Rampage Get First Win of the Season
Randy Snow
Monday April 12, 2004
After making a good showing in the second half of last week’s game against the Arizona Rattlers, Arena Football League rookie quarterback Michael Bishop started his first AFL game. His first series ended with an interception, but Bishop completed nine of 18 passing attempts for 144 yards, one interception and three touchdowns in the first half. However, with the Fury leading 28-26 at the half, Rampage Coach Bob Cortese felt that a change was needed. Anthony Buich, who started the last five games for the Rampage, finished the game. Buich completed seven of 12 passes for 118 yards and one touchdown in the second half.
Rampage Fullback/Linebacker Chris Avery rushed five times for 47 yards and two touchdowns, including the game winning score, and also caught two passes for 21 yards and another touchdown. He was named the Offensive Player of the Game and Ironman of the Game.
The Rampage took a 49-45 lead with 23 seconds left in the game after Avery scored his second rushing touchdown of the game. Defensive specialist Mark Ricks then intercepted Fury quarterback Andy Kelly with 14 seconds left to preserve the victory for Grand Rapids.
Wide receiver/defensive back Josh Bush had a 45-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter to open the scoring for the Rampage and a 40-yard touchdown grab in the fourth. He finished the night with 3 catches for 101 yards and 2 touchdowns. After the game, Bush defended head coach Bob Cortese and the rest of the coaching staff for the way the season has gone so far.
“It’s not his fault that we’re losing,” said Bush of Cortese. “It’s the players not playing hard every play. Coach Cortese, coach Frazier, coach Baker and coach Fickert are putting us in the right situations, but we’re not finishing our plays out there. Coach Cortese has taken a lot of heat from people, but it’s us.”
Bush gave special credit to defensive coordinator Rick Frazier, after the game.
“Coach Frazier called a great play on the interception that Ricks got,” Bush said. “We have the best coaches in Arena football. It’s just that we, the players, haven’t been finishing. Well, tonight we finished to show that we’re not a bad Arena team.
“Tonight we just got a couple breaks. A couple things went our way. Everybody played hard and we got that first win tonight. We knew we had to get a win somehow.”
Detroit Sports Saturday
This was the first time this season that I have attended an away game of the Rampage. I sat in the stands with my kids taking notes on a pad of paper all game long. On the two-hour plus drive from Kalamazoo to the game, my boys and I listened to the Detroit Tigers baseball game on the radio, a 10-5 loss to the Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park. It was the Tigers’ first loss of the season after starting off 4-0. Not bad for a team that had 119 losses last year. We checked into a hotel before the game and watched the third period of the Detroit Red Wings and Nashville Predators playoff hockey game from the Joe Louis Arena in our room. The Red Wings won the game 2-1 to take a 2-0 lead in the best of seven, first round series. When the hockey game was over we drove to the Palace for the Fury-Rampage game. Throughout the game, the crowd at the Palace was updated on the score from the Detroit Pistons-Orlando Magic basketball game that was being played in Orlando. The Pistons won the game 101-89. Baseball, hockey, basketball and football all in one day! Detroit sports fans certainly had a cornucopia of choices to select from on that particular day in the Motor City.
Next Game
The Rampage host the Indiana Firebirds (5-5) on Saturday, April 17th. The last time these two teams met in Indiana on March 26, the Firebirds managed to squeak out a 45-42 victory with a field goal in the closing seconds.
Randy Snow covered the Grand Rapids Rampage of the Arena Football League for ArenaFan from 2003-2008. He also covered the Fort Wayne Fusion of arenafootball2 in 2007. From 2004-2008 and in 2010, he was a member of the Arena Football League Writer’s Association and, since 2011, has been a member of the Professional Football Researchers Association. Randy lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan but will travel just about anywhere for a football game or a great football story. He runs the web site www.theworldoffootball.com and hosts a podcast with his son, Adam, called “This Week in The World of Football.”
