AFL Playoffs Divisional Round Recap

Pro Football Fans Staff Writer Chad Fukoka brings us his recap of the second week of the 2008 Arena Football League Playoffs.

• San Jose advanced to the conference championship and held on to their hopes of repeating as league champions with a 64-51 victory over Colorado. The heavily favored Sabercats never trailed in the game, maintaining at least a one touchdown lead throughout the second half. After the first quarter, San Jose was up 13-7 behind two touchdown passes by Mark Grieb. Each team had an interception in the beginning of the second quarter and after that they scored on all of their remaining possessions as the Sabercats were up 33-24 at the half. The third quarter was extremely low scoring with only two possessions, one field goal by San Jose as they extended their margin to 36-24, while Colorado was stopped on an eight minute drive resulting in an incomplete fourth down pass near the goal line. Colorado quickened the pace in the final quarter, turning to a hurry up offense on many plays. Dutton passed for four touchdowns and the Crush scored 27 points but it wasn't enough since San Jose matched each of their scores and the margin was never less than 6 points. An onside kick recovery by the Sabercats with less than a minute remaining sealed the victory for the defending ArenaBowl champions. John Dutton threw for 7 touchdowns and 367 yards while Ben Nelson had 14 receptions for 136 yards and 4 touchdowns in the loss for Colorado. Mark Grieb produced another consistent game for San Jose with 7 touchdowns and 3 Sabercats receivers caught multiple touchdown passes. San Jose will play in the conference championship for the seventh time in eight years, and their opponent will be Grand Rapids, who upset top seeded Chicago. Colorado was knocked out of the playoffs by San Jose in the divisional round for the second straight year.

• Philadelphia escaped with a controversial home win, defeating New York 49-48 on a touchdown pass as time expired. The Soul got off to a great start with two quick scores and a safety, leading 16-6 near the end of the first quarter. New York forced an interception and responded with a touchdown to cut the lead to 3 points. After both quarterbacks marched their teams down the field for a touchdown on their next possessions, Steve Azar connected on a 46-yard field goal to give New York a 25-23 halftime lead. Philadelphia recovered an onside kick but could not score to open the third quarter. The Soul later scored the only touchdown in that quarter and went up 30-25 with 15 minutes left. They increased their lead to 43-35 after two more touchdowns and holding New York to a field goal on their first possession in the fourth. The Dragons cut the lead to 43-41 and forced a fumble to get the ball back with under 3 minutes remaining. Aaron Garcia took control of his team and gave them a one point lead after a touchdown pass from inside the Soul 10-yard line. Philadelphia had the ball with 7 seconds left on their own 22-yard line after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Since Philadelphia let so much time run off the clock on their previous plays, they only had time for one last pass into the end zone. Matt D'Orazio threw a pass to Larry Brackins, who caught it at the 10-yard line and ran it in for the game winning score. New York challenged the play, claiming Brackins was down short of the goal line. The ruling on the field was upheld but even though Philadelphia was up by a point, there appeared to be one second left on the clock, time for New York to receive the ball for a desperation play. The game was ruled to be over and Philadelphia escaped with a lucky win. Aaron Garacia passed for 5 touchdowns and 337 yards, all of the touchdown receptions going to Kevin Swayne. In the victory, Matt D'Orazio had 6 touchdown passes and Chris Jackson had 4 scores and 122 receiving yards. Philadelphia will host Cleveland in the National Conference championship game.

• Grand Rapids pulled off their second road upset by shocking the Chicago Rush, 58-41 in a very physical game. The Rampage lead 14-7 after the first quarter on two touchdown passes by James MacPherson and a defensive stop. After each team scored two more touchdowns in the second quarter, Chicago had the ball near the Rampage goal line, down 28-21 and looking for the tying score. Defensive back William Haith intercepted a pass in the end zone and Grand Rapids added a field goal to go up by 10 points at halftime. Chicago forced an interception of their own to start the third and outscored the Rampage by 7 points in the quarter. The Rush trailed 38-35 but it was the closest they would get. Grand Rapids put up consecutive touchdowns and created a fumble recovery as Chicago had the ball inside the red zone. The Rampage lead 51-35 with less than 5 minutes in the game and both teams scored a touchdown to reach the final margin of victory. Grand Rapids forced 4 defensive stops and James MacPherson set a franchise record with 33 of 39 completions for a 85% rate. MacPherson finished the game with 6 touchdowns and 326 yards and Kenny higgins had 167 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns. In the defeat, Russ Michna passed for 5 touchdowns and 192 yards while Travis LaTendresse had 3 touchdown receptions. Grand Rapids will travel to San Jose for the American Conference championship game and they will be looking for their third consecutive road victory.

• In a very high scoring game, Cleveland was just a little bit better on offense as they edged out Georgia, 73-70. In the first quarter both offenses seemed to struggle, with fumbles on their opening possessions. Georgia scored first and took an early 7-0 lead. On its next drive, Cleveland recovered a drop kick missed field goal and quickly scored after having the ball on the Force 5-yard line. the first quarter would end with Georgia up 14-7. In the second, blown coverages on several deep passes combined with onside kick recoveries and a faster game pace allowed for 9 touchdowns and 61 total points. Five touchdowns were scored in the last five minutes. At halftime, the Force held on to a 42-40 lead. Cleveland opened the third with consecutive touchdowns by scoring on their first possession then creating a fumble recovery. The Gladiators were up 53-42 midway through the third and ended the quarter up 60-49. Both teams traded touchdowns in the final quarter and Georgia was unable to get a stop. The Force cut the margin to 73-70 with 10 seconds remaning but failed to recover the onside kick and Cleveland ran out the clock. Raymond Philyaw passed for 295 yards and 8 touchdowns on just 20 completions, most of them for long gains. Otis Amey and Robert Redd each caught 3 touchdown passes and combined for 11 receptions and 173 yards. In the loss, Chris Greisen threw for 8 touchdowns and 343 yards while Troy Bergeron and Tiger Jones caught 4 touchdowns each. Bergeron had 14 receptions for 178 yards and Jones had 9 receptions for 83 yards. Cleveland will travel to Philadelphia for the National Conference championship game.

By Chad Fukoka
ProFootball-fans.com Staff Writer

> Check out Chad's Arena Football Rules & AFL Basics article and see how your team is doing in the 2008 AFL standings as AFL teams continue to battle for a chance to play in Arena Bowl XXII!