Miracle Finish Puts Crush in ArenaBowl
June 5, 2005 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Colorado Crush News Release
DENVER -- Andy McCullough's leaping, 22-yard touchdown grab in double coverage 9:44 into overtime sent the Colorado Crush to ArenaBowl XIX via a 49-43 win over the Chicago Rush and capped one of the wildest, emotional games in Arena Football League history.
McCullough's score came after both the Crush and Rush had gone scoreless on their opening overtime possessions, sending the already memorable contest into sudden death. It marked the first time that an AFL semifinal game had ever gone to that point; only two semifinals before had ever gone into overtime, but both ended on the opening exchange of drives, when each team is required to have at least one possession.
Colorado's initial overtime chance had gone astray when Chicago's Todd Howard intercepted a John Dutton pass in the end zone. Five plays later, Chicago's Bob McMillen rambled around left end for a 15-yard touchdown that could have ended the game, but an offsides penalty on the Rush nullified the score. Two plays later, Rush kicker Keith Gispert was wide right on a 36-yard field-goal attempt, sending the contest into sudden death and setting the stage for McCullough's heroics.
The events in the final moments of regulation that set up the overtime bordered on the bizarre. The Crush thought it had the game won when Rashad Floyd intercepted a pass on the last play of regulation. But a flag flew, signaling pass interference against Floyd that nullified the play.
As the flag sailed to the turf, so too did a blizzard of confetti, as the workers who handled the celebratory paper dousing were not aware of the flag amidst the celebratory ruckus among the 13,719 on hand at Pepsi Center. The game paused as Rush players brushed the confetti aside as if it was snow to give Gispert space with which to attempt a 17-yard field goal, which he nailed to force overtime.
The extra session was subsequently delayed approximately 10 minutes as dozens of workers armed with vacuums, brushes, brooms and garbage bags frantically tried to clear the field to make it playable for the extra session. Removing all the confettie proved to be an impossible task, and overtime began with the field playable, but still littered with paper.
Even without the rare sudden-death overtime and the premature dispensing of celebratory paper, the game was one of the most memorable in Arena Football history. Colorado sprinted to a 20-0 second-quarter lead and had possession of the football with a chance to push the lead to four scores midway through the period, but John Moyer sacked Dutton, forcing a fumble that Rush wide receiver/linebacker Etu Molden recovered. Two plays later, the Rush scored its first touchdown of the game, and the rally was on.
Colorado managed to work its lead back to 20 points in the final seconds of the half, but Chicago narrowed the Crush edge to 33-20 at inermission after Philyaw found Molden for a 26-yard, "Hail Mary" completion off the right rebound net as time expired before halftime. The score sent the Rush on a 27-3 run that eventually gave them a 40-36 lead midway through the fourth quarter.
Four plays later, the Rush had Colorado backed up in fourth-and-11 at its own 4-yard-line. But Dutton found McCullough for an 18-yard gain, keeping the drive alive. Two plays later, McCullough made a leaping, 8-yard reception in the back of the end zone to put the Crush back in front 43-40 with 2:52 remaining.
Chicago got possession once again and drove to the brink of the end zone before the wild confluence of circumstances at the end of regulation.
Colorado (12-6) moves on to ArenaBowl XIX, where it will make its first title-game appearance against the Georgia Force, also in its first ArenaBowl. Chicago's season ends at 10-8.
GAME TRACK FIRST QUARTER
Chicago won the coin toss and elected to defer its option, giving the Crush the ball to open the game. The Crush began at the Rush 19 following a 34-yard kickoff return by Willis Marshall. John Dutton's first-down pass for Damian Harrell was knocked away by Tony Lukins. But an offsides penalty and another snap later, the Crush was in the end zone as Dutton and Harrell hooked up on a 14-yard catch-and-run. Clay Rush missed the extra point off the right upright, keeping the lead at 6-0.
The Rush began its first drive at its 5-yard-line, and advanced to the Crush 24 on two Raymond Philyaw completions. But at that point, the drive stalled. Three straight incompletions forced the Rush into fourth-and-10, and a fourth-down try failed when Etu Molden landed out of bounds with what would have been a 23-yard completion, giving the Crush an early stop.
It didn't take long for the Crush to capitalize -- a few seconds, or as long as it took Dutton to find an open Andy McCullough past the Chicago defense for a 26-yard touchdown connection. Clay Rush's extra point put the Crush in front 13-0 with 7:11 left in the period.
Colorado's defense came up with another stop on the following possession. A 20-yard pass to C.J. Johnson got the Rush into Colorado territory, but two incompletions and a 4-yard gain forced the Rush to settle for a 26-yard Keith Gispert field-goal attempt that sailed wide right.
Colorado lurched out of the gate on its next possession, being forced into a third-and-2 before passes to Marshall, Harrell and McCullough moved the Crush into a goal-to-go situation as the period ended.
SECOND QUARTER
The Crush completed the drive on the first play of the second quarter when Dutton playfaked and bootlegged his way into the end zone with a 3-yard touchdown. Clay Rush's extra point made it 20-0.
Colorado's defense sustained the momentum it built in the first period, posting its third consecutive stop when Marshall intercepted Philyaw's pass into the end zone. But the Crush could not capitalize, and three plays later turned it over when Dutton was sacked from behind and fumbled, allowing the Rush to recover at its 19.
Two plays later, the Rush was on the board for the first time. Philyaw used good protection to find C.J. Johnson past the defense for a 36-yard touchdown pass that made the score 20-7.
Colorado took over at its 5-yard-line following the kickoff and marched 45 yards in seven plays to the team's fourth touchdown of the day -- and McCullough's second score on an 8-yard reception. Rush missed the extra point, keeping the lead at 26-7 with 4:43 left before halftime.
A four-minute, three-second drive allowed the Rush to slice the gap down to 13 points. Philyaw capped the march by finding Moyer for a 5-yard scoring pass, but the Crush responded with its fifth touchdown of the half after Harrell recovered the ensuing on-side kickoff at the 5-yard-line. John Peaua plowed over the goal line on third-and-goal to put the Crush in front 33-13.
But the lead didn't last, as the Rush scored on the last play of the half for the second straight game against the Crush. This time, it was a 26-yard Hail Mary toss on which Philyaw heaved the ball off the rebound net and Etu Molden came down with it amid a crowd of players for a 26-yard score that pulled Chicago within 33-20 at halftime.
THIRD QUARTER
Chicago narrowed the deficit to its lowest point since the first quarter when Philyaw capped a 45-yard drive with a 10-yard pass to C.J. Johnson, trimming the Crush lead to 33-27. The negative momentum continued for the Crush on its first possession of the quarter, as the Rush stopped Colorado on downs for the first time all day as third- and fourth-down passes from the Rush 21 fell incomplete, giving Chicago the ball at its 21 with 6:15 left in the quarter.
That set the stage for Chicago to tie the game for the first time since the game's opening moments at 0-0. Colorado had the Rush in a third-and-10 at the 17, out of the jam when Philyaw found Johnson for the touchdown. Gispert's extra point try was mangled into a run that went nowhere, keeping the game deadlocked at 33-apiece with 1:39 left in the quarter.
Marshall fielded the ensuing kickoff off the left rebound net and returned it to the 9-yard-line. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty moved the Crush to the 19, and the Crush advanced to its 24 on a 5-yard pass to McCullough as the period ended.
FOURTH QUARTER
Colorado's offense moved into goal-to-go territory, but could not close the deal, as back-to-back incompletions on second- and third-and-goal from the 2-yard-line forced the Crush to settle for an 18-yard Clay Rush field goal that put the Crush in front 36-33.
That lead lasted less than four minutes -- as long as it took for the Rush to drive downfield to a Charlie Cook 1-yard touchdown rush. The score and extra point gave the Rush its first lead of the day, at 40-36 with 6:55 left. But as mentioned earlier in the story, the zaniness was just beginning in one of the most memorable finishes in Arena Football history.
Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from June 5, 2005
- Colorado, Georgia to battle for ArenaBowl XIX title - AFL I
- Miracle Finish Puts Crush in ArenaBowl - Colorado Crush
- Force claim National Conference title, defeat Orlando 60-58 - Georgia Force
- Georgia Force win national conference; advance to ArenaBowl XIX Las Vegas - AFL I
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