LOS ANGELES — Siaha Burley became the first-ever professional football player to gain 2,000-plus yards in a single season.
Joe Germaine set an Arena Football League record for most passing yards in a season.
The Utah Blaze clinched a playoff berth thanks to a strong defensive performance and six interceptions.
And they dedicated the game ball from their 47-37 victory over the Los Angeles Avengers to teammate Justin Skaggs, who died June 15 due to complications of brain cancer.
All in all, it was an outstanding night for the Utah Blaze at the Staples Center in front of 13,323 mostly disappointed fans in the regular-season finale.
"We definitely were playing for Justin," said Germaine. "Our mindset was that we wanted to give the effort on every play like Justin gave. That's what we focused on tonight."
The Blaze played with No. 3 stickers on their helmets with a camouflage background in honor of hunting enthusiast Skaggs, who wore jersey No. 3. It was their first game since his death. After the game Blaze owner John Garff and president Jason Jones caught a red-eye flight out of Los Angeles to attend today's funeral for Skaggs in Missouri. They plan on giving Saturday night's game ball to Skaggs' widow, Tara.
While the Blaze had some problems on offense, their defense came through in a big way, especially in the second half.
"We were real rusty offensively, but the defense bailed us out tonight," said Blaze coach Danny White.
Six interceptions in the second half by Utah's defense — two by Ryan Dennard and Orshawante Byrant and one each by J'Sharlon Jones and Leroy Smith — helped the Blaze blow a close game wide open. Utah scored touchdowns on Germaine to Burley passes after each of the first two interceptions to take a 44-24 lead at the end of three.
The only thing that kept the game from becoming a complete blowout was two Blaze turnovers themselves in the second half — an interception and a fumble — and two missed field goals.
"Our defense stepped up," said Bryant, who was playing his first game in more than a month due to a hamstring injury. "A lot (of the interceptions) were tipped balls and everybody was in the right place at the right time.
Avengers backup quarterback Tim Hicks threw two late fourth-quarter touchdown, but it was too little too late.
Utah will now likely face Los Angeles again in the Staples Center in the first round of the playoffs. The Blaze and Avengers will get a rematch if 14-1 Dallas beats 8-7 Colorado on Monday night. If Colorado wins, the Blaze will travel to Kansas City to face the Brigade in a postseason game set for Saturday afternoon.
"I don't really care (which team we play)," said Bryant. "It's the playoffs and we just have to go play whichever one."
Just as the Utah Blaze had figured all week, they needed a win to advance to the playoffs.
Utah could have backed into the postseason even with a loss had Grand Rapids beaten Nashville earlier in the night. It looked like that was going to happen, too, as the Rampage led virtually the entire game. But the Kats rallied in the final minute to escape with a 57-54 victory in a game that ended midway through the first quarter of Utah's game.
That meant the pressure was on. Had Utah lost, Nashville — not the Blaze — would have been heading to the playoffs.
The Blaze defense made a statement early. The Avengers took the opening kickoff and drove to the Utah 1-yard line. But four straight rushing attempts were stopped for no gain by the Blaze defense led by linebacker Frank Carter, and Utah took the ball over on downs.
"We had a lot of energy coming out of the locker room," said White.
Burley caught a 6-yard pass from Germaine on Utah's first play from scrimmage — giving him 2,002 for the season. Burley finished with 133 yards on 11 catches and 2,129 for the season.
The Blaze took the early lead on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Germaine to newly-signed wide receiver Huey Whittaker on his first catch in a Utah uniform. Steve Videtich's extra point gave the Blaze a 7-0 lead with 6:51 to play in the opening quarter.
Videtich later tied the AFL career record with his 177th field goal.
After the Avengers knotted the score, the Burley caught a 5-yard TD pass late in the first quarter. Los Angeles responded, however, to knot the game 14-14 at the end of the first quarter.
Germaine set the single-season AFL passing record with his first reception of the second quarter — a 16-yarder to Tom Pace. He finished the game with 224 yards passing, giving him 5,005 for the season — smashing the previous record of 4,841 set last season by San Jose's Mark Grieb.
Both teams had to settle for field goals on their first possessions of the second quarter, as the score remained tied at 17. Carter scored a rushing touchdown to give the Blaze a 23-17 lead, but Videtich's extra point was blocked. Los Angeles responded by taking their first lead of the game, at 24-23, on a Sonny Cumbie pass to Kevin Ingram with 2:51 to play in the first half.
But the Blaze went on a perfect, time-consuming drive to end the first half. Germaine hit Pace with a 7-yard score with two seconds remaining in the half to give the Blaze a 30-23 lead.
E-mail: lojo@desnews.com