San Jose SaberCats-Chicago Rush: Bonner, Defense Lead Chicago to Victory Over Defending Champion SaberCats 70-47

Rosemont, IL—The Chicago Rush beat the defending champion San Jose SaberCats 70-47 in front of 15,409 fans at the Allstate Arena. The Rush had some unfinished business to take care of from last season. Head Coach Mike Hohansee's team wanted to start the 2008 season on a positive mark.

The Rush came into the game with some new faces on offense. They wanted to show everyone they could still be very explosive on offense. Veteran quarterback Sherdrick Bonner, playing in his first year with the Rush after 14 years as the starting quarterback for Arizona, wanted to prove that he can make the big plays on offense at 39. He did not disappoint fans at all, throwing six touchdown passes, going 14-of-24 passing for 261 yards with one interception.

The Rush's new-look offense definitely showed some pop with a new trio of receivers in Damian Harrell, Donovan Morgan, and Travis LaTendresse. They were able to totally dominate the defensive backs of San Jose. All three of them each caught two touchdown passes.

The game was close in the first half with the Rush leading the SaberCats at halftime 28-27. The Rush started the game with the new combination of Bonner and Harrell connecting on a 29-yard touchdown. On the next series, when the SaberCats had the ball, quarterback Mark Grieb took the snap from the center, backpedaled, and lost the ball. Dejuan Alfonzo picked it up and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown to give the Rush a quick 14-0 lead.

The SaberCats came back to score three straight touchdowns to take a 21-14 lead.

Then Bonner came right back to throw a 28-yard touchdown pass to rookie Donovan Morgan to tie the game at 21.

The SaberCats got a 25-yard field goal from kicker A.J. Haglund to take a 24-21 lead, but Bonner hit Travis LaTendresse on an eight-yard TD to give the Rush a 28-24 lead.

With no time remaining in the first half the SaberCats got another field goal from Haglund to make the score 28-27.

In the second half the Rush defense made big play after big play. On the first possession of the third quarter Dennison Robinson got an interception and Bonner connected with Harrell on a beautiful 33-yard touchdown pass.

That gave the Rush a 35-27 lead, and they did not look back from there. Jeremy Unertl and Robinson forced a fumble from San Jose wide receiver James Roe after a short catch and Jonathan Ordway recovered it on the SaberCats 23. On the very next play Bonner connected with LaTendresse on a 23-yard TD pass to extend the Rush lead to 15.

The SaberCats came back to score a touchdown on a one-yard TD run by fullback Frank Carter to make the score 42-34 Chicago.

The SaberCats stopped the Rush to get the ball back, but Alfonzo forced Grieb into throwing an ill-advised pass across the field. Alfonzo intercepted the ball on the Rush five-yard line and then returned it 40 yards to the San Jose five. Fullback Dan Alexander then scored a touchdown to extend the Rush lead to 49-34.

The Rush forced San Jose into five turnovers with Robinson, Alfonzo, and Unertl causing most of the damage.

"The three of us have been playing together for a long time," Robinson said. "We know San Jose well and we know they are a smart veteran team. But we also know that receivers in this league are a little looser with the ball early in the season. We made a conscious effort to go for the turnover and try to strip the ball. It worked pretty well."

NOTES

FB Matt Kinsinger suffered a serious left knee injury in the second quarter and did not return. He is out for the season.

Bonner became the third quarterback in AFL history to go over the 41,000-yard mark on a first-quarter TD pass to Harrell.

Harrell went over the 12,000-yard receiving mark on a third quarter TD pass.

Harrell and Morgan both had five receptions; LaTendresse had four receptions.

Robinson led the Rush with 12 tackles; Unertl had 7.5.

Alfonzo had two fumble recoveries for touchdowns. He returned a first quarter Grieb fumble for 20 yards and then he fell on Alexander's fumble in the endzone in the fourth quarter.

Next Games

Chicago hosts Philadelphia on Sunday. San Jose travels to Grand Rapids on Monday.