It's Good! Last-Second Kick Gives Crush Win
May 14, 2005 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Colorado Crush News Release
DENVER -- At one spot on the field, every player and coach wearing the navy blue of the Colorado Crush couldn't wait to give placekicker Clay Rush a high-five and a hug. Even grizzled, wise head coach Mike Dailey appeared to have a little emotional moisture in his eyes as he hugged the man whose 31-yard field goal had just given the Crush a heart-stopping 52-49 win over the Nashville Kats.
Just feet away, Nashville's T.T. Toliver sat on the artificial turf, a different kind of emotion flooding his face. Dejected, physically spent and unable to move, his visage bore the weight of having single-handedly brought Nashville back from a late eight-point deficit with a touchdown and a two-point conversion, only to have his efforts washed away like a sandcastle at high tide when Rush's last-second field goal glanced off the left upright and into the soft net between the goalposts.
It was a game in which everything that matters in professional football was on the line for both teams -- a playoff spot, and the continued hopes of attaining what would be the first league championship for either franchise. For Nashville, the wait will continue for one more year; the loss was the Kats' eighth, eliminating them from playoff consideration in the American Conference.
For the Crush, it kept them atop the American Conference, and in control of its playoff future. Losses by either Chicago or Las Vegas this weekend could get the Crush in the playoffs, but a win next weekend at New York will get them home-field advantage through the league semifinals.
It was a playoff-caliber game. It was tied after each of the first three quarters. It was a rollicking treat -- and, for the 15,514 on hand inside Pepsi Center on Friday night, it was a victorious one.
"It wasn't an average football game; there were some great things going on out there," Dailey said. "It was a spectacular ballgame, well-played by both teams."
It wasn't decided until the final buzzer sounded and Rush's 31-yard kick had nestled between the uprights after first glancing off the left goalpost, momentarily stopping the hearts of those Crush players who dared to look.
"The first thing I thought when it hit the pole, I was like, 'No -- it's too far to the left,'" said wide receiver/defensive back Willis Marshall. "When it went in, I had to actually wait and see it drop through the net (before celebrating)."
The kick was many things to the men in blue, gold and orange.
To Marshall, it was an answered prayer.
"I don't know if God listens to prayers. He heard about 100 million today," Marshall said. "You know what? He may have been listening, because the way that ball squeaked past the pole, it might have been a little divine intervention, but I'll take that all day."
To offensive specialist Damian Harrell, it was more than he could bear to watch.
"I didn't even look, man," he said. "I just had a towel on my head; I couldn't look, but I knew Clay was going to make it."
To Rush, it was a sure thing.
"I knew it was going to be good," he said. "As long as it goes in, it goes in. That's all I'm worried about."
Most of all, it was a full-circle trip from the end of the first half, when Rush was 12 yards closer to the goalposts with a chance to put the Crush in front 24-21 at intermission. He missed, but redemption would come about an hour and 15 minutes later.
"It happens in this game," he said. "The goalposts are pretty small, and whenever you get a chance to bang one through and help the team win, that's all I care about."
But when Rush's 19-yarder sailed wide, the home fans groaned, and when the Kats overcame three fumbles -- all of which they recovered -- to take the lead on the first drive of the second half, it meant that the Crush had lost control of the game.
But only temporarily. Indeed, the three potential fumble recoveries that the Crush could not corral were setbacks that kept the Crush in a hole -- first at 28-21, then at 35-28. But the fact that the football popped loose on those occasions, coupled with the repeated third downs into which the Kats were forced, gave the Crush's defense -- maligned after a 10-quarter stretch without a stop last month -- reason to believe it was due.
"We were still out there playing hard and fighting," wide receiver/linebacker Kevin McKenzie said. "We saw since we were playing so hard that it was going to work out for us in the end. By playing hard, flying around, (footballs) flying out, that just gave us more incentive to run around and give us that extra boost to go over there and make a play on defense."
The stop finally came in the fourth quarter, when the Crush pressured Kats quarterback Leon Murray into a throw that sailed past everyone on the field. One play later, McKenzie sprinted 29 yards with a John Dutton pass for a score that put the Crush in front 42-35. Although the Kats managed to tie it once more, Colorado never trailed from that point forward.
It was reminscent of the win five days earlier at New Orleans, where one fourth-quarter defensive stand changed the flow of the game and turned it in Colorado's direction.
"After going down to New Orleans, it just gave us a big energy boost," McKenzie said. "Before that game, we were just so juiced. We knew that we were going to win. We were just so hyped up and we were out there playing together as a team. Everybody contributed."
That was the case again Friday, and now, with a two-game winning streak and confidence restored, the Crush is back where it wants to be -- atop its conference, and, most importantly, atop it together, as the three-game skid of April did not crack the Crush.
"If it doesn't kill us, it makes us stronger," Marshall said. "We're not going anywhere. It starts with Coach (Mike Dailey), too. Coach shows that he still has faith in us. If the coach believes in you, then it's up to yourself to believe in you. We're not going to let anybody on our team fall to the wayside; we're going to pick everybody up, and that's what we have to do to carry it on to (Las) Vegas."
Added McKenzie: "Now, we're still in control. Chicago losing that game put us right in the front and we can be the No. 1 seed in the American Conference."
Now that would be worth another emotional celebration.
GAME NOTES Nashville won the coin toss and deferred its option to the second half, giving the Crush possession to open the game ...
... In a bizarre twist, the Pepsi Center's fire alarm was activated just after the opening kickoff due to technical difficulties. leaving a pre-recorded message playing repeatedly over the public-address system as the Crush moved downfield on its opening drive ...
... Marshall had his second straight 100-yard receiving game; he also scored twice on the ground and once on a reception ...
... Dutton set a career high for completions (31) and amassed 349 yards through the air ...
... Colorado was six-of-six on third-down conversions; Nashville was five-of-eight and failed to convert its only fourth-down attempts ...
... The Kats became the second straight opponent to convert an on-side kickoff against the Crush, doing so with 55 seconds left in the first half. "They're killing us," Dailey said. "We're going to have to do a much better job. We've kind of prepared for that pop-up going to the kicking team's right, and our left. They're hitting it over here to the left -- right in the same spot. Obviously it's going to be a big point of emphasis for us this week." ...
... Colorado finished its home slate at 6-2 for the season. After going 0-8 at home in 2003, the Crush is 13-3 at Pepsi Center ...
... Donny Klein posted the first sack of his AFL career ...
... With Rush and Tony Dodson sailing most of their kicks over or to the side of the rebound nets, the game passed without a kickoff return until Marshall's 17-yard runback with 13 seconds left in regulation ...
... As is their wont, the Kats effectively controlled the pace of the game, particularly early, with a seven-minute, 24-yard drive that culminated in the game's first touchdown.
GAME TRACK FIRST QUARTER
Colorado began its first drive at its 5-yard-line after Tony Dodson sent the opening kickoff over the rebound nets, then endured a wisp of the bizarre when a fire alarm went off, causing strobe lights to flash throughout the arena and a pre-recorded message to reverberate through the building. But that didn't hinder John Dutton, who completed five consecutive passes to lead the Crush into the end zone on an 11-yard strike to Willis Marshall. Clay Rush's extra point gave Colorado a 7-0 edge.
Nashville replied in kind, but did not move downfield as quickly as the Crush, and only a fourth-down, end-zone pass-interference penalty that the crowd lustily booed allowed the Kats to keep their first drive alive. Two plays later, Levelle Brown ran into the end zone from one yard out, capping an 11-play, 45-yard drive that consumed 7:57 of the clock and tied the game at 7-apiece.
Colorado's offense opened at its 5-yard-line following the ensuing kickoff and stalled early, as Dutton's first- and second-down passes to Damian Harrell were just beyond the receiver's grasp. But a third-and-10 toss to Marshall netted 16 yards, keeping the march alive. Three completions later, the Crush was back in the end zone via a 15-yard pass from Dutton to Damian Harrell, but a holding penalty on John Peaua nullified it, forcing the Crush into a first-and-20 at midfield as the period ended.
SECOND QUARTER
Two plays into the second quarter, disaster nearly struck for the Crush as Khalil Carter intercepted a pass just shy of the goal line and returned it into Crush territory. But a holding call against the Kats' DeRon Jenkins gave the Crush new life and first-and-goal at the Nashville 7, and Colorado capitalized when Dutton found Harrell in the back of the end zone for the score.
Nashville started at its 10-yard-line after Rush's kickoff sailed out of bounds, followed by the assessment of a late-hit penalty on Nashville when a Kats defender slammed Harrell into the boards after his score. The drive eventually stalled, and Dodson was wide right on a 31-yard field-goal attempt, giving the Crush possession at its 5-yard-line with 7:57 left in the period. Six plays later, the Crush was back in the end zone. A pair of incompletions forced the Crush into third-and-10 at the 16, but Colorado awoke as Dutton and Harrell hooked up for their second score of the half, this one coming with 3:25 left. Rush's extra point put the Crush up 21-7. Nashville scored 2:30 later to narrow the gap back down to 7 points, at 21-14.The Kats then recovered an on-side kick, retaining possession with 53 seconds left in the half, and tied the game 19 seconds later on a 10-yard Levelle Brown run. The game remained tied going into intermission when Rush hit the right upright on a 19-yard field-goal attempt.
THIRD QUARTER
An inability to pounce on Kats fumbles proved costly for the Crush. Nashville fumbled on three of its first five plays out of halftime, but recovered all loose balls. The Kats eventually found the end zone to take the lead for the first time when Murray connected with T.T. Toliver on a 6-yard touchdown pass -- the first scoring strike of the day for Murray. Dodson's extra point pushed the Kats' edge to 28-21.
Three plays later, the Crush ended the Kats' 21-0 run with a bullet when Dutton found Kevin McKenzie for a 27-yard touchdown, on which McKenzie got just behind two Nashville defenders for the reception. Rush's extra point tied the game at 28-apiece with seven minutes left in the quarter.
That tie lasted all of one play -- or as long as it took Murray to stand in the pocket, absorb a hit and fire a heave that Jerrick Hillery snared for a 35-yard touchdown reception, putting the Kats back in front by seven points, at 35-28.
A stunning, one-handed, third-and-10 grab by Harrell kept alive the Crush's next drive, which ended in a 1-yard run around right end by Marshall to close the period. Marshall's rush capped a 6-play, 45-yard drive that tied the game at 35-all as the quarter concluded.
FOURTH QUARTER
Nashville started at its 20-yard-line after Rush's kickoff sailed wide of the rebound nets and into the stands. One play later, the Kats moved into Crush territory on a 7-yard T.T. Toliver run. The next two plays gained two yards, forcing the Kats into a fourth-and-1 from the Colorado 21, and Nashville failed to convert when Murray overthrew his intended receiver. Colorado capitalized one play later when Dutton found McKenzie down the left sideline for a 29-yard score.
Four plays later, a stunning Kats strike got them back into the end zone. Hillery took a handoff and swept right, then threw across his body and across the field to lineman Joe Minucci for a 32-yard score. But Saul Patu blocked the ensuing extra point, and Rashad Floyd nearly returned it for a two points, but was stopped six yards short of the end zone, keeping the score at 42-41.
Eight plays later, the Crush extended the lead to eight points when Marshall ran for his second ground touchdown and third overall of the game. With 1:46 left, Colorado's lead stood at 49-41, but Nashville tied it 90 seconds later when T.T. Toliver ran 2 yards for a score, then darted into the end zone on a two-point conversion where he froze a pair of Crush defenders. But Colorado had 16 seconds left, and thanks to two completions and Rush's heroics, that was enough to clinch a hard-fought win.
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Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from May 14, 2005
- Dragons Win The East! - New York Dragons
- It's Good! Last-Second Kick Gives Crush Win - Colorado Crush
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