Las Vegas – Arena football rules and the running clock can be maddening, especially when games come down to the last seconds or the last play.
A case in point was Sunday’s ArenaBowl XIX when Colorado Crush place-kicker Clay Rush booted a 20-yard field goal on the last play for a 51-48 victory over the Georgia Force.
Earlier in the fourth quarter, a critical sequence had saved some precious seconds.
Force quarterback Matt Nagy completed a fourth- down touchdown pass to Derek Lee and Georgia tied the score at 34. The running clock should have continued, but the Crush was charged with pass interference, and the clock was stopped while game officials sorted out the decision.
“The clock had to be stopped for the interference call and not the touchdown,” said Bob Mantouth, the arena league’s director of officials. “When they decided the penalty was declined, the officials wind the clock on ready to play. You can’t talk about a penalty with the clock running.”
Smashing victory
A lot of talk coming out of the Force camp claimed the Southern Division as the “smashmouth” division. Players and coaches touted the team’s tough defensive play.
Crush coach Mike Dailey challenged the claim immediately. The Crush won the coin toss before the game and elected to receive instead of deferring, as he had done on every decision before except one.
“We felt we wanted to establish early momentum if we could,” Dailey said.
The Crush took a 10-0 lead and never trailed.
“We told them at the awards banquet that they could talk all they wanted, but when the whistle blows, the game still has to be played,” Damian Harrell said. “I think they learned from it.”
Receiver Kevin McKenzie thought Georgia’s talk was disrespectful.
“We came out and smashed their mouth,” McKenzie said. “Every time their receivers caught the ball, even the big ones, they got smashed. They said the real ArenaBowl was played last week when they played Orlando. Come on, this was the ArenaBowl.”
Added defensive specialist Delvin Hughley: “You can’t take an opponent lightly. That’s what they did, in my opinion, and it backfired on them.”
Lineman Bryant Shaw had the bottom line.
“We’re taking the championship back to Denver,” Shaw said.
Celebration problems
Last week, the Crush had an embarrassing moment when confetti was released on what appeared to be the last play of the game against Chicago. But it wasn’t, and the game was delayed for a time while the cloud settled and a cleanup crew made the field playable in the Pepsi Center.
This week, special-teams coach Lee Johnson injured his right knee in the postgame celebration and left the field with a strap-on cast on his right leg.
Footnotes
Crush quarterback John Dutton got it right. He became the first starting quarterback in the AFL to win the ArenaBowl on two different teams. Dutton and the San Jose SaberCats won the ring in 2002. … The first ArenaBowl game at a neutral site drew 10,822 fans in the Thomas & Mack Center, which seats 15,621.
