The 2007Columbus Destroyers season is the 9th season for the franchise and the 4th in Columbus, Ohio. They finished with a 7–9 record and qualified for the playoffs. The Destroyers defeated the Tampa Bay Storm 56–55 in the first round. The Destroyers advanced to the National Conference Championship by beating Dallas 66–59 in Dallas the following week. Columbus swept the table with the top three National Conference teams by defeating the Georgia Force 66–56 to win the National Conference Championship Game, their first in team history their history and advance to ArenaBowl XXI, their first ArenaBowl. In ArenaBowl XXI, the Destroyers lost to the San Jose SaberCats 33-55.
Coaching
Doug Kay started his second season as head coach of the Destroyers.
The Destroyers entered the playoffs for the first time since their move to Columbus. In a game that was back-and-forth scoring, the key play was a missed extra point by Storm kicker Seth Marler with 1:06 left in the game. Following a delay-of-game penalty, Marler missed an extra point attempt that, had he made it, would have given the Storm a 56–49 lead. After Columbus got the ball on the ensuing kickoff, they drove down to the Storm 1-yard line with 10 seconds left. Columbus QB Matt Nagy called his own number and sneaked into the Storm endzone with 7.9 left in the game, and, after the extra point attempt, the Destroyers had a 56–55 lead and looked to pull off the upset. With 3 seconds left and at their own 10-yard line, Marler tried to make amends by attempting a field goal that, if good, would give the Storm a 58–56 win and a game against division rival Georgia. Marler's kick looked good to begin with, but curved off to the left and missed, giving Columbus the upset win and a matchup against the 15–1 Dallas Desperados.
The Destroyers blew a 30-point lead and lost to the Desperados earlier this season 53–51 and they lost the 2nd game in Columbus 56–47. This time, it looked as if Dallas, after a shaky start, would continue their dominance over the Destroyers. Leading 38–28 at the half, the tide turned on back-to-back kickoffs by Columbus kicker Peter Martinez. Dallas, who had deferred, got the opening kickoff. However, the ball bounced off the goalpost and into the hands of Columbus' Josh Bush, who rolled into the endzone to make it 38–35. On the very next kickoff, a nearly identical play occurred when the ball again bounced off the goalpost and Columbus recovered at the 4-yard line. On the next play, Damien Groce ran the ball in to give Columbus a sudden 42–38 lead 58 seconds into the second half. After a Clint Dolezel interception set up a field goal for Columbus, Jason Shelley put the game away with a 28-yard reception with 12:55 left in the game to give Columbus a 2-touchdown lead that they held onto to pull off the upset against the Desperados.
