The Denver Outlaws have faced postseason heartbreak for each of its eight previous years in MLL — dominating regular seasons only to fall in spectacular fashion in the playoffs year after year.

At last, the Outlaws can call themselves champions.

Denver beat the Rochester Rattlers, 12-11, in front of 8,149 fans at the MLL championship Saturday at Fifth Third Bank Stadium near Atlanta.

It wasn’t without its dramatics.

Drew Snider buried a high shot in transition from 15 yards out with 56 seconds left for the game-winner — Denver’s first lead since 19 seconds into the game.

A clutch play 2-pointer from the always-clutch Jeremy Sieverts tied the game with just over five minutes to play, following a late-game surge from the ageless John Grant Jr.

“This means everything,” goalie Jesse Schwartzman said while hoisting the Steinfeld Cup on the CBS Sports Broadcast. “We weren’t going to let this one slip today. We played this one for Lee, Junior, Train….This is eight years coming.”

“We had a lot of jitters tonight. In the end we put our heads down and played lacrosse and got it back,” MVP John Grant Jr. said after his three-goal, one-assist performance. “I love Denver, I love this team, and I’m so happy to be here.”

“Well, that’s why we brought him to Denver in the offseason. He’s 5-5 now in MLL Championship games. Didn’t look so good there for a while – his record was going to stay," Denver coach B.J. O'Hara said of Grant's performance. "But he led the way on the offensive end, and then we had great performances at the other end by a really good defensive group and our goalkeeper. Anthony Kelly played on one leg and won us a lot of faceoffs. That’s what was able to get us back in the game was we had some possessions.”

Denver initially got the start it wanted. Chris Bocklet started the scoring just 19 seconds into the game, after the Rattlers’ defense failed to pick him up on transition following an Anthony Kelly face-off win.

Outlaws goalie Jesse Schwartzman made two big saves to follow. But then it was all Rattlers for the first quarter.

Michael Lazore got it started for the Rattlers, scoring on a high-to-high shot in transition to beat Schwartzman. Then, Miles Thompson had an impressive one-handed interception a clear on the ride during a Rattlers’ EMO, taking a hard hit from Schwartzman just outside the crease while he scored to make it 2-1. John Ranagan continued the barrage with his hands free coming down the alley to make it 3-1.

Mark Cockerton had a nifty rebound goal, burying a second chance off a Kevin Leveille shot. Dave Lawson would get the last goal in the quarter — all of the goals in the first quarter unassisted — beating Michael Simon and burying a shot with no slide coming to make it 5-1 at the end of the first.

Dom Sebastiani scored to start out the second quarter, the Outlaws looking more relaxed offensively. Justin Pennington fed Sebastiani cutting through for an easy score to make it 5-2. Next, Bocklet would get his second goal of the day, cutting the lead to two goals as the Outlaws’ ball movement improved. He was fed by Eric Law and buried a shot from 10 yards out on the wing.

The run would be broken by John Ranagan, who had an impressive title game, scoring just inside the arc after working a two-man game with Justin Turri.

Denver's Grant Jr. would get his first goal of the game in highlight fashion, diving just at GLE and into the netting behind the goal, burying the ball above John Galloway’s right shoulder before landing and cutting the score to 6-4. Rattlers coach Tim Soudan threw a challenge flag but the refs confirmed the ruling on the field of a goal.

Turri would extend the lead to start the second half, with Wolf feeding Turri along the crease to make it 7-4, with Turri finishing while being hit to the ground. Ranagan then completed his hat trick to extend the lead to four goals.

Law converted a highlight-reel goal, sneaking the ball past Galloway at GLE on a non-existent angle, using his back hand to get enough space to squeak between the pipe and Galloway’s leg.

But Wolf would get the goal right back with his first goal of the championship game, using his blistering first step to come around the net for time to beat Schwartzman.

Jeremy Sieverts made it 9-6 on his first score of the game, but that was quickly erased by Lawson rolling back to his left and scoring with less than a minute left in the quarter.

John Grant Jr., at 39 years old, wouldn't let the Outlaws go quietly and took over in the final frame.

A Rochester breakdown led to Grant easily walking around GLE to score one-on-one with Galloway. Law set a pick that confused Lade and Manley behind the net. Grant Jr. two minutes later scored another highlight-reel goal, going over the shoulder to beat Galloway and cut the lead to two goals.

Junior and Law combined behind the net, with Grant feeding Law off the two-man game and Law cashing in at GLE to make it a one-goal game.

Lawson broke the Outlaw run with a lefty sidearm heater from up top, fed by Cockerton. A fourth tally from Lawson was called off for a crease violation.

Then Sieverts — a clutch performer all season — knotted up the game with a 2-pointer with just over five minutes left to play. Sieverts had seven 2-pointers during the season, most in the league but none more important than Saturday night.

“Some people who don’t know the MLL scoff at that [2-point] rule, but that’s what it can do. Such an exciting play," O'Hara said. "Jeremy Sieverts leads the league in that effort, and we’ve become used to seeing him do that. That was a huge one. Boy that was a huge one.”

Note: Commissioner Dave Gross at halftime on the CBS Sports Broadcast confirmed the league would not expand in 2015, but that a move to Atlanta in '16 is possible. "This is a tremendous market. We’re not expanding in 2015 but knock on wood for 2016," he said.