Kansas City, Mo. – The Crush probably wishes all its games were against the Kansas City Brigade.
Colorado snapped a four-game losing streak with a 49-42 victory Saturday at Kemper Arena in an Arena Football League wild-card playoff game.
From the first play from scrimmage – a 38-yard touchdown pass from John Dutton to Brad Pyatt – it was clear which franchise had playoff experience.
Colorado (9-8) sealed its ninth win of the season with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Dutton to Damian Harrell with 2:12 left in the game.
The Crush cruised to a 13-0 lead with 8:34 left in the first quarter on Robert Thomas’ 1-yard run before the Brigade had time to react.
Even with the Crush’s fast start, Kansas City (10-7) was a dropped pass and extra point away from sending the game into overtime.
“It was a great football game,” Crush coach Mike Dailey said. “Someone has to come up on the good side of it. We were fortunate to be the ones.”
The win improves Colorado to 4-0 all-time against Kansas City. It was the Crush’s third victory this season over the Brigade.
The Crush and Dailey considered themselves lucky to keep it close through the middle portion of the game.
Kansas City had a chance to take control late in the first half and early in the third quarter. Instead, the Brigade lost momentum when kicker Gary Kral missed two field goals from 19 yards. Kansas City couldn’t score on another possession when it had a first down inside the Crush 5.
“We had a chance to make plays throughout the game and make something special happen, but we just didn’t get it done,” Brigade coach Kevin Porter said.
It was Colorado which overcame its missed opportunities to win.
Clinging to a 30-28 lead at the start of the fourth quarter, Colorado scored a touchdown with 13:10 left in the game, on Dutton’s 4-yard pass to Willie Quinnie. A missed extra point by Jason Ball, his second of the day, kept the game a one-possession contest, 36-28.
Ball wasn’t done with missed kicks. With 6:29 left in the game, Ball missed his third extra point, again going wide right, to make the score 42-35, after Harrell hauled in a 4-yard touchdown pass.
On the following two possessions, the teams traded turnovers.
Jason Harmon knocked the ball loose from Kansas City’s Anthony Hines and Delvin Hughley recovered the fumble at the Brigade 17.
With just four minutes left and with the ball, Colorado was just a touchdown away from putting the game out of reach.
Instead, Dutton overthrew a pass and Kansas City’s Kenny McEntyre returned it 38 yards for a touchdown to tie it at 42-42.
After its four-game skid, the Crush is happy to still be alive, interceptions and all.
“It was good to get a victory,” Dailey said. “We had been struggling and lost four in a row. We are excited about the chance to get to keep playing.”
The Crush face San Jose at 1 p.m. Saturday at San Jose, Calif., in the divisional playoff round.
The SaberCats won the teams’ only meeting this season, 72-44, on April 6 in San Jose.
