Chicago Edges SaberCats, 48-45
March 9, 2007 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
San Jose SaberCats News Release
Rosemont, Ill (Mar. 9, 2007) - Chicago quarterback Matt D'Orazio threw five touchdown passes and the defending ArenaBowl champion Rush held on to defeat the San Jose SaberCats, 48-45, in an Arena Football League game Friday night before a sellout crowd at Allstate Arena.
D'Orazio completed 15 of 28 passes for 114 yards with three of his scoring passes going to Bobby Sippio, including the game's opening score.
Recently acquired Andy McCullough caught seven passes for 39 yards and a pair of scores.
San Jose quarterback Mark Grieb completed a team record 36 passes for 327 yards and six touchdowns, but the veteran signal caller was intercepted twice by Chicago's Jeremy Unertl. San Jose also lost a fumble and turned the ball over on downs.
Rodney Wright hauled in a 43 yard strike from Grieb late in the first quarter to give San Jose a brief 14-10 lead. But Jonathan Ordway took the ensuing kickoff 54 yards to give the lead back to Chicago for good, 17-10.
Trailing by 17 points in the fourth quarter, San Jose used a pair of scoring catches by James Roe to pull within three at 41-38, but San Jose failed to recover one of its two onside kicks in the final five minutes and dropped a fourth straight game to the Rush.
Wright had a game and career-high 13 catches for 120 yards, Roe caught 11 passes for 101 yards and Ben Nelson added 10 receptions for 99 yards. Tight end George Williams had a pair of scoring receptions on short yardage plays in the red zone.
The SaberCats managed 334 yards of offense compared to Chicago's 115.
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