Loud Fans, Wounded Warrior, Dropped Passes Vault Rush to Victory
Kevin Sheller
Sunday April 29, 2001
That’s what Rush QB Jeff Loots knew the Carolina Cobras would do to him on Saturday night. In the week prior, Loots had separated his shoulder against the rough-and-tumble Oklahoma Wranglers. The Wranglers love aggressive defense, and their reputation is to make sure you feel a little pain along the way. In Loots’ case, the Wranglers gave him the business with three roughing the quarterback penalties in Oklahoma, one so severe it separated the quarterback’s shoulder.
From the press box in Chicago, it looked like the Cobras weren’t afraid to give Loots a little business of their own by grinding him into the Astroturf numerous times before standing up and returning to the defensive huddle -- not to mention some additional roughing the passer penalties.
“That’s the type of team they are sometimes,” said Rush head coach Mike Hohensee about Carolina, “They’re fighting too. They won the last six of their eight games, and they saw the loss coming.”
“I think they knew that I had a separated shoulder too,” said Loots. “They were just trying to put some extra licks in.”
And licks they did. His battered shoulder contributed to many passes that were wobbly and underthrown. To the average fan and untrained eye, Loots’ performance gave him the appearance of an incapable quarterback -- rather than a warrior who battled through the pain to lead his team to victory.
“[Loots] was banged up and he’s throwing some wobbly passes,” said Hohensee. “He made some great plays, he made some bad plays, but the bottom line is: He won.”
The injury definitely had an effect on Loots’ performance. “I was having trouble throwing to my right a little bit, even though it is my left shoulder. When you’re opening up, you can’t get a lot on your ball.”
Will Loots be ready to play next week in Detroit?
“I’m going to go. It’s still really sore, and I’ll have to just keep taping it. But we got a longer week this week. We don’t play until Sunday so I’m just going to keep going to treatment and hopefully things will be alright.”
Big Night for the Rush
With 10,732 fans in attendance on opening night, the Rush organization was ecstatic. Managing partner Alan Levin strode victoriously out of his team’s locker room, clutching the game ball and celebrating his team’s successful 41-38 victory over the Carolina Cobras. He was nearly speechless.
“What can I tell you? It’s just unbelievable,” gushed Levin. “It’s the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me in sports. It doesn’t even compare to a championship in the minor leagues.”
For those who aren’t aware, Alan Levin is also the managing general partner of Palisades Baseball Ltd., which owns three minor league baseball franchises. After Saturday’s first regular-season Arena Football home game, he was just bursting with excitement. Plus, said Levin, “The fans loved it!”
They did. The fans were treated to a fantastic game, and they treated the players to some amazing support.
Sure, I know. Every team says, “Oh the fans were great” even when there are only 2000 of them. But believe me. I’m a connoisseur of fan support. Even with only 10,732, I believe the Rush home-opener rivaled some of the loudest games I’ve ever attended – including last year’s sold out Arenabowl in Orlando.
“The crowd was a factor, especially down by the goal line when we were making those goal-line stands,” said Hohensee. “When you feel that kind of energy in a building, these guys thrive on that. We got a lot of guys…who were a little weary of coming to Chicago as an expansion team -- wondering how quickly we were going to get going and how Chicago was going to accept the game. I think this answered a lot of questions tonight.”
Unusual Last Minute
In Arena Football, the team with less than a 7-point lead in the last minute doesn’t always win, and often, fans are in for at least two more touchdowns, sometimes three. But in Chicago, that wasn’t the case.
Down 41-38, the Cobra drive in the last minute was unsuccessful, not so much due to Chicago’s excellent defense, but a case of the dropsies. After already dropping a third-down pass, Cornelius White, who had an interception and a number of clutch grabs throughout the evening, had an opportunity to keep a last-minute Cobras drive alive on fourth down but lost the clearly catchable ball.
I quickly scratched White’s name as Ironman of the game.
Still, with more than 30 seconds left on the clock, the Cobras could have easily gotten the ball back and tried again, but an injury and some confusion on offense from riotous crowd noise had caused the Cobras to use all three of their timeouts before the final minute. That preserved the rarely-held one-minute lead, 41-38.
Kevin Sheller ia founder of Arenafan Online and was the principal owner until 2004. Kevin graduated from the University of Akron with a degree in technical writing, and has been a member of the Arena Football Internet community since 1993. He has worked as a professional web programmer and is also the executive producer for a computer/video game company. The most recent Xbox title to his credit is called Hunter: The Reckoning.
