ArenaBowl XXI was the

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championship game of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

and was played at the

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on Sunday, July 29, 2007. It was the third-ever neutral site title game in league's history and the first held in the state of Louisiana. ArenaBowl XXI pitted the Columbus Destroyers of the National Conference against the

San Jose SaberCats The San Jose SaberCats were a professional arena football team based in San Jose, California. The SaberCats had been members of the Arena Football League (AFL) since 1995 (the year in which the team was founded); and until 2015, they belonged to ...

of the American Conference.

Game summary

San Jose took the control of the ball first, after Columbus won the

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and deferred to the second half, and scored first on a touchdown run by Brian Johnson. Columbus then tied the score at seven on a touchdown run by Harold Wells. Each team threw for a touchdown to make it 14–14. Trestin George of San Jose then returned the kickoff, following Columbus' second touchdown, for a touchdown, but A.J. Haglund missed the Point-After-Try (PAT) making it 20-14. On the ensuing possession, San Jose's Clevan Thomas intercepted a pass, and San Jose capitalized on the turnover, extending the lead to 27–14. This would be the halftime score. The teams traded scores in the third quarter, and into the beginning of the fourth quarter until it was 41-27 San Jose, and an errant Matt Nagy pass fell into the arms of San Jose's Omarr Smith. A

Mark Grieb Mark Richard Grieb (born May 23, 1974) is a former Arena football quarterback who spent the majority of his career with the San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League (AFL). Grieb currently serves as the head coach of the Sacred Heart Prep ...

touchdown pass to James Roe made it 48–27 San Jose, and a touchdown by each team led to the final score of San Jose 55, Columbus 33. San Jose won their third Arena Football League title, all since 2002.

Post-game

Grieb was named the

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

, having thrown just five incomplete passes and no interceptions over the course of the game. He was awarded a

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Spyder for his performance. Coach Darren Arbet became the second coach to win three ArenaBowls (

Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The ...

coach Tim Marcum has seven). The game was the first of three neutral-site ArenaBowls to sell out, doing so six weeks before the game in early June. An estimated 40% of the crowd was from outside of the New Orleans area, and led to an overall economic impact of around $25 million for the city of New Orleans.

Notes

External links

ArenaBowl XXI Boxscore on ArenaFan.com

ArenaBowl XXI News Article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arenabowl Xxi

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2007 Arena Football League season Arena Football League in New Orleans 2007 in sports in Louisiana Columbus Destroyers San Jose SaberCats Football, American 2007 in American television July 2007 sports events in the United States 2000s in New Orleans