ArenaBowl XXI was the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

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 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

and was played at the

New Orleans Arena Smoothie King Center (locally referred to as SKC) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is located in the city's Central Business District, adjacent to Caesars Superdome. The arena opened in 1999 as New Orleans Arena and ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

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 The Columbus Destroyers were an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Columbus, Ohio, with home games in Nationwide Arena. The team was founded in as the Buffalo Destroyers, based in Buffalo, New York, and relocated to Columbus in . They fold ...

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

coin toss A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to ...

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 Trestin George (born August 24, 1983) is an American actor and former professional American football defensive back. He played for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League until he requested his release to be closer to his family. He was signe ...

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 Matthew Nagy ( or ; born April 24, 1978) is an American football coach, and former arena football quarterback, who is the senior assistant and quarterbacks coach for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He was the head ...

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 G ...

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 In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

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

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

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 f ...

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 021 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