Rush Can’t Contain (Own) Rampage in Playoffs

Jeff Sims
Monday July 7, 2008

The Chicago Rush were in the driver’s seat. For the first time in team history, they had home field advantage throughout the playoffs and were looking forward to playing two games at home before reaching their goal of playing in the ArenaBowl in New Orleans.

It all went for nothing as the team could not keep their cool and get past their first game.

Stupid mistakes and mental errors turned Chicago into their own worst enemy on Sunday in the divisional round. The Rampage capitalized on those errors in a 58 - 41 defeat of the Rush on Sunday at Allstate Arena.

The first play of the game had to be an indication of how the day would go as QB Russ Michna fumbled the snap and lost a down for the Rush. Granted, the next play resulted in a touchdown from Michna to LaTendresse, but the tone had already been set.

They went to fourth down and 15 on their second drive and kicker Todd France missed a 47 yard field goal attempt. The Rampage would respond with a 21 yard touchdown from quarterback James MacPherson to wide receiver Cole Magner. They would never lose the lead from that point.

In what had to be the play of the game, MacPherson stumbled after taking a snap on the following possession. He fell to one knee and threw a 24 yard pass that was tipped by Rush defensive back Jeremy Unertl and was then caught by Rampage wide receiver Kenny Higgins.

“You know you are playing against other things at that point,” said Rush head coach Mike Hohensee.

The Rush would respond with a touchdown of their own, but then lost their cool and their composure. On defense, the strength of this team all season, the wheels just started to come off.

On the next Rampage possession, Rush defensive back Jeremy Unertl was charged with a personal foul on a second down and ten situation. Three plays later, defensive lineman John Moyer gets hit with a roughing the passer penalty on a second down and twelve. Obviously, the Rampage scored on the drive with another touchdown by Higgins. Higgins would finish the game with 14 catches for 167 yards and three touchdowns.

With 27 seconds to play in the first half and Chicago in position to score, Michna had a pass intercepted by Grand Rapids DB William Haith. A touchdown would have tied the game. Rampage kicker Brian Gowins connected on a 25 yard field goal to end the half, resulting in a quick ten point turnaround.

What ensued in the second half was just uncalled for. After jaw-jacking back and forth all game, the two teams began to brawl after Unertl intercepted a MacPherson pass and returned it back to midfield. Unertl was hit very late by Rampage wide receiver Jason Shelley, who believed his quarterback was hit during the play. Both benches would empty into the middle of the field. Shelly would be ejected for his late hit.

“They know there’s an intimidation factor,” said Rampage defensive back Ahmad Hawkins. “That is a great veteran team, they’re smart, and that is part of the (game); to try to get a young team to play outside of themselves. We stuck together. Jason Shelley got kicked out, but he was just protecting our quarterback. We don’t teach that, but sometimes it just happens.”

This is not the type of image that needs to be portrayed in this sport. Yes, football is an aggressive and competitive sport with opponents going back and forth at one another. But for an incident like this to take place on national television, in the playoffs, and with the AFL trying to portray a fan friendly atmosphere is just unacceptable.

While incidents do happen, for this to come from what has been one of the “face” franchises of this league during the season (other than Philadelphia), has to be a slap in the face to the league. With all of the ESPN and Discover card commercials that have been plastered all over AFL telecasts this season, the Chicago Rush had the opportunity to promote the game to a great extent. In trying to bait the Rampage players throughout the game, they failed to on BOTH accounts.

“It’s just an emotional game,” said Rush head coach Mike Hohensee. “There’s a lot on the line. We talked about getting to these games since day one. These guys were chomping at the bit and they were playing with a lot of emotion. Sometimes it hurt us and sometimes it helped us.”

Obviously it hurt more than it helped.

The Rampage, to their credit, would maintain their composure through the remainder of the game and pull away. The Grand Rapids defense forced another key turnover in the second half when Rush fullback Dan Alexander was stripped just before reaching the endzone on a play in the fourth quarter that would have put the Rush back within three points with just under ten minutes to play.

“It’s tough because you don’t want to back down,” said Rampage head coach Steve Thonn. “Both sides were kind of going at, but you don’t want to back down. You want to be smart and you don’t want to do anything stupid. It was getting to the point where both teams were making some dumb penalties and we just had to keep our composure.”

It was the Rampage defense that would make a statement on this day. While their offense has been very consistent and high scoring on their five game winning streak, it is their defense that has produced in the playoffs through two weeks.

“We just had to stop giving up the big plays,” said Thonn. “We said that coming into the playoffs that we would have to make it really tough on the other teams to score. And if we can do that, than eventually the other team will make a mistake and that is what happened today.”

On this day, the Chicago Rush would make big mistakes and not big plays. That is why they are going home and not advancing to play San Jose at home. Instead, the Rush get to go home.

Game Notes

The Rush were without starting defensive lineman Joe Peters who was out with a hip flexor. On top of injuries to James Sadler, Ryan Dennard, and All-Arena linebacker DeJuan Alfonso, the Rush were limited on the defensive side of the ball. Dan Alexander, started at mack linebacker for the playoffs.

Former Rush fullback Jamie McGourty flew in from Boston to attend the game on Sunday. McGourty is currently working in the Boston area selling football equipment.