Lineman Hans Olsen was all smiles just seconds after the Utah Blaze had held on to beat the Los Angeles Avengers, 63-61, Saturday night in the Delta Center.
"Experience," the ex-BYU Cougar who now plays center and nose guard for the Blaze said, "goes a long way."
The experience Olsen was talking about came in the form of recently signed 37-year-old quarterback Andy Kelly, a 13-year Arena Football League veteran and one of the league's all-time best passers. All Kelly did in his Blaze debut was complete 21 of 33 passes for 285 yards and eight touchdowns.
"It's nice to have Andy's hands back under my lap," said Olsen, who also snapped the ball to Kelly last season when they both were playing for the New Orleans VooDoo.
Utah improved to 4-8 with the victory — which ties them for the final playoff spot in the American Conference with the Chicago Rush. Los Angeles fell to 3-9, with two of those losses coming to Utah.
The win allowed Blaze coach Danny White to show off his "victory shirt," a loud Hawaiian-style top in the team's black and orange colors.
"This has been sitting on my desk for about four or five weeks," said White.
That's because Saturday's game ended a four-game losing streak by the Blaze following the injury to starting quarterback Joe Germaine. Rookie Jason Gesser started all four games in Germaine's absence and showed some positive signs but couldn't land Utah a victory.
But Kelly, the AFL's all-time leader in yardage and compilations, led the Blaze to victory by directing touchdowns on eight of his nine drives prior to the final one when the team ran out the clock.
"(Kelly) has great touch, as he showed tonight, throws great deep balls, great decision making and he gets rid of the ball quick," said Blaze star receiver Siaha Burley. "He's been doing that his whole career."
Burley, sometimes a forgotten man the past couple of games, came through in a big way on Saturday. He caught 11 passes for 152 yards and five touchdowns.
"Siaha," White said, "was pretty much unstoppable."
Despite all the impressive offense, the Blaze had to rally in the second half due to some breaks going the Avengers way. Utah trailed 55-49 early in the fourth quarter.
But Kelly hit Orshawante Bryant for a 25-yard touchdown with 12:15 to play and Steve Videtich's extra point gave the Blaze a 56-55 advantage.
On the ensuing kickoff, Utah's Kevin Clemens recovered an onside kick. Kelly then hit Burley on a nine-yard score to give the Blaze a 63-55 lead with 6:49 remaining.
Los Angeles quarterback Sonny Cumbie led a drive capped by a four-yard scoring pass to Kevin Ingram with under two minutes to play. Cumbie's two-point conversion pass — that would have tied the game at 63 — was incomplete, however, as Utah's Justin Skaggs got his hands on the ball.
Tom Pace then recovered Los Angeles' onside kick with one minute to play, and Utah was able to run out the clock.
The Blaze led the entire first half — by as many as 15 points. They looked like they would be up by at least eight points at the half until the final 10 seconds when thing went south.
First, Kelly was intercepted in the end zone with 5.5 seconds remaining by Los Angeles' Kevin Ingram, thwarting Utah's scoring opportunity. But that wasn't the worst of it. Cumbie then lofted a "Hail Mary" pass on the final play of the half. The ball bounced off the field-goal crossbar — which is still in play in the AFL — and into the hands of Ingram for a score. Suddenly, Utah's halftime lead was only 35-34.
"When we went into halftime, we felt like we should have been ahead by three touchdowns," said White. "It was a dead locker room."
But the Blaze were good enough in the second half to earn the victory.
The Blaze will now head on the road for three straight games. They will face Colorado in Denver on Friday.
BLAZE BRIEFS: Kevin Moffett returned a kickoff 54 yards for a score. It was Utah's first kickoff return for a score in team history. On the night, Moffett five returns for 134 yards . . . Ex-Utah State Aggie Trevor Hutton played center and noseguard for the Avengers . . . Former Utah linebacker Kautai Olevao led the Blaze in rushing with three carries for 10 yards from his fullback position . . . The announced attendance was 15, 642.
E-mail: lojo@desnews.com