After limping through the first 7 1/2 games of the Arena Football League season, the Colorado Crush finally gave coach Mike Dailey what he has been looking for in the second half Friday night against the Las Vegas Gladiators.
The Crush stormed back from a pitiful first half and pulled out a 63-53 victory before 16,723 fans at the Pepsi Center.
The Crush scored 33 straight points to take a 50-33 lead into the fourth quarter after trailing 33-17 going into the last minute of the first half.
“If we can play like we did in the second half, that’s what I’m looking for,” Dailey said. “If it takes me to ride herd to do that, I’ll ride them. I don’t want to go down that road too often.”
Receiver Damian Harrell was the catalyst. He caught four of quarterback John Dutton’s six touchdown passes, but it might have been the touchdown he didn’t score that showed the Crush players had their heads into the game.
As the first half was winding down, Harrell took in a pass from Dutton that covered 44 yards and he could have stepped into the end zone. But he stopped at the 1-yard line to delay Colorado’s score in order to run time off the clock. Sal Patu’s rushing touchdown left only 16 seconds on the clock and the score remained 33-24 at halftime.
The big second half had Dailey and the players looking at the second half of the season, which begins with three consecutive road games.
“We’re halfway and 5-3, but the second half of the season is going to get more difficult because all of the teams are going to be playing better,” said defensive back Rashad Floyd, who intercepted two passes and returned both for touchdowns. “We have to find ways to make plays like we did tonight.”
Dutton, who fumbled the ball away on the first offensive play of the game, knows Dailey will not stand for poor performance.
“We had to look inside ourselves,” Dutton said. “We’re sick of this coming out sluggish. We were celebrating until coach walked into the locker room. He’s going to try to get the best out of us. That’s what I love about playing for Coach Dailey.”
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
