At least the Colorado Crush won’t be facing rival Chicago in the conference championship this year in the Arena Football League playoffs.
But the Crush will face the Rush in the division round at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the Pepsi Center. The Rush advanced Sunday in the American Conference playoffs by beating Nashville 55-47, setting up the next installment of the eventful Colorado-Chicago series.
Arizona and San Jose remain on the American Conference side of the bracket.
Last year, coach Mike Dailey and the Crush survived a scare by beating Chicago 49-43 in sudden-death overtime on John Dutton’s 22-yard touchdown pass to Andy McCullough to win the conference-round game and advance to the ArenaBowl in Las Vegas. The Crush faced the Georgia Force for the championship and won 51-48 on kicker Clay Rush’s 20-yard field goal as time ran out. The Force also advanced in the playoffs Sunday, beating New York 72-69.
The National Conference bracket includes the Force, top-seeded Dallas, Philadelphia and Orlando.
In regular-season play, Chicago leads the series 4-3, although the Crush won both games this season, 65-56 and 49-42.
