Brad Pyatt’s first Arena Football League touchdown catch for the Colorado Crush, a 14-yarder with 22 seconds left in Sunday’s season opener, should have been a homecoming highlight for the former Arvada West and Northern Colorado star.
Except those 22 seconds – usually an eternity in arena ball – evaporated quickly.
Grand Rapids used 6-foot, 305-pound fullback Chris Ryan to run out the clock on three plays deep inside Colorado territory to preserve a 44-42 win before 14,950 at the Pepsi Center.
“I’d like to come away with a win. Every loss is disappointing,” said Pyatt, a return specialist in several NFL stops. “The NFL wasn’t working out, and I wanted a change of scenery.”
Pyatt debuted with six receptions for 68 yards.
Damian Harrell set the AFL record for consecutive games with at least one touchdown reception when he caught a 6-yard scoring pass from John Dutton on the Crush’s opening possession. It was the 66th consecutive game with a TD catch for Harrell, and he came right back with another after the Rampage fumbled on its first series.
Colorado took a 21-7 lead into the second quarter. But the Crush had turnover trouble in its scoreless third quarter, when a Dutton fumble and interception helped produce 14 points for the Rampage.
“It’s a possession game and you can’t give away possessions,” said Dutton, who was intercepted twice but completed 27-of-45 passes for 299 yards and six touchdowns. “I just have to hold on to the ball.”
Grand Rapids quarterback Chad Salisbury was knocked out of the game with a concussion early in the second half. On his replacement’s first opportunity, a fourth-down play from Grand Rapids’ 7-yard line, Matt Sauk hit Jerome Riley for a 43-yard TD pass. Brian Gowins’ PAT cut the Rampage’s deficit to 28-27.
“We have two good quarterbacks and we were able to feed on the momentum,” said Ryan, who rushed for 13 yards on eight carries.
Sauk completed an eight-play drive with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Troy Edwards, another AFL newcomer and a former first-round NFL draft pick.
Dutton’s third turnover cost the Crush the game.
Riley, who doubles as a linebacker, deflected and then gathered in a Dutton pass, scoring on a 20-yard interception return on the last play of the third quarter. Dutton never had a chance to save the touchdown, and Grand Rapids took a 41-28 lead into the fourth quarter.
“We played sloppy at times,” Crush coach Mike Dailey said.
Dutton recovered his poise and threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter.
But a 16-yard field goal by Gowins with 57 seconds left proved to be the winning points for the Rampage.
Footnotes
Salisbury was hospitalized in Denver overnight as a precaution. … Grand Rapids’ Timon Marshall dived over the barrier behind one of the end zones. He wasn’t injured, but broke a laptop computer used by the Pepsi Center’s sound system personnel. … It was Grand Rapids’ first road victory since May 2005.
Natalie Meisler can be reached at 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com.
