wound up 5-0, the Steelers 1-3.

Hostetler, after replacing Phil Simms late in the third quarter, completed touchdown passes of nine yards to Lionel Manuel and four yards to Phil McConkey.

Pittsburgh scored on an end-around run of 38 yards by Louis Lipps and a 35-yard pass play from David Woodley to Calvin Sweeney with 1:02 left in the game.

Cincinnati 31, Indianapolis 21--Ken Anderson set up two Cincinnati scores with 141 yards passing in the first quarter and threw nine yards to rookie Eddie Brown for a second-period score at Indianapolis.

Anderson finished with 14 of 21 completions for 226 yards.

Both teams wound up 2-2.

Atlanta 19, Miami 17--Steve Bartkowski hit tight end Arthur Cox on a 68-yard scoring play to bring the Falcons from behind in the fourth quarter at Atlanta.

Bartkowski also threw a 16-yard touchdown pass with four seconds left in the first half to wide receiver Charlie Brown, who was acquired earlier in the week from Washington.

The Dolphins, playing without holdout quarterback Dan Marino, built a 14-3 lead midway through the second quarter. Don Strock threw touchdown pases of nine yards to Bruce Hardy and 20 yards to Joe Rose.

Both teams finished 2-2.

Minnesota 13, Denver 9--Keith Nord intercepted a Scott Stankavage pass and returned it 28 yards to put the Vikings ahead in the fourth quarter at Denver.

The Vikings then withstood a determined Denver drive that reached the Minnesota 14. Stankavage completed four passes to Butch Johnson--covering 27, 14, 15 and 14 yards--before Joey Browner choked off the threat with an interception at the Viking 17 with 27 seconds to go.

Stankavage, who had been cut just 10 days earlier, was re-signed when John Elway and Gary Kubiak were injured in last week’s game.

The Vikings finished 3-1, the Broncos 2-2.