Rush offense gets rolling again in rout
Just a week removed from calling Rush quarterback Russ Michna the hottest signal-caller in the Arena Football League, coach Bob McMillen might have found himself biting his tongue when the team suffered the worst loss in franchise history June 9 at Utah.
But Michna vindicated his coach Saturday. The Rush (8-5) scored on all but two of its possessions in a 62-27 victory over the Georgia Force (7-7) at Allstate Arena.
“This is a crazy game. Momentum plays a key role in this game,” said Michna, who threw for 217 yards and six touchdowns. “We started off slow last week, and we couldn’t get the ball rolling. We came out and played better. We had a better idea of what they were trying to do to us, and we took advantage of it.”
Leading 21-7 in the second quarter, the Rush got the ball with 4:05 left after Jorrick Calvin’s interception at its own 6-yard line. Michna took the clock down to five seconds before connecting with Jared Perry on a two-yard touchdown.
“That’s what we tried to do,” McMillen said. “We knew they were going to get the ball at the start of the second half, and we didn’t want to give them another possession.”
Making the victory even sweeter, word had surfaced after the game that the players union and the league had agreed on a labor deal.
Player representatives and team owners met at the league office Saturday in Chicago after the owners had set a Sunday deadline to lock out the players if a deal was not reached. Players still were awaiting league confirmation.
“We were just going out there and trying to let it play itself out,” said Reggie Gray, the Rush player representative. “From what I hear, the deal is done, and we’ll have football for the rest of the year and the next few years, and that’s a great victory.”