AFL Football Betting – Rampage vs. Sabercats

The second AFL online betting affair of the day pits the 6th ranked Grand Rapids Rampage against the 2nd ranked San Jose Sabercats in the American Conference Championship Game. This will be the final shot for AFL bettors to pad their bankrolls before the ArenaBowl on July 27th. This certainly wasn’t the match-up the Sabercats had envisioned after they held up their end of the bargain against the Colorado Crush last week, but the Rampage did them a huge favor by knocking off the Chicago Rush allowing the defending champs to save a bit of money on gasoline costs for its charter to the “Windy City”.

The Rampage let it be known in their final game of the regular season against New Orleans that they wanted a ticket to the dance, and once there, they weren’t going to go down easy. After throttling the VooDoo in the Graveyard 86-70 as seven-point road pups, they took a trip to the desert to take on the Arizona Rattlers in the Wild Card round. Their goal line stand in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter allowed them to secure the 48-41 road victory as 1.5-point underdogs, and the combined 89-points never seriously threatened the 119-point closing ‘total’. Their award for winning the game was a trip to the All State Arena to take on the top ranked Chicago Rush. Head Coach Steve Thonn devised a stellar game plan that kept the top ranked Rush guessing all day en route to the 58-41 shocking SU road win and cover as eight-point underdogs. The game had just about everything in it; miraculous catches, stellar defensive hits, 20 combined penalties, and an ejection. When the dust cleared, Grand Rapids won its third straight road game and come into this weekend’s battle with the Sabercats 4-1 SU and 3-2 ATS its L/5 as a visitor.

The veteran San Jose Sabercats have been here before. It was just last season that they upended the Chicago Rush by a 61-49 final count in the American Conference Championship Game before storming New Orleans and dominating the Columbus Destroyers en route to hoisting their third ArenaBowl trophy this decade. It was business as usual last week against the Colorado Crush who paid a visit to the HP Pavilion in the Playoffs for the second time in as many years. After the teams combined for just three points in the third quarter, the Sabercats watched a double-digit lead dwindle to 36-30 before QB Mark Grieb fired an 11-yard touchdown pass to WR Cleannord Saintil with 10:34 left. Then DB Marquis Floyd helped the Sabercats begin to pull away on the ensuing possession, returning an interception 47 yards for a touchdown to stretch San Jose’s lead to 50-30. When the clock read double zeros, the Sabercats won by a 64-51 final count cashing the AFL betting public’s tickets as 11-point home favorites. A win in this spot will allow San Jose to try and become the first back-to-back ArenaBowl winners since the Tampa Bay Storm pulled off the feat from 1995-96.

San Jose has owned the Rampage franchise ever since they squared off for the first time back in 1998. They’re 9-1 SU and 6-3-1 ATS in their 10 overall meetings, and that number includes the Sabercats 66-58 Week 2 victory at Grand Rapids as 10-point road chalks this season.