Danny White’s Utah Blaze is looking to shrug off its expansion team label.
The coach is upping the ante from the beginning of the season, when he said it wasn’t an unreasonable goal for Utah to make the Arena Football League playoffs. With the Blaze on the brink of reaching the postseason, White has changed the stakes.
“I’d be the least shocked of anybody if we were to make a run and win the championship,” White said. “There are no reasonable goals at this point for this team that are unreasonable.”
White knows what he’s talking about when it comes to winning. Before taking over the Blaze, White was the longtime coach of the Arizona Rattlers. His career 147 victories are the second most in the league, behind Tampa Bay Storm coach Tim Marcum’s 183.
The Blaze started the season 3-8 but is 6-8 with two regular-season games remaining.
“We started with five or six key players who had been with me before,” White said. “But we also had a lot of new players, and it took some time for everybody to learn the system.”
While the Blaze learned to make its own breaks as the season went along, it got another break with the addition of 37-year-old quarterback Andy Kelly, who is in his 13th AFL season.
Since joining the Blaze, Kelly has directed victories in all three of his games, including a 52-40 win over the Colorado Crush.
Crush coach Mike Dailey isn’t surprised at Utah’s impressive season.
“Utah didn’t stumble into success,” Dailey said. “Danny White has had a lot of success as a coach in this league.”
Utah still needs a victory and a loss by Las Vegas or Grand Rapids to reach the playoffs.
The Crush could clinch the American Conference title and home-field advantage for the playoffs by winning Saturday night at San Jose. Dallas (12-2), Colorado (10-4), Orlando (9-5) and San Jose (8-6) have clinched playoff berths.
Players of the week
Crush offensive specialist Damian Harrell set a record for touchdown receptions in a season with 51. That tied the league record for total touchdowns in a season as well.
Kelly passed for nine touchdowns in Utah’s 63-52 victory over Las Vegas, setting a league record for career touchdown passes with 762.
Harrell and Kelly were named AFL co- offensive players of the week.
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
