ROSEMONT—The Rush lost a heartbreaker Saturday night, falling in overtime to the Dallas Vigilantes 65-52 at the Allstate Arena in the team’s final regular season home game.A 27-yard field goal by Dallas kicker Mark Lewis as time expired in regulation tied the game at 52-52 and sent the teams into overtime, where the Vigilantes (2-12) found a way to knock off the Rush (10-5).The Rush won the toss in overtime and, knowing that each team is guaranteed a possession in OT, elected to kick to Dallas. The Vigilantes took the opening kick and marched down the field in five plays, ultimately scoring on a 4th down, four yard TD pass from QB Colin Drafts to receiver Larry Brackins, putting Dallas ahead 59-52. The Rush came right back behind backup quarterback J.J. Raterink who had replaced starting QB Russ Michna at halftime after Michna suffered a rib injury late in the first half and was forced to leave the game.Raterink quickly led the Rush down to the Dallas 4-yard line, where the team had first-and-goal. However, after his first and second down passes fell incomplete, Raterink’s third-and-goal pass was tipped at the line and intercepted by Dallas DB Delenall Reid. Reid returned the interception 50 yards for a touchdown, giving Dallas the 13-point victory.

“I am not happy about the fact that we lost this game,” said Rush head coach Mike Hohensee. “I thought, although we played hard, we were outplayed and outcoached by Dallas. On top of it we lost our starting quarterback (Michna) and our starting fullback (Shawn McMackin) to injuries in the first half. We have some other guys banged up as well and I am not sure if we are going to be able to find 20 healthy guys to play next week in Spokane.”

After turning the ball over on a fumbled snap on its first play of the game, the Rush fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter.However, the Rush regained its composure and came storming back, outscoring Dallas 23-0 at one stretch to take a 37-28 lead with 4:15 left in the third quarter.After a Dallas TD narrowed the Rush lead to 37-35 heading into the fourth quarter, Raterink connected with Alfonzo to put the Rush back up nine, 44-35 with 11 minutes to go in the game.The Rush seemed well on its way to victory, and overtime seemed to be the furthest possible scenario, but Dallas responded.On fourth-and-two from the Rush 14-yard line and 4:30 left in the game, Drafts connected with Brackins for a touchdown that, once again, cut the Rush lead to two, 44-42.Then disaster struck for the Rush.The ensuing Dallas kickoff bounced hard off the net and was bobbled by kick returner Chris Martin before Vigilantes DB Jason Harmon recovered the ball in the Rush endzone for a touchdown. The score gave Dallas its first lead of the second half at 49-44.The Rush offense responded, as Raterink culminated a seven-play drive with a QB sneak from the 1-yard line with 43 seconds remaining on the clock. A fake extra point converted on a DeJuan Alfonzo scramble made it 52-49 with 41 seconds remaining in the game.Dallas used every one of those seconds to march to the Rush 7-yard line. After three consecutive passes into the endzone were broken up by Rush DBs, Dallas found itself facing fourth-and-goal with just two seconds remaining. The Vigilantes decided to kick the game-tying field goal and head to overtime.

NOTES—Michna will have his ribs X-rayed to see if they are broken or bruised. His status for next week’s game is uncertain … Before leaving, Michna completed 11 of 16 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns. Michna now has 3,860 passing yards this season, which breaks Matt D’Orazio’s team record of 3,787 set in 2007 …Raterink connected on 13 of 19 passes for 156 yards and three TDs in the second half … kicker Chris Gould converted all seven of his PAT attempts during the game, giving him 107 made PATs and 140 points for the season – both Rush single season records … wide receiver Syvelle Newton led the Rush with 11 receptions for 151 yards and two TDs. He also threw a 36 yard pass to Alan Turner in overtime … with the loss the Rush’s magic number to clinch the division remains two.