Rattlers Slither Past Stingy Gladiators
Brian Knapp
Monday February 10, 2003
The Rattlers jumped out of the gate early on defense when WR/DB Randy Gatewood intercepted a Jay McDonagh pass and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown. On the ensuing drive, Gatewood again picked off McDonagh, giving the Rattlers the ball inside Las Vegas territory.
The Rattlers were only able come away with three points on the drive, as the tenacious Gladiator defense gave Rattler quarterback Chris Hixson no time to muster up anything on offense. “They (Gladiators) were huge, and they were big up front,” Hixson said. “They are physical up front, and they are a great team.”
Both defenses played well early on, but it was special teams that got Las Vegas on the board in the first quarter. Gladiator speedster, Sedrick Robinson, returned a Rattler kickoff 58 yards for the score. This was the spark the Gladiators needed to get things going on offense.
Despite a strong effort on defense by Arizona, the Rattlers were unable to get their offense moving, and they found themselves down quickly by 12, 28-16.
Head coach Danny White looked upset with Hixson on the final play of the first half, when he threw a ball over the middle to Chris Horn with little time left in the half. There were six seconds remaining on the game clock when the play was called, and the idea was to have enough time after the play to call a timeout, and get Garner on the field. Unfortunately, the Rattlers came away with no points. Despite Hixson’s first half woes, White stuck with him in the second half.
The Rattlers finally gelled offensively by using the short passing game. Arizona worked the 5-10 yard out plays in practice last week, and it seemed to pay off midway through the second quarter. The short passes, and running plays to FB/LB Bo Kelly, guided Arizona to their third touchdown of the game. Despite a 3 to 1 advantage on turnovers, the Rattlers found themselves behind by five, 28-23 at the break.
The Rattlers and Gladiators exchanged the lead five times in the second half, with neither team being able to pull away.
The Rattler defensive line began to get more pressure on McDonagh in the second half, forcing him to throw errant passes. The Rattler secondary also did an outstanding job on defense, especially first year Rattler Mark Ricks. Ricks covered Gladiator superstar Mike Horacek for most of the game, and did an outstanding job holding him in check. Horacek may be an outstanding receiver, but Ricks made him look average on Sunday.
The Rattler defense outplayed the Gladiators, and held them to just 14 second half points, which proved to be the difference in the game.
The tension mounted on the last play of the game, as the Gladiators milked the game clock down to four seconds before calling a timeout. The final play resulted in the fifth turnover for the Rattlers defense, as Ricks picked off a McDonagh pass with no time remaining to secure the victory.
The Rattlers played with more heart and more intensity this week compared to last week’s loss to San Jose.
“I told the guys in the locker room after the game that I’m proud of them, because they kept playing, kept fighting, kept scrapping, because it was that kind of a game” White said. “Determination and energy at the end is what won it for us.”
The Gladiator defense was bigger and stronger, but the Rattlers stuck with their game plan and slithered out of week two at 1-1.
“It’s just nice to get a win, and this was one that we just needed to find a way to win.” White said.
This game definitely gave the Rattlers a boost heading into week 3. “We’ve never started off 0-2, so that was something to build on going into this game,” Gatewood said. “We’ve got some things to build on, and now we can go in to face Buffalo with a little momentum.”
The Rattlers have a short week, as they travel to Buffalo to face the Destroyers on Friday, February 14, 2003. The Rattlers defeated the Destroyers last year 69-42 at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo.
Brian Knapp was a writer for ArenaFan Online from 2003 to 2005.
