SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
Two point conversion in OT averts regulation meltdown, Rush get first win

By: Gary Zahara
Photos: Richie Pawlak

Like Yogi Berra used to say, It's not over till it's over.

Words Chicago Rush head coach Mike Hohensee preached during the final minute and his team clinging to a seven point lead against the Nashville Kats. Two plays later, former Rush Cornelius Bonner took a playground hook and lateral from Cory Fleming 30 yards to tie the score at 48 and force overtime. In the extra frame, Nashville marched 45 yards in 8 plays to take a 55-48 lead. It looked like the Rush(1-2) would collapse into their worst three game start in franchise history. Facing 4th and 15 from the Kats 17, quarterback Matt D'Orazio hit C.J. Johnson(7-71 2TD) in the left corner of the endzone to bring the Rush to within an extra point to force sudden death.

But Mike Hohensee saw the look in D'Orazio's eyes and elected to go for the win. It paid off as Cornelius White shook the Kats defender in the back of the endzone and caught the two-point conversion for a thrilling 56-55 win in front of 12,663 at Allstate Arena.

"When things were going wrong for us, Matt was there clapping his hands, smiling at guys, keeping things up beat," Hohensee said. "It's hard to find guys like that."

The win snapped Chicago's two-game losing steak. More importantly, the Rush beat a division leading foe in Nashville(2-1). Over the past two seasons, the Kats have been the cure for what ails the Rush. Last year the Rush beat Nashville twice. Each win snapped two game losing streaks.

"I told our players after the game that they make me feel like a first-year coach again," Hohensee added. "Taking an 0-3 record to Los Angeles would have been tough to come back from in this league."

With the Rush comfortably ahead 42-20 after D'Orazio's 5-yard touchdown run with 11:55 left in the third, Nashville's third rated defense flexed its muscle, while Chicago's appeared to fall asleep. Kats quarterback Clint Stoerner's one yard bootleg and T.T. Tolliver's three-yard run cut the Rush lead to 42-34

After John Moyer took a screen pass from D'Orazio(21-29 210yds, 4TD) and rumbled 30 yards to extend the lead to 48-34, Tolliver hauled in a 10-yard strike to make it 48-41 with 1:23 left. With the entire arena anticipating the ensuing onside kick, Nashville recovered and set up for the tie.

The Rush defense held four straight plays and was poised to run out the clock for the win.

But a fumbled snap led to a long field goal attempt off the net by new place kicker Dan Frantz that was off the net, giving Nashville their chance with 14 seconds remaining. Fleming and Bonner did the rest.

With Chicago leading 14-13 with 10:13 left in the first half, the Rush lit the scoreboard with three scores, Russell Shaw (5-36 2TD)caught an 8-yard pass to make it 21-13 with 2:53 left. A minute and sixteen seconds later, C. J. Johnson(7-71 2TD) returned a 64-yard field goal attempt, bobbing and weaving and refusing to go down, 50 yards to make it 28-13.

Khreem Smith nailed Kats return man Rober` Freeman on the ensuing kickoff and Jeremy Unertl pounced on the loose ball giving Chicago the ball right back at the Nashville 5 yard line. One play later, Johnson option passed to Shaw to give the Rush a 35-13 lead with 29 seconds left.

Unertl, acquired from Columbus for offensive specialist Henry Douglas, made his presence felt immediately with two huge hits in the secondary that brought the Allstate Arena alive. It also propelled the defense to its most dominating half for the first time all year. He replaced the often burned Tony Lukins and probably will get the start in L. A. on Saturday.

Another bright spot was newcomer Dan Frantz. The third year kicker from San Jose was 6 for 6 on PAT's. A major improvement from Steve Azar, who was 3 of 5 on PAT's and 0 for 1 on field goal attempts in last week's loss to New York.

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