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By S&E News Correspondent—Michael Burtch

Phoenix, AZ—The Arizona Rattlers fell behind in the first half, came back to take the lead and then watched the game slip away in a 74-69 loss to the Colorado Crush. The loss drops the Rattlers to 1-3, but Arizona is known for slow starts, so there is still hope. The Crush evened their record at 2-2 in the young season.

The Rattlers started off well. Their defense made a stop and forced Colorado into a 50-yard field goal attempt by Clay Rush. He made the kick to put the Rush up 3-0. The Rattlers subsequently drove down the field in 4 plays and scored a touchdown when OS Siaha Burley hauled in an 11-yard pass from QB Joe Germaine. The teams traded touchdowns for the rest of the period and the first quarter ended with the Rush on top 17-14.

The Rattlers turned the ball over on downs on their first possession of the second quarter. Colorado took advantage and drove for another score; a one-yard touchdown plunge by FB Saul Patu. On Arizona?s next drive, Patu sacked Germaine, caused a fumble and former Rattler LB John Peaua jumped on the ball for another Crush touchdown and a 30-14 advantage. The Rattlers ended their scoring drought when WR Randy Gatewood pulled in a 16-yard touchdown pass from Germaine, but the Crush kept pouring it on. After OS Damien Harrell caught a 15-yard scoring toss from QB John Dutton, Colorado had another big defensive play. Lineman Rich Young hit Germaine and caused another fumble and LB Andy McCullough recovered and ran it in for a touchdown for a 44-21 Crush lead.

The Rattlers then started their comeback. Germaine hit Burley on two straight plays; the second was a 30-yarder for a touchdown. The Arizona defense limited Colorado to a field goal after an onside kick attempt. The Crush tried an onside kick, but the Rattlers were ready and scored another touchdown on the next play, a 10-yard pass to Burley that cut the lead to 47-35. Arizona again tried an onside kick and again limited the Crush to a three-pointer that left the halftime score at 50-35.

Germaine said the Rattlers have shown they can overcome a deficit, ?One thing we?ve shown these last two games is that we are resilient. We aren?t going to give up. It never comes down to one play. There were things that happened in the first half that we could have rectified, and maybe it would have been a different game.?

Arizona started off the third quarter with a 7-play drive that ended with Germaine hopping over the goal line from two yards out and cutting the Crush lead to eight. On the ensuing kickoff, LB/WR Hunkie Cooper hit kick returner Ahmad Hawkins and caused a fumble which Randy Gatewood recovered for a touchdown and all of the sudden the Rattlers were down by just one point at 50-49.

In the fourth quarter, the Crush were about to answer Arizona?s surge when Terrance Joseph intercepted Dutton in the end zone. The Rattlers turned that turnover into another touchdown and took their first lead since the first quarter. The Crush finally ended Arizona?s 20-point run and retook the lead on another Harrell touchdown. The Rattlers and Crush traded touchdowns again. Arizona started driving for another lead grabbing touchdown, but Germaine?s long pass to Wilson Thomas was picked off by Ahmad Hawkins. The Crush converted that into another touchdown and a 71-62 advantage with just 51 seconds left to play.

The Rattlers came back quick. WR/LB Tom Pace returned the kickoff 51 yards to the Colorado six and then Germaine found Pace in the end zone 3 plays later to make the score 71-69. The Rattlers tried an onside kick and then held the Crush to one yard on 3 plays and were able to preserve time on the clock. Colorado kicked a field goal and with 13 seconds left, Arizona had one last chance to pull it out. After a completion to Pace to give the Rattlers some breathing room, Germaine launched a pass that careened off the net in the end zone and fell to the turf untouched. Pace had a chance, but couldn?t get to the ball.

Rattlers coach Todd Shell was pleased with how the second half started, but not how it ended. ?I just told them that if we could come out, take the ball out and score on that first drive, then we could go back to playing defense without having the pressure and that would give us opportunities to make the plays and get off the field like it did and we had a couple of big plays. Hunkie (Cooper) made the big play on the kick-off cover, knocking the ball loose. Terrence Joseph got the interception and then we turned around and turned the ball over late in the game.?

Hunkie Cooper thinks the Rattlers need to play a more complete game, ?I think we played well in spurts, but in this game you have to play well for 60 minutes. We haven?t done that yet this season. Until we can cut down on our mistakes and make big plays when we need to, then I don?t think we give ourselves a chance to win.?

Germaine finished the night 28-40 for 319 yards and threw 8 touchdown passes and one interception. Siaha Burley was pulled in 8 passes for 108 yards and 3 touchdowns and also ran back 8 kickoffs for another 113 yards. Randy Gatewood also caught 8 passes and gained 73 yards and scored 2 touchdowns. Pace chipped in 67 yards on 6 receptions and scored a touchdown.

Dutton was 23 of 40 for 241 yards and threw 5 scoring passes and one pick. Damien Harrell was the Offensive Player of the Game after hauling in 9 passes for 144 yards and scoring 3 touchdowns. Ahmad Hawkins ran two kickoffs back for 57 yards, one of them a 53-yarder for a touchdown.

The Rattlers will travel to New York to take on the 2-1 Dragons Sunday afternoon. Game time is slated for 1:00pm and can be seen on NBC.