Avengers Turn Sizzle to Fizzle

These are the professional football rites of spring in Los Angeles.

NFL officials are unable to determine whom to anoint with a stadium. The Avengers, still the only pro team in town, are unable to win an Arena Football League playoff game.

But for the Chicago Rush to walk away with a 52-45 victory at a nearly half-empty Staples Center on Sunday, the Avengers had to lend a hand.

First, the Avengers squandered an 18-point, third-quarter lead. Then they chipped in a key turnover, James Ingram’s fumble on a kickoff return. Then they stopped blocking. With two chances to tie the score in the final minute, the Avengers saw both opportunities end with quarterback John Kaleo being sacked.

When Kaleo had the ball knocked from his hands by Chicago’s John Moyer with 11 seconds left, the Avengers had lost in the first playoff round for the fourth consecutive season.

The view from within was hard to decipher afterward. Kaleo, who was sacked three times in the final minute and pressured often, refused to talk.

Bernard Riley, one of the linemen who allowed the Rush to rush, also had nothing to say.

Receiver Greg Hopkins, who was held to one catch, shook his head “no” when asked to talk.

It fell to kicker Remy Hamilton to describe the moment.

“This is probably the worst loss I have ever been associated with,” Hamilton said. “To have overcome so much this season and to have the game in hand, then let it slip away, this is so disappointing.”

The loss ended an emotional season for the Avengers, who suffered through tragedy with the death of lineman Al Lucas during a game April 10. But the team seemed focused heading into the playoffs, with victories in four of its final five games to win the Western Division and home-field advantage in the round of the playoffs.

“I thought all the pieces had fallen into place and we were going to make a run at [the ArenaBowl],” receiver Kevin Ingram said.

Nothing that happened in the first half Sunday would have changed that outlook, as the Avengers scored touchdowns on their first five possessions to take a 35-17 lead with 12:57 left in the third quarter.

It was all downhill from there.

“You have to credit Chicago; they stuck with it,” Ingram said.

The Rush, trailing 45-31, scored 21 consecutive points in the fourth quarter to take the lead.

After holding the Avengers on downs, C.J. Johnson scored on a three-yard run that tied the score, 45-45, with 4:24 left. Ingram then had the ball stripped on the kickoff, which led to a two-yard touchdown run by Charlie Cook.

“They got the stop and the fumble and that got them back in the game,” Avenger Coach Ed Hodgkiss said. “But we were in it down to the end.”

The Avengers had two shots at salvaging the season.

After getting to the Chicago 11-yard line, Kaleo was sacked on third and fourth down, giving the Rush the ball with 38 seconds left. A reprieve came moments later when Chicago quarterback Raymond Philyaw fumbled.

But the Rush pressure overwhelmed the Avengers again. On third down from the Chicago 11, Kaleo dropped back to pass and had his arm grabbed by Gladston Taylor, knocking the ball free. Bob McMillen recovered.

“Anytime you lose in the playoffs, it is difficult,” Hodgkiss said. “Only one team is going to end up happy. All we can do is regroup and rework things, like we do every year.”