UNIONDALE, NY - The blustery winds outside the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum must have made the Rush feel right at home.

Chicago played a flawless game against the undefeated at home New York Dragons and pulled out a 44-43 victory in front of 11,719 fans.

"Our guys did a great job," said Coach Mike Hohensee. "We were a little more effective down by the goal line. Maybe it was a little bit of scheme and maybe it was a little bit of a conscience effort to get better."

And it took that "conscience effort" on both sides of the ball, as the outcome was decided on the Dragons’ last set of downs.

Seconds earlier, the Rush were threatening to extend their narrow lead. On what looked like pass interference, WR Etu Molden was denied in the end zone by DS Chris Angel on a 4th and 7 at the 12-yard line. When QB Raymond Philyaw protested, he was hit with an unsportsmanlike penalty, which gave New York the ball on their own 22-yard line with 56 seconds left in the game.

If the Dragons had any forward progress, Rob Bironas could come in to try a field goal. Instead, the Rush held New York for no yards and iced the win.

"It was a great team effort," Hohensee said. "We should have gotten the call in the end zone and we didn’t, so we held one of the best offensives in Arena Football on four downs."

The Rush set the tone early. On the second play of the game, Philyaw [21-32, 248 yards, 4 TD] hit Molden for a 31 yard bomb. Two plays later, FB Bob McMillen ran it in from three yards out to give the Rush an early 7-0 lead.

After New York tied the game on a 40 yard pass from Aaron Garcia, Chicago answered with a 6 play, 44 yard drive, which was topped off by a one yard run by the wide out Molden.

"[That play] was something that was called before," said Molden, who had six catches for 86 yards and scored both a rushing and receiving touchdown. "It was just something we keep in the basket to keep people off their toes, since we have great running backs to run behind."

In a league where running is secondary to passing, the Rush took their nickname literally and moved the ball on the ground during the first half. Charlie Cooke [22 yards, including a 19-yard run] and McMillen [5 carries, 17 yards] carried the workload.

But the Rush also spread the ball out in the air. In addition to Molden, OS Henry Douglas had 11 catches for 135 yards and two touchdowns - including a 39 yard TD reception and lineman John Moyer lined up eligible for a TD pass.

With the win, Chicago improves to 5-4 and is two games behind the Colorado Crush in the Central Division. This season, they are 3-0 against divisional opponents.

Full of confidence, the Rush return to Rosemont for two games, with the defending ArenaBowl champion San Jose Sabercats coming into Allstate Arena next week and then a showdown with the Crush on April 17.

"It’s the second half of the season and we think we can beat anybody," Douglas said.

The wind seems to be blowing in the Rush’s direction.