It was the battle of No.1’s to determine the ultimate No.1.

And, thus, ArenaBowl XIX was decided on the game’s final play, as the American Conference representatives, the Colorado Crush edged their counterparts, the Georgia Force, in a 51-48 thriller at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

The two teams had been virtual strangers to one another. They had met only once before, with Georgia winning, 44-40, at the Pepsi Center, in the Crush’s inaugural game of 2003. This was the first time the Arena Football League has played their most important game on a neutral site; in past years, the team with the better record had home field advantage.

The game did feature two interesting sidebars. John Elway, who won two Super Bowls with the Denver Broncos, is the face of Colorado’s ownership. Doug Plank, the Force coach, was making his fourth consecutive trip to ArenaBowl. From 2002-04, he was the defensive coordinator of the losing Arizona Rattlers.

Clay Rush booted the game-winning 20-yard field goal, his third of the game, with :03 remaining after Crush quarterback John Dutton [23-41, 347 yards, 3 TDs] deliberately ran time off the clock before throwing the ball out of bounds. Excluding Dutton’s "purpose-pitch," his last three attempts went for 37, 30 and 45 yards as both teams, finally, presented an air attack. It was the 37-yard completion to Kevin McKenzie [3 receptions, 62 yards] that had set up Rush’s attempt.

Colorado’s Willis Marshall, a champion at every level of his football career, opened the scoring with a one-yard run. It was his sixth rushing TD of the season [and 20th overall] and followed his spectacular catch of John Dutton’s 27-yard pass.

Shortly after, Ahmad Hawkins intercepted Matt Nagy’s first pass attempt, which led to Rush’s 20-yard field goal with 4:42 remaining in the quarter.

At 10-0, the Force responded with a one-yard run by Nagy, which capped a six play, 35-yard series in four minutes even.

From the Georgia 4, however, Marshall scooted in with his second rushing score three minutes into the second quarter, as the Crush retained their ten-point advantage. But Kevin Alridge, a 6’1", 285 pound back, bolted 27 yards along the right sideline to cut the deficit to 17-13; the margin remained at four as Nelson Garner hit the right post on the point after try. Alridge’s run was the longest in the AFL this season.

On the following series, from the Colorado 16, the Crush’s Damian Harrell [8-122-2 TDs], running a post pattern, accepted Dutton’s 29-yard crossfield pass on 4th and 10. Three plays later, Marshall, on a strong second effort, scored his third TD from the two. The touchdown enabled him to tie the postseason record for rushing TDs, first set by Detroit’s Lynn Bradford during a 24-13 against Chicago in 1989.

Georgia’s Robert Thomas –who, while with the Dallas Cowboys, threw a crucial block to spring Emmitt Smith for the NFL rushing record- scored with :29 seconds remaining in the half on…another rushing touchdown. Garner made this conversion as the Force, again, crept to within four points, 24-20. The PAT was the 44th point scored without benefit of a TD pass.

This was the first ArenaBowl since ABIII [Pittsburgh Gladiators/Detroit Drive] that there were no passing touchdowns in the first half.

With just under eight minutes left in the third quarter, Dutton -an ArenaBowl MVP with San Jose in 2002- spotted Harrell, the offensive specialist, in the corner of the end zone for the game’s first TD pass to extend the Crush lead to 31-20. Harrell, a First Team All-Arena selection and the league’s Offensive Player of the Year, had amassed 122 catches for 1,486 yards and 41 TDs during the regular season.

Georgia, averaging 61 points in their prior two playoff games, replied with a scoring pass of their own when Nagy found Derek Lee, his 6’5", 225 target, from two yards out. For the third time, the Force were four back, which was right where oddsmakers thought they would be.

The rookie receiving combination of OS Troy Bergeron and WR/LB Derek Lee – known as "Thunder and Lightning" - finished the 2005 regular season with more receiving touchdowns (64) than any other pair of receivers in the AFL. However, Bergeron [3 catches, 25 yards], the AFLs Rookie of the Year, was not a factor in the contest.

Nagy -who had taken over for injured starter Jim Kubiak in Week Five and, subsequently, directed the Force to their first Southern Division championship- was named to the league’s Second Team. In the two prior playoff games, he had passed for 567 yards [47-of-73] with 12 TDs against just one interception.

After having a TD called back three plays earlier, the Crush were able to salvage a drive three minutes into the fourth quarter when Rush booted a 26-yard field goal.

The relatively low scoring 34-27 game would pick up the pace over the final twelve minutes.

On 4th and 15 from his own 16, Nagy again spotted Lee [12,133,3], who got behind defender Rashad Floyd with the aid of a deft push-off. The talented receiver used the move to allow more space in the curved end zone to gather an off-balance 34-yard spiral; Garner’s extra point knotted the score for the first time since 0-0.

Seconds later, however, Marshall [6-111, 4 TDs overall] caught Dutton’s pass at the 20, eluded two defenders and zipped downfield; the 45-yard catch-and-run and Rush’s PAT produced a 41-34 margin.

But, Nagy and Lee hooked up to forge another tie. Lee -on a play designed as a Storm-Stutter- outdistanced the smaller Floyd for a wide-open 27-yard tally with 4:47 left in regulation.

Pinball football was at its best when Harrell broke through on the next play from scrimmage for a 30-yard TD reception and a 48-41 lead.

In the first 51 pass attempts, neither quarterback threw a touchdown pass. From the 7:53 point of the 3rd quarter, six were thrown. Even with running time, the last two scores were 1:11 apart, the last three were separated by 4:21 and the last four were accumulated in 5:43.

Still, with :18 to overtime, Georgia’s Chris Jackson made the best reception of ‘em all –a one-handed catch into the rounded edge of the end zone; Garner’s PAT tied it once more. The Force had added Jackson -who had at least one TD in 75 of 77 career games with Los Angeles, Grand Rapids and Georgia- during mid-season; he finished 2005 with 35 TDs.

Starting at the Colorado 5 after a touchback in the final minute, Dutton hit McKenzie and, when the referee tacked on a roughing-the-passer call, Rush’s attempt was moved even closer.

And ecstasy was just moments away.