Colorado's 'D' stops Rampage

Dominating job vs. AFL's No. 2 scorers puts Denver at 4-5

By Jim Benton, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Originally published 11:37 p.m., May 2, 2008
Updated 12:23 a.m., May 3, 2008

Rashad Floyd became only the third player in league history to have 700 tackles.

Rashad Floyd had a heart-to-heart talk with the Colorado Crush defense before Friday night's game against Grand Rapids.

The Crush defense responded with its best effort of the season as Colorado rolled to a 63-28 victory against the Rampage, before the largest crowd of the season, 14,257, at the Pepsi Center.

Grand Rapids came into the game as the second-highest scoring team in the Arena Football League, averaging 60.4 points per game, but the Crush stopped the Rampage four times on downs, totaled five sacks and recovered two fumbles for touchdowns.

"Rashad Floyd, before the game, called the defense in and told us heart is the biggest muscle in the body," defensive lineman Aaron McConnell said. "That's the first time all year long that I felt our defense truly played with heart.

"Coach (Tony) Frederico did a great job this week making some changes with a new defensive front, and we ran it very professionally. It was time to get everybody together, and we worked hard."

McConnell had three sacks. Lauvale Sape, signed this week, and Nick Rogers, who was also signed as a free agent earlier this season, each had a sack and each recovered fumbles for touchdowns.

Floyd led the team with six tackles to become only the third player in Arena Football League history to record 700 or more career tackles. The Crush defensive back now has 701 in his career.

"This is the first time in a long time we got a convincing win," Floyd said. "We showed the fans and the city of Denver what we are capable of. This was the first game of the rest of our season. This was a much-needed win and something we are capable of.

"I told the big boys to state their case and establish the line of scrimmage, and us little guys can fly around and have fun."

The win snapped a two-game losing streak and improved Colorado's record to 4-5, while Grand Rapids fell to 3-6.

"There's no doubt in our mind we can do this against any opponent," Floyd said.

"The key to our defense and our team is hitting on all cylinders. If you don't have gas in the car, oil in the engine and the right person driving the car, if you don't have all three of those, you are going to crash. The key right now is for the offense, defense and special teams to play at the same level."

Colorado quarterback John Dutton threw for 319 yards and five touchdowns.

Willie Quinnie and Aaron Hosack each had 10 receptions, and Hosack caught four touchdown passes.

The Crush allowed the Rampage to score only seven points in the second half and none in the fourth quarter in the runaway win.

"We played hard," Crush head coach Mike Dailey said. "It's one game. I hope we can find some consistency. Our defense played real well. The big guys got after them."

James MacPherson completed 17 of 31 passes for 230 yards and three scores for Grand Rapids (3-6).

ETC.: Colorado scored two touchdowns in the final 13 seconds of the first half, the second coming when the Rampage's MacPherson fumbled when he was sacked by McConnell and Sape recovered the ball for a touchdown. . . . The Crush scored 28 unanswered points at one stage to grab a 35-point advantage.

Crush 63, Rampage 28

Grand Rapids7 14 7 0 - 28

Colorado14 28 14 7 - 63

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - GR, Johnson 2-6, Higgins 3-16, MacPherson 3-6, Browden 1-6; C, Watton 4-8, Owens 2-5, Dutton 1-0.

Passing - GR, MacPherson 17-31-230-0; C, Dutton 34-46-319-0.

Receiving - GR, Lewis 4-47, Higgins 7-122, Johnson 3-39, Browden 2-12, Magner 1-10; C, Hosack 10-88; Pyatt 6-45; Owens 7-53; Quinnie 10-118; Watton 1-15.

bentonj@RockyMountainNews.com