The game
A year after losing at Dewsbury, Hertfordshire went back to the same ground and won their fourth national title, beating the Staffordshire Stallions 27–6 in College Bowl XVIII on 21 March 2004. The final nearly didn't happen. Winds of around 70 mph had brought down a goalpost at Rams Stadium the day before, and the league had to improvise a replacement. It was Hertfordshire's fifth College Bowl in seven years and Staffordshire's first.
Neither side scored in a first quarter of solid drives. Andy Cochrane broke the deadlock with a four-yard run with 4:58 left in the half. Dave Hartley then finished an eight-play, 58-yard drive from a yard out with two seconds on the clock, for a 14–0 lead at half-time.
The Stallions got nowhere in the third quarter. Early in the fourth, quarterback Junior Price rolled right to score from a yard out, and he then found Richard McHugh in the corner of the end zone from 20 yards. Staffordshire's only reply came late on, a 33-yard touchdown on a reverse by Stuart Wren. They recovered the onside kick that followed but couldn't add to it.
Cochrane ran for 201 yards in blustery conditions and was named game MVP. Captain Lloyd Buxton and club president Tom Scott lifted the trophy for Jim Messenger's side, which finished the season unbeaten.
