The power of positive thinking that drives Chicago Rush coach Mike Hohensee paid dividends Sunday at the Pepsi Center at the expense of the defending Arena Football League champion Colorado Crush.
The hard facts showed the Rush beat the Crush 63-46 to advance to Saturday’s American Conference championship in San Jose, Calif. The setback sent the Crush home two victories shy of defending the crown it won last season by beating the Georgia Force 51-48 in the title game.
There was no bigger force in Chicago’s victory in front of a crowd of 13,258 than the foot of Dan Frantz, who became the Rush’s kicker just four games before Sunday’s showdown.
Frantz made field goals of 53, 26 and 52 yards and placed a kickoff off the crossbar, and it was recovered by teammate Jeremy Unertl for a touchdown and a 30-14 lead with 1:59 left in the first half.
Frantz’s 26-yard field goal gave the Rush a 33-14 halftime lead.
“You have to come away with something on every possession in this game,” Frantz said. “You like to help your team and be part of the solution and not part of the problem. My goal was to get us some points if we got stuck in a situation like we did a couple of times.”
While forcing a team into field goals is credited as a defensive stop, Frantz made it anything but a stop. His first field goal came after the Crush had cut the deficit to 13-7 on Willis Marshall’s 14-yard touchdown catch from quarterback John Dutton. Frantz’s 53-yard field goal came after the Crush had gained momentum by cutting Chicago’s lead to 33-21 in the first two minutes of the second half.
“We made a decision on him late in the year, because our other kicker (Keith Gispert) wasn’t getting it done,” Hohensee said. “I wanted to make sure we had the best player at every position, and I think it paid off for us.”
There was little question the past played a role in the outcome. The Rush had been smarting all year after losing the conference final 49-43 a year ago in sudden-death overtime to the Crush. And in a 65-56 Crush victory in the first game of this season, Chicago was without a kicker when Gispert was hurt in pregame warm-ups.
But it wasn’t just Frantz’s kicking that kept the Rush going.
Chicago converted two Dutton interceptions for touchdowns, the first returned 45 yards by Dennison Robinson for a 13-0 lead. Dutton also fumbled two exchanges from center Kyle Moore-Brown, and both were converted into touchdowns.
The first occurred after Rashad Floyd intercepted a Matt D’Orazio pass in the end zone that was tipped by Delvin Hughley with the Crush trailing 16-14. The second came in the third quarter with the Crush trailing 36-27, and this time DeJuan Alfonzo returned the bobble 20 yards for a touchdown and a 43-27 lead.
“Every time it seemed as if we gained a little momentum, we’d have another turnover,” Crush coach Mike Dailey said. “It was disappointing the way we played today. It hurts. The long field goals kept them in the game. It’s tough to put the ball off the bar. They made the play. It was kind of their day.”
Alfonzo said it was a matter of pride.
“Dutton made a comment when we played last that we had defensive backs that can’t cover,” Alfonzo said. “We took it upon ourselves to compete on every single play.”
The Rush secondary played Crush offensive specialist Damian Harrell tight early in the game. But Harrell finished with 10 catches for 159 yards and two touchdowns. Dutton found Andy McCullough as a good second choice for seven catches and two touchdowns.
“I’m not going to give those guys any credit like that,” Harrell said of the rough early going. “I’ll give them credit for coming out and competing but they definitely weren’t a better team than us.”
Hohensee didn’t have to eat his words after giving his team the ArenaBowl itinerary before the game.
“I considered it a right move,” Hohensee said. “I wanted to talk about things that were going to happen that day so they could picture ourselves there. I call it positive thinking. That’s how I live my life.”
Staff writer Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
