Destroyers 72 Wranglers 49

Entering this game I didn't know what to expect. Would we see the team from the beginning of the year that couldn't crack 50, or maybe the team from the last two weeks that could put up a great first half against the best teams in the league and then fall apart to lose it?

Thankfully neither, the Columbus Destroyers put together one of the most complete game I have seen in the AFL this year since Dallas thumped New York in week one.

For the majority of the first half both teams traded scores. 7-7, 14-7, 14-14, all the way up to 28-28 with less than 1 minute to go in the half. McPherson threw the ball out of bounds on third, and the Wranglers missed the field goal. This may not have been such a blow except that as Columbus was moving down the field, trying to make use of this stop, a Wrangler got called for unsporstmanlike conduct. Columbus converted the field goal and took a 31-28 lead. Columbus came out after half time and outscored Austin 21-7 in the third quarter. Matt Nagy and company kept the offense fired up while the defense had three interceptions. By the end of the second the Wranglers had been outscored 41-21.

While the game was one sided I would encourage Wrangler fans to keep heart and McPherson. His interceptions came off of tips and he had a long run for a touchdown late in the game that made my heart skip a beat. If his defense could have given him a stop or two this would have been a whole different ball game.

The most encouraging part of this win was that Columbus had a better second half than first. If this team can keep playing like this they could finish 11-5 or 10-6. I also take some pride in that the 72-49 final was only 7 total points away from my prediction of a 67-52 final, and almost as important is that the attendance was higher than 14,000 (15,121).

The importance of this game cannot be overrated as next week Columbus will have to play the mighty Soul(4-1), at Tampa Bay (1-6), then home against New York(1-5) and Grand Rapids(2-4). That is a four game stand in which Columbus could conceivably go 4-0 over three home games.

At the end of the night, I think the AFL should have realized that the Columbus Destroyers may be able to make a deep playoff run or be a dark horse Arena Bowl team this year.