Through the blue, orange, white and gold cloud of confetti, the Colorado Crush found a way Sunday to Las Vegas to play the Georgia Force in ArenaBowl XIX.
To advance to the Arena Football League’s championship game, the Crush beat the Chicago Rush 49-43 in sudden-death overtime at the Pepsi Center for the American Conference championship. The playoff game left even league veterans shaking their heads at the bizarre final minutes.
It was a give-and-take game before the Crush’s Andy McCullough leaped and hauled in quarterback John Dutton’s 22-yard pass for the winning touchdown. The outcome left the Crush (12-6) celebrating its first trip to the ArenaBowl in the team’s three-year history and sent the Rush (10-8) home to sort out the hectic ending, which denied Chicago a chance to advance from the AFL semifinals for the fourth time in the past six years.
“When they called the play, I said to myself that I was going to run it like it was my last play,” McCullough said of his catch over Chicago defensive specialist Todd Howard. “J.D. just put the ball up. We work on that play every day.”
Chicago had an overtime touchdown erased by a penalty and then failed to convert a field goal.
Dutton’s overtime scoring pass to McCullough finally allowed a Crush celebration after a false start at the end of regulation play.
The crowd of 13,719 and planners for a postgame celebration thought the game was over when the Crush’s Rashad Floyd intercepted Rush quarterback Raymond Philyaw’s pass into the end zone. Floyd was called for pass interference, but the Pepsi Center was filled with a cloud of confetti anyway.
“It was crazy,” Crush linebacker and receiver Kevin McKenzie said. “It was like rain. I couldn’t even see into the stands. I couldn’t see anything.”
Floyd said he took the pass- interference penalty to avoid giving up a touchdown with the Crush leading 43-40.
“It was the last play of the game and we were going to do everything we could to keep them from scoring a touchdown,” Floyd said. “It was pass interference, but we wanted to make them kick it. He probably had to call it. We wanted to put pressure on their kicker.”
Chicago’s Keith Gispert kicked a 17-yard field goal to tie the game 43-43. Gispert had to wait as a place to spot the ball was cleared. Before the overtime, the arena’s work crew had to do a hasty sweeping job as other members scooped up the material and put it in trash bags.
“It was pretty strange at the end,” Crush coach Mike Dailey said. “I’ve never been involved in anything like that.”
The overtime just added to the frolic that entertained fans. The Crush got the first possession, but it ended on Dutton’s hurried pass that was intercepted in the end zone. The Rush had its chance to score, but Gispert’s 35-yard try was wide right.
After each team has a possession, AFL overtimes go to sudden death.
Chicago coach Mike Hohen- see looked back to an apparent touchdown run by fullback Bob McMillen two plays before Gispert’s miss. The run was called back by a holding penalty.
“The holding call was the dagger,” Hohensee said. “We not only didn’t get the touchdown, but we were moved back 10 yards and that made it tougher to kick the field goal.”
Dutton completed 28-of-43 passes for 299 yards and five touchdowns. The Crush took a 20-0 lead before Philyaw got his team to regroup. The Chicago quarterback also threw for five touchdowns, completing 29-of- 51 passes for 350 yards.
“This was a conference championship game and we had to step it up when we got behind,” Rush offensive specialist C.J. Johnson said.
“We knew Chicago was going to keep on playing,” Dutton said. “They made us work.”
Chicago 0 20 13 10 0 – 43
Colorado 13 20 0 10 6 – 49
First quarter: Col – Harrell 14 pass from Dutton (kick failed), 13:27. Col – McCullough 26 pass from Dutton (Rush kick), 7:52.
Second quarter: Col – Dutton 2 run (Rush kick), 14:56. Chi – Johnson 36 pass Philyaw (Gispert kick), 10:22. Col – McCullough 8 pass from Dutton (kick failed), 5:22. Chi – Moyer 5 pass from Philyaw (kick failed), :40. Col – Peaua 1 run (Rush kick), :17. Chi – Molden 26 pass from Philyaw (Gispert kick), :00.
Third quarter: Chi – Johnson 10 pass from Philyaw (Gispert kick), 10:27. Chi – Johnson 17 pass from Philyaw (rush failed), 2:21.
Fourth quarter: Col – FG Rush 18, 11:31. Chi – Cook 1 run (Gispert kick), 7:37. Col – McCullough 8 pass from Dutton (Rush kick), 2:52. Chi – FG Gispert 17, :00.
Overtime: Col – McCullough 22 pass from Dutton, 5:16.
A – 13,719.
Chi Col
First downs 26 22
Rushes-yards 5-10 5-9
Passing yards 341 299
Total yards 351 308
Passes 29-51-1 28-43-1
Return yards 0 0
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1
Penalties-yards 10-64 8-41
Time of possession 36:22 33:22
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Chicago, Cook 2-6, Johnson 1-3, Philyaw 1-1, Shaw 1-0. Colorado, Peaua 3-5, Marshall 1-2, Dutton 1-2.
PASSING – Chicago, Philyaw 29-51-1-350. Colorado, Dutton 28-43-1-279.
RECEIVING – Chicago, Johnson 11-162, Molden 10-124, McDaniel 5-43, Shaw 2-16, Moyer 1-5. Colorado, McCullough 11-137, Harrell 10-90, Mc- Kenzie 3-21, Marshall 2-30, Hawkins 2-21.
ArenaBowl XIX
Colorado Crush (12-6) vs. Georgia Force (13-5)
Sunday, 12:30 p.m., KUSA-9
Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas
Call ArenaBowl XIX, a new look for the Arena Football League’s championship game. The Crush and Force are making their first trips to the ArenaBowl, and it’s the first time in 16 years the championship game pits teams that haven’t won before. Georgia coach Doug Plank continues the new-look trend. He gained coach of the year honors in his first season as Georgia’s coach, and the Force is 13-5, including a 10-0 record at home. Crush coach Mike Dailey is an arena league veteran, winning the championship in 1999 while at Albany.
AFL / champions
1987, Denver; 1988, Detroit; 1989, Detroit; 1990, Detroit; 1991, Tampa Bay; 1992, Detroit; 1993, Tampa Bay; 1994 Arizona; 1995, Tampa Bay; 1996, Tampa Bay; 1997, Arizona; 1998, Orlando; 1999, Albany; 2000, Orlando; 2001, Grand Rapids; 2002, San Jose; 2003, Tampa Bay; 2004, San Jose
Staff writer Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
