Friday, June 10, 2005 | 9:16 a.m.
After selling out its championship game for eight consecutive years, the Arena Football League decided to gamble and move its ArenaBowl title game to Las Vegas for the next three years.
And even though the hometown Las Vegas Gladiators packed up their gear a long time ago, it's a gamble that appears to have paid off.
AFL officials are expecting close to a sellout crowd of 15,621 at the Thomas & Mack Center on Sunday afternoon when the National Conference champion Georgia Force (13-5) face the Colorado Crush (12-6) of the American Conference in ArenaBowl XIX at noon.
"We've already sold over 11,000 tickets," Chris McCloskey, the AFL senior vice president of communications, said Thursday afternoon. "The last few days things have really picked up. We've sold over 1,000 tickets each day. If it's not a sellout, then it will be close to it."
McCloskey said about a thousand Colorado fans will bus to the game while another 400 Force fanatics are expected to make the long trip from Georgia. Neither team has ever won an Arena Football League championship before.
NBC, which is televising the game nationally, can only hope Sunday's ArenaBowl title contest can come close to matching the thrilling finishes that took place in last weekend's conference championship games.
Colorado, which came up 9 yards short of making it to last year's ArenaBowl, this time pulled out a 49-43 sudden death overtime win against the Chicago Rush thanks to WR/LB Andy McCullough's 22-yard leaping grab of a pass thrown by former UNR star John Dutton.
Georgia, meanwhile, had to twice stop two-point conversion attempts in the final moments to hold on for a wild 60-58 victory against the Orlando Predators.
Dutton, a former two-time Big West Conference offensive player of the year who was the MVP of ArenaBowl XVI after leading San Jose to a 52-14 win against Arizona, finished the regular-season having completed 367-of-586 passes for 4,143 yards and 89 touchdowns. He also has thrown for 11 more touchdowns in two playoff games to give him an even 100 for the season.
The Crush also possess league offensive player of the year Damian Harrell (6-3, 200) at offensive specialist. A Florida State graduate, Harrell has caught a touchdown pass in 49 consecutive games and grabbed 122 passes for 1,486 yards and 41 touchdowns during the regular season.
Georgia, which is coached by former Chicago Bears star Doug Plank of "46 Defense" fame, is led by the "Thunder and Lighting" combo of WR/LB Derek Lee (113 catches, 1,234 yards, 33 TDs) and offensive specialist Troy Bergeron (105 receptions, 1,372 yards, 31 TDs), who were both named to the league's All-Rookie team. Bergeron, 21, who signed with Auburn out of high school, was the AFL's Rookie of the Year.
The Force also feature WR/LB Chris Jackson, a key mid-year pick up from Grand Rapids who starred in the Pac-10 at Washington State in the late '90s. He picked up the league's "Ironman of the Week" award this week after catching eight passes for a game-high 147 yards and four touchdowns in the win over Orlando as well as returning four kickoffs for 94 more yards and making two tackles on defense.
Plank, the AFL coach of the year, will be making his fourth consecutive appearance in the ArenaBowl. He made it to the title game the past three years as defensive coordinator of the Arizona Rattlers but has yet to pick up a ring.
Meanwhile, Colorado coach Mike Dailey guided Albany to the 1999 ArenaBowl crown and has drawn strong praise by team co-owner and NFL Hall of Famer John Elway for his performance this season.
"Mike Dailey has done a heckuva job turning things around," Elway said. "This football team has a bunch of great character. They just keep battling. ... We're going to get an opportunity (to win the AFL title). That's all you can ask for."
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