Crush Fall to Firebirds, 45-42 in OT
Published on April 3, 2004 under Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Colorado Crush News Release
DENVER -- It was the most bitter of defeats.
The Colorado Crush went into Week 9 with a chance to sustain and possibly extend its half-game division lead over the Chicago Rush, an edge provided by the Rush's 2-point loss to the Detroit Fury last week. But that opportunity went astray, as Clay Rash nailed a 20-yard field goal 7:31 into overtime, giving the Indiana Firebirds a 45-42 win in front of 12,238 at the Pepsi Center on Saturday afternoon.
Colorado's defeat snaps a four-game home winning streak and drops the Crush to 6-3. It is also the franchise's third home overtime loss in its two-season history.
"I'm speechless for the first time in my life," Crush fullback/linebacker Rich Young said. "I don't know what to tell you guys. I knew it was going to be an all-out war. There's just a real bitter taste in my mouth.
"To come up short, it just hurts like nothing else."
Given the tight connections between the two teams and their status as division rivals, the defeat hurt all the more.
"All the losses are kind of emotional," defensive coordinator Ernesto Punsley said. "Certainly, playing against your former team brings a little bit of added pressure."
Colorado began the game by sprinting to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. The Crush took the opening kickoff and raced to a score, then stopped Indiana on a fourth-down on the Firebirds' first possession. The Crush responded with a touchdown of its own, and Indiana wouldn't manage to tie the game until the third quarter.
The Crush offense began strongly, scoring on its first four possessions. But it slumped in the second half. After scoring a touchdown on its first drive in the third quarter, Indiana stymied Colorado's offense, holding it to just 7 points on its final five possessions. Two drives ended in missed field goals; two more concluded with turnovers.
"That's been our M.O. We just haven't put a full game together," quarterback John Dutton said. "The defense has been playing great. We just have to score more offensively. This week, we're really going to have to put it together against L.A. Offensively, we had a couple of possessions there in the second half where we should have had at least a field goal, but that didn't happen."
The Crush still had a semblance of control over the game, even as the Firebirds drew closer. In fact, when the Crush chose to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the 5-yard-line with 3:38 left in regulation, the team did so having never trailed in the game to that point. But the fourth-down pass went astray, as Dutton was pressured and forced into a hurried heave that Indiana's Ryan Bowers intercepted.
"We told Coach (Dailey) that we could make the play, and we didn't make it," Dutton said. "So we let him down. I thought it was a good decision to go for it. We were kind of on a roll there. They had the playmakers. They played it tough. You can't look back at that."
Following the loss, there's only one thing the Crush can do to ease the pain.
"All I can do is just put it behind me like the team's got to do, and move on," Young said. "You have to have that short-term memory in this game."
"We've got to get back right away," Dutton said. "We've got to stay together as a team and learn from our mistakes and move on."
NOTES:
- Indiana converted 8 of 15 third downs and 3 of 4 fourth downs. The Crush only had three third-down opportunities in the game, converting just one, and they failed to convert on their lone fourth-down opportunity.
- Dutton completed 10 consecutive passes during the first and second quarters. The streak ended on the last play of the half, when his downfield heave for Harrell in double coverage fell incomplete in the end zone.
- Harrell caught three touchdown passes, including two in the second quarter, increasing his streak of touchdowns in consecutive games to 23 since he joined the Crush. The game was also his eighth multiple-touchdown game of the year; the only time he failed to score at least two touchdowns this year was at Grand Rapids in Week 2.
- The Crush held Indiana to 5 rushing yards on 15 carries -- an average of 12 inches per rush.
Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from April 3, 2004
- Crush fall at home for first time this year - Colorado Crush
- Crush Fall to Firebirds, 45-42 in OT - Colorado Crush
- Philadelphia Soul QB Todd Hammel nearing TD mark - Philadelphia Soul
- Firebirds Beat Crush in Overtime, 45-42 - Albany/Indiana Firebirds
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