Clint Dolezel threw his 900th career touchdown in a 65-54 win over the Grand Rpaids.

DALLAS - Clint Dolezel threw his 900th career touchdown pass Saturday night en route to a hard-fought 65-54 Desperados victory over the Grand Rapids Rampage at American Airlines Center.

The veteran quarterback's milestone 6-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Nash came with 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter and wound up being the winning score for the Desperados, pushing the score to 58-51 at the time.

Saturday's win pulls Dallas (9-1) even with the first-place Philadelphia Soul (9-1), who can regain a half-game lead in the Eastern Division with a win Monday night against Georgia. Philadelphia also currently holds the head-to-head tiebreaker, having beaten the Desperados 57-28 two weeks ago.

Dolezel finished 25-of-35 for 321 yards and eight touchdown passes, giving him 901 for his 13-year career.

"When I'm done it will mean a little bit more," said Dolezel, who downplayed the No. 900 talk all week despite needing seven touchdowns to become the first in league history to reach it.

Afterwards he indicated his sights were set higher than just 900.

"The whole goal the past few years was 1,000," he said with a smile, saying it would be realistic to reach that number late in the 2009 season.

Dolezel' final touchdown pass was to the most unlikely of receivers - guard Jeremy Calahan, whose first career score gave Dallas a commanding 65-54 lead with 5:07 left.

But bulk of the touchdowns Saturday - six of the eight - were Dolezel to Nash. The familiar combination helped keep Dallas in the game and give the quarterback his new record.

Nash was only too happy to oblige.

"He's my little buddy," said Nash, who tied a team record with six touchdowns. "I'm honored."

Desperados head coach Will McClay said getting the win was the most important thing that happened Saturday night, but Dolezel's record setting achievement played a big part in extending the team's home winning streak to 17 dating back to 2006.

"That is Clint doing what he does," McClay said.

Dolezel's touchdowns helped the Desperados score more than 60 points for the first time all season - a welcome sign of life from an offense that hasn't been racking up points like in previous seasons. The offense was a perfect 5-of-5 in the red zone and averaged 8.2 yards per play.

McClay pointed out the offensive line held up for the first time this season and allowed Dolezel the time he needs to make his passes, and the quarterback agreed.

"It makes the job easier when you're not on your back," he said. "Things went well and hopefully we'll stay on track."

McClay also liked how Dolezel mixed up who got the ball. Two touchdowns came from unlikely players - Calahan and linebacker David Dixon, who scored on a 3-yard run.

Dallas' defense bent but didn't break, staving off a late rally from the Rampage. By holding Grand Rapids (3-7) to 54 points the defense remains the only team in the Arena League to have held all of its opponents under 60 this season.

"We didn't perform great," McClay said of his defense. "But we made the plays when we needed to."

The Desperados blew a 14-point lead in the second half and were on the verge of a meltdown when Dolezel and the offense took control of the game. The Desperados methodically marched down the field with passes to Will Pettis and eventually arrived at Grand Rapids' 6-yard line four minutes into the fourth quarter.

Then Dolezel made his record-breaking pass. And the rest, as they say, is history.