06/28/2007

Putting it all on the line

Boss and Kaleita set for start of the AFL playoffs

By MARK URBAN

murban@record-eagle.com

Kaleita

Boss

TRAVERSE CITY — Rob Boss has been part of a winning Arena Football campaign, albeit in af2.

Tom Kaleita hasn't experienced a season better than .500 since high school.

Both Arena Football League rookie offensive tackles will get a chance to experience the postseason this year.

Kaleita's Tampa Bay Storm will play in the first round of the playoffs on Saturday. The Storm (9-7) will host National Conference foe Columbus (7-9) in a noon game televised on ESPN.

"Getting in the playoffs and having a chance at a championship doesn't always happen at any level,” said Kaleita, a 2000 graduate of Kingsley. "This is the first time I've been on a winning team since high school. It's definitely a lot more fun this way.”

Boss, a 2002 graduate of Charlevoix, is coming off a successful season in af2, which is one level below the AFL. His Green Bay Blizzard reached the championship game before losing to the Spokane Shock.

"So far, so good,” Boss said about his success.

Boss will have to wait a week for his playoffs to begin because his Chicago Rush earned a first-round bye with a 12-4 mark. Chicago will host a second-round game on July 9.

The 6-foot-5, 296-pound Boss said the Rush are capable of making another run at the AFL title Chicago claimed last season.

"I feel pretty confident,” said Boss, who played at Northern Michigan University before getting into professional football. "If we go out and play well, we could beat anybody in this league.”

After experiencing their first season in AFL, both Boss and Kaleita said playing on the 50-yard indoor field with the padded walls has been a good experience.

"It's an absolute blast,” Boss said.

"It's fun,” added Kaleita, who played in college at Eastern Michigan "It's been a lot of fun.”

Boss got a jump on playing football indoors on a field half the size while playing both offense and defense for the Blizzard.

"It's the same game, you just have different competition,” Boss said. "(Arena Football 2) is like the Triple-A of the major leagues. It's the same game, just different players.”

Both could also see themselves back in the Arena Football League, even though the dream of making it in the NFL is always burning under the surface.

Kaleita, who played in NFL Europe last spring and was cut by the Detroit Lions during the 2006 training camp, said a wrist injury this season might keep his NFL dream on hold.

"Because of my wrist, I'll probably have surgery once the season is over,” said Kaleita, who signed a one-year contract at the end of January. "I won't have an opportunity to get back in the NFL this year. I'm definitely wanting to play in this league again.”

Boss is signed for two more seasons beyond this one with Chicago.

"If the opportunity presents itself — a chance to go to the NFL — is something that would be fantastic,” Boss said. "But I'm having a good time here and making good money.”

Chicago and Tampa Bay took drastically different routes to the AFL playoffs.

Chicago got off to an 8-1 start and clinched a postseason berth with a month left to play. Tampa Bay, on the other hand, started out 0-5 and 1-6 before getting things going.

"We've been 9-2 the last 11 weeks,” said the 6-6, 320-pound said. "By the fifth game in, we didn't think we'd get in. Some of the guys thought we could do it because they've done it before, but a lot of people were writing us off. Now we're the third seed out of six and we get a home game.”

Kaleita said the Storm turned things around when Brett Dietz took over as the quarterback. A Division III player from Hanover, Dietz bounced around after college and was in training camp, ironically, with Chicago before landing in Tampa.

"He's done a phenomenal job for us,” Kaleita said of his roommate. "Everybody's been rallying around him.”

One of the benefits to playing in Arena Football — at least for offensive tackles like Kaleita and Boss — is the opportunity to catch the occasional pass. One of the two tackles is an eligible receiver on every play.

Kaleita, who injured his wrist while being tackled, has three receptions this season and one touchdown. Boss has caught two passes — both for scores — and another catch was good for a two-point conversion.

"You have to finish what you're going to do,” Boss joked.

Now the two former northern Michigan prep players are looking for their teams to finish what they start, hopefully ending with a berth in the Arena Bowl in New Orleans on July 29.