Express Ends a Year to Forget Against Orlando

The Los Angeles Express, loser of seven straight games, closes out its 1985 United States Football League schedule tonight at 5 p.m PST against the Orlando Renegades at Orlando, Fla.

Tonight’s game will bring more relief than anything else for the Express, so financially and physically depleted that it can barely field a team.

The team that showed so much promise and talent enters its final game with a 3-14 record. A loss tonight would tie the USFL mark for worst seasonal record, shared by the 1984 editions of the Pittsburgh Maulers (defunct) and the Washington Federals (now the Renegades).

The Express, defending Pacific Division champion, has known only misery this season. This ownerless team, playing under a cloud all year, lost its first three games of the season and has been depleted by injuries ever since. Thirteen Express players have had knee surgery.

The Express, seeking a new identity and backing, played its final home game last week at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, losing to the Arizona Outlaws, 21-10, before a crowd of 8,200. Steve Young, who completed 13 of 25 passes for 125 yards in the loss, will start tonight.

The Renegades, coached by Lee Corso, have managed only four wins in their first season in Orlando. The Renegades rank last in the league in both offense and defense.