Gladiators can Break Unusual 2-1 Pattern
Marc Viquez
Saturday July 13, 2002
“We are not even going to talked about the win two drop one thing,” said Head coach Frank Haege on the team’s winning platform.
Three of the four losses have all come after strong momentum-building victories that included ugly defeats to the Carolina Cobras and Chicago Rush. In those two contests the Gladiators averaged 21-points a game. The 14-points the team put up against Chicago was an all-time low in single game scoring. Haege and his troops knew that their performance was unacceptable that day and have been dominating in all of their last four victories since that Chicago game.
It has been different scenery in the division since that game in Chicago when Buffalo and Toronto were breathing down the Gladiators neck and QB Aaron Garcia was returning to the New York Dragons. The last five weeks have produced four wins for the Gladiators and more losses than wins for division foes.
The last time these two teams met, Toronto was looking like an early playoff contender, but are now in must-win situation trying to hold on to their 10th seed in the playoffs. This game will almost be like a playoff game for the Phantoms.
“Basically we’re in the playoffs starting next Saturday in New Jersey,” said Phantoms’ Head coach Mark Stoute whose team sits at 5-7 at the moment.
The Gladiators have been helped a lot by Toronto and Buffalo dropping two straight. There are no more must-win situations for the Gladiators who clinched a playoff birth over New York last week. The division title is in hand. New Jersey needs just one win since Buffalo lost to Carolina on Friday night.
“We can not worry about what Buffalo is doing, we just have to focus on our
upcoming game vs Toronto,” added Haege. “We are just trying to prepare for Toronto the best we can in our consistent manor”
The Gladiators defeated the Phantoms 45-38 in Toronto on May 24 that went down to the final play of the game when Toronto QB Chad Salisbury’s pass went incomplete. It was the first time in two chances that New Jersey came away with a victory and it was another nailbiter of a game. However, the team has been dominating their last two opponents with 138 total points.
If Toronto plans on winning this weekend then they cannot repeat last week’s performance when QB Pat O’Hara threw three interceptions that generated 21-points for Carolina. Meanwhile, Gladiators’ QB Jay McDonagh had another stellar performance for the second straight week with 6 touchdowns for 220 yards against New York.
The Gladiators will close out the regular season at home with two straight home games and then prepare for the playoffs for the first time. Perhaps they can close out the season with a four game winning streak and get over the two and one pattern of wins and losses.
Yet another Talented Receiver
The Gladiators have signed another WR/DB with the addition of Terence Davis on July 3. Davis spent last season with the Houston Thunderbears where he caught 101 passes for 1325 yards and 17 touchdowns. To make room for Davis the team waived WR/DB Kevin Cobb.
A fan of the sport since 1990 Marc has covered both the New Jersey Gladiators and Cincinnati Swarm (Af2) for Arenafan Online. Marc now resides in Indianapolis after graduating with a Masters in Sports Management from Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Ind. When not at a Firebirds game Marc can be found traveling the Midwest covering sports for various Internet and print publications.
