Rush Falter

By: Jerome Cusson

The Chicago Rush continued their pattern of falling behind early in the game. This time, there was no coming back as the Rush suffered its worst loss of the season to the Cleveland Gladiators, 65-44.

With just two games left in the regular season, the Rush still do not have homefield advantage in the American Conference wrapped up. The San Jose Sabercats had a bye this week, and the Rush were not able to take advantage.

Ironically, it was an old friend who did most of the damage as former Rush quarterback Raymond Philyaw threw for five touchdowns and 222 yards on 14-19 passing. Gladiators receiver Otis Amey had six receptions for 125 yards. But his biggest play came on special teams.

Paul Edinger, who was replacing the recently released Dan Frantz, missed a field goal wide right. Amey recovered the errant kick and ran 50 yards for a touchdown that put the Gladiators up 21-7. Then defensive back Brandon Hefflin intercepted Rush quarterback Russ Michna for a 45-yard touchdown return. That put the Gladiators up 28-7, and the Gladiators never looked back.

Even in a losing effort, the Rush had a few good performances. Travis LeTendresse caught 12 passes for 146 yards while Donovan Morgan caught 10 passes for 103 yards. Russ Michna did throw for more than 300 yards and six touchdowns, but he needed 43 passes to do it and once again could not seem to find any sort of rhythm.

The 65 points are the most allowed by a Rush team since a Jan. 29, 2006 game against the Colorado Crush. All in all, it was a terrible game by the Rush. This was a game the Rush needed to win considering the final two games are against two of the better teams in the National Conference.

The Georgia Force have become the hottest team in the AFL. After starting the season 1-3, the Force are now on a six-game winning streak. With the Rush’s recent struggles and a road game coming up in Georgia against the hottest team in the AFL right now, it could come down to the wire whether or not the Rush have the best record in conference or not.

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Jerome Cusson is a proud graduate of Columbia College Chicago. Currently, he is a freelance writer and a contributer to such websites as The Cool Kids' Table and giveawaytheending.com. Check out his NSR blog as well.

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