Ranking the ArenaBowls, #1: ArenaBowl XXIV

ArenaBowl XXIV featured the Arizona Rattlers and Jacksonville Sharks. The game was played at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, AZ.

Arizona got on the board first when fullback Odie Armstrong rushed from two yards out. Jacksonville scored when quarterback Aaron Garcia threw a 41 yard touchdown to Jomo Wilson. Unfortunately, the extra point was no good, so Arizona maintained a 7-6 lead.

They expanded their lead when Nick Davila connected with Kerry Reed for a touchdown. Garcia threw a touchdown to Jeron Harvey to close the gap to 14-12 at the end of the first quarter.

The Sharks took their first lead of the game when Wilson recovered an Arizona fumble and returned it for a touchdown. Following the Rattlers scoring to re-take the lead, the Sharks scored the next 14 points to open up a 32-21 lead with 2:54 left in the first half.

Arizona scored 14 consecutive points of their own to take a 35-32 lead at halftime.

After the two teams exchanged one score apiece in the third quarter, Armstrong rushed for a one-yard touchdown and the Rattlers led 49-38 in the fourth. Jacksonville didn’t go down that easy.

It was back and forth the rest of the way. With 12 seconds left, Davila and Reed hooked up for a 12-yard touchdown. It looked as if the Rattlers were going to win another title.

However, Garcia threw a pass into the end zone as time expired in the game and it landed in Harvey’s hands. The Sharks won ArenaBowl XXIV, 73-70, with a touchdown as time expired.

The multiple comebacks in this game, as well as the most exciting finish in ArenaBowl history, is why this game winds up as the top ArenaBowl game on our list.

Ranking the ArenaBowls, #2: ArenaBowl XIV

As the Arena Football League entered a new millennium in 2000, the ground was arguably shaky. In fact, for nearly a week (from Feb. 24 to March 1), the season was officially canceled. However, the League Player’s Union reached a collective bargaining agreement with the league and dropped their antitrust lawsuit filed over health benefits, higher salaries, and a lack of free agency.

Once the season got going, it really got going. San Jose and Arizona were not just in a divisional race throughout the season, but a race for the #1 overall seed. The Orlando Predators were the only team who won their division by more than one game, and five of the eight wild card teams were only separated by two games. It was a postseason ripe for upsets.

The Predators had a comfortable run to ArenaBowl XIV, beating I-4 rival Tampa Bay 34-24 in the quarterfinals before netting a mild upset at home against Arizona, 56-44, in the semifinals.

However, Orlando’s division foe, the Nashville Kats, had a little tougher route. After a 57-14 wild-card win over Grand Rapids, the Kats had to face the #3 seed and first-team All-Arena quarterback Aaron Garcia on the road in the quarterfinals. After scoring a 63-56 upset, their reward was a trip to San Jose to face the #1 seed SaberCats, who finished 12-2. A 52-41 semifinal upset win meant one more game and one more trip to Amway Arena.

The Jungle, as the arena was known as, had a raucous crowd of 15,989 on hand to witness the Predators in their third straight title game up against a debutante Nashville team. It didn’t take long for the home team to assert their dominance, as Ernest Allen recorded a safety inside the first minute of the game. With the ball, Connell Maynor found Clif Dell from 16 yards out to extend the lead to 9-0. After a couple of stops, Joe Douglass would score on a 3-yard touchdown run to make the Orlando lead 15-0 after David Cool missed the extra point.

Andy Kelly did find Jeff Russell on a 33-yard touchdown pass to narrow the deficit to 15-7 at the end of the first quarter, but Maynor threw two more touchdown passes to start the second, and the Kats were nearly left for dead down 29-7 just 20 minutes into the game.

However, like Orlando did to start the game, Nashville scored a safety (thanks to William Gaines) and got two touchdown passes from Kelly (one to Cory Fleming, the other to Darryl Hammond) to score 16 unanswered points and cut the deficit to 29-23 at the halftime buzzer.

The third quarter was a tight, defensive battle, with Nashville taking the lead on an Andy Kelly 28-yard pass to James Baron, and Orlando answering with a 38-yard field goal from David Cool to take a 32-30 lead going into the final fifteen minutes.

Orlando started that final frame strong with Connell Maynor finding Bret Cooper on a 15-yard pass, but Cool missed his second extra point of the game, and the lead remained 38-30. To add injury to insult, Andy Kelly went down with a knee injury, forcing backup quarterback James Brown into action to lead a comeback. Things initially didn’t go according to plan thanks to Brown throwing an interception on his first drive. The turnover didn’t hurt, though, as Cool missed a 22-yard field goal, his third miss of the game. Brown did make things right on his next drive, finding Hammond on a 45-yard bomb and then Fleming on the tying two-point conversion with 6:26 left in the game.

Defense stepped up yet again, creating another scoring drought and the possibility of the first-ever ArenaBowl to be decided in overtime. But, Maynor and the Predators had one last drive in them, and set up one last chance at redemption for David Cool.

Cool, who missed a total of five kicks during the game, had a shot at a game-winning 19-yard field goal on the last play. The snap was good, the hold was good, and the kick sailed through the uprights to give Orlando their second title in three years.

Thanks to a 202-yard, four-touchdown game on 17 completions in 28 attempts, Connell Maynor won MVP honors. James Baron, thanks to his touchdown catch and two sacks, was named Ironman of the Game in the loss.

For Orlando, they would have to wait for another chance at a title after this classic, as their next ArenaBowl appearance wouldn’t be for another six years. Nashville, on the other hand, made it right back to the big game the next year, only to run into Clint Dolezel and the Grand Rapids Rampage. The Kats wouldn’t come back to Nashville until 2005, and left the league for good in 2007.

Ranking the ArenaBowls, #15: ArenaBowl XXV

New Orleans, LA- The Arizona Rattlers won their first ArenaBowl title in 15 years by upsetting the heavily favored Philadelphia Soul 72-54 at the New Orleans Arena in ArenaBowl XXV.

It was a chance at redemption for the Rattlers, who had lost in their last four trips to the ArenaBowl. None was more devastating than in ArenaBowl XXIV, when they lost at home to the Jacksonville Sharks on the final play of the game; an Aaron Garcia touchdown pass to Jeron Harvey. The following year, they returned to the big game, but as the decided underdog to the 15-3 Soul, who had the highest scoring offense in AFL history.

Arizona came out of the gate with an interception by Arkeith Brown, which led to the first of seven touchdown passes from Nick Davila to Maurice Purify. The Rattlers rode the momentum to a 27-13 lead at halftime, and were not going to allow a repeat of what had happened the previous year.

The Rattlers took control in the third quarter as Davila found Purify for touchdowns three times to increase the lead from 14 at halftime to as large as 28, to the point where the fourth quarter was essentially meaningless.

When the smoke cleared, Davila had thrown an ArenaBowl record nine touchdown passes en route to being named game MVP, and the Rattlers had come away with their first championship since 1997.

The Best of the Best: Inside the Arena’s Top Five ArenaBowls

On the heels of arguably one of the most historic Super Bowls of all time, the NFL season has officially come to an end. As we are now two months away from a 2017 season that’s seen a lot of build up, we look back at the five best ArenaBowls in league history.

#5 – Going Out on a High

The first era of the Arena Football League saw one last great game before going dark and saying goodbye. The Philadelphia Soul, having made the playoffs three straight years, were looking to finally get over the hump. Meanwhile, the San Jose SaberCats were looking for their fourth title in just seven years, having made the playoffs for the ninth year running.

The Soul, having escaped with a divisional round win, carried momentum from their conference title game into the ArenaBowl, and took control of the game in the second quarter after finishing the first tied at 20. After going on a 26-7 run to take what was sure to be an insurmountable lead, Mark Grieb led the ‘Cats back to within clawing distance, making up two scores to get to within 46-34 after throwing a 12-yard pass to Jason Geathers. The Soul matched score for score, and nearly locked the game up with 39 seconds left when Matt D’Orazio found Phil Bogle on a two-yard scoring pass.

Grieb then led a near miracle minute, with the SaberCats scoring in just 11 seconds, then doing it again after recovering an onside kick. Lightning couldn’t strike twice, and the Soul notched their first title with a 59-56 win.

#4 – Dynasty On the Line

In what was the fourth of what would be five consecutive ArenaBowl appearances, the Detroit Drive were on the verge of history in 1991. In just their fourth year of existence, the Drive were looking to win four straight titles and cement their legacy as the first dynasty in league history. On the other sideline, a budding franchise recently relocated from Pittsburgh called the Tampa Bay Storm were looking for their first trophy.

Three of the biggest names of the day, and still some of the biggest in league history, suited up that day: Storm quarterbaxck Jay Gruden, Storm offensive specialist George LaFrance, and Drive quarterback Art Schlichter. In front of a crowd of more than 20,000, Schlichter and Gruden went toe to toe, combining for five of the first seven touchdowns of the game.

After a tight first half where no one led by more than a score, Tampa Bay began to pull away in the third quarter thanks to two long Gruden scoring passes. Detroit, after scoring to open the quarter, could only manage a field goal and went into the last 15 minutes trailing 42-30.

Schlichter found his groove again in the fourth and led two scoring drives to tie the game, but Gruden had the last say in the final minutes with a 35-yard pass to WR/LB Stevie Thomas, sealing a 48-42 win and the franchise’s first title. Detroit would complete the dynasty the following year, but Gruden had his first of what would be many big moments on the big stage.

#3 – An Upset First

The Orlando Predators had an easy ride through the 1994 season, finishing 11-1 during the regular season and only finding resistance from the Massachusetts Marauders (who just moved from Detroit) in the semifinals. For the Arizona Rattlers, however, despite having Hall of Fame talent with Sherdrick Bonner, Calvin Schexnayder and head coach Danny White, it wasn’t as easy after an 8-4 season and needing one upset in the semifinals.

The Predators came in favored by 16 points, and head coach Perry Moss immediately dialed up the plays to get Orlando in the end zone first. Bonner responded with a 33-yard bomb, but Orlando kicked a field goal to take the lead before the end of the first quarter. The defense stiffened before the half, as both teams only scored a single touchdown in the second, and Luis Zendejas kicked two field goals to give Arizona a slim 20-17 halftime lead.

Ben Bennett and Bonner continued to navigate tough defenses in the second half, as Orlando matched Arizona score for score and the Rattlers couldn’t pull away. Down 30-24, Ironman of the Year Barry Wagner made his last say on the game with a four-yard touchdown run, but Bonner answered right back, finding Schexnayder for the second time of the game to take a 36-31 lead after a failed two-point conversion. Bennett had one last chance with a Hail Mary, but the pass fell incomplete and the Rattlers won their first ArenaBowl in franchise history, leaving the Predators just short once again.

#2 – Signs of the Future

Long before NFL Hall of Famer Kurt Warner led the “Greatest Show on Turf” and won the Super Bowl, he was famously bagging groceries and playing for the Iowa Barnstormers. When ArenaBowl X came around, Warner was in the hunt for his first title, while the Storm and Jay Gruden were looking to complete what would be the second dynasty in league history.

Warner and Gruden were nearly identical in the first quarter, each throwing a 30-yard TD pass after starting the game with one, and the game was relatively mistake free until Warner threw a pick-six to Stevie Thomas late in the 2nd.

With the game tied at 28 at the half, both defenses clamped down the rest of the game, only allowing 24 total combined second half points. Gruden found Thomas one more time to take a 42-38 lead, but Warner had just enough time to lead a potential game-winning drive. He led the Barnstomers down to the Tampa Bay one-yard line, only for the Storm to respond with a goal line stand to seal their fourth title in six seasons.

#1 – The G.O.A.T. Gets His Ring

When ArenaBowl XXIV arrived, Aaron Garcia was at the end of a season of milestones: the first ever professional quarterback to throw 1,000 touchdown passes, and the first in league history to throw for 50,000 yards. Despite all that, one thing was missing from his legacy: a title.

Standing in the way was the man who would eventually take over the torch, Nick Davila. With both pivots entering their first title game appearance, and Davila playing without star receiver Rod Windsor (who caught 156 passes for 1,830 yards during the season), both the Rattlers and the Jacksonville Sharks got to work.

The teams traded scores in the first quarter, but thanks to two missed extra points by Marco Capozzoli, Arizona held a slim 14-12 lead. The Sharks opened up the second quarter with the first stop of the game, and Jomo Wilson‘s fumble recovery gave Jacksonville their first lead of the night. After the Sharks scored again to take a 32-21 lead, Davila led three straight scoring drives to give the Rattlers apparent control at 42-32 late in the third quarter.

Thanks to some tenacious defense, Jacksonville broke serve with just 5:22 left, as FB Kirby Griffin found the end zone from four yards out, and the two-point conversion gave Jacksonville a 53-49 lead, setting up the thrilling finish. The two teams again traded each other score for score, but when Kerry Reed caught a 12-yard pass with 21 seconds left, the third touchdown scored in the final minute of the game, the title looked to be heading back to Arizona.

However…

Twenty-one seconds is an eternity in arena football, and Garcia proved it again that night. Needing only two passes to get within scoring range, Jacksonville had the ball on the Arizona 10-yard line with just two seconds to go.

Garcia dropped back, waited, and found Jeron Harvey in the corner of the end zone for the third time of the night. With no time left, Jacksonville celebrated what would be their only league title, and Aaron Garcia was finally a champion.

With ArenaBowl XXX just about six months away, rest assured that there will be more history to come, and it could possibly crack this list.