Ouch! Gladiators Ruthlessly Beaten
Scott Miller
Monday March 3, 2003
Mark Grieb and the SaberCats played like the number one offense and the defending Arena Bowl champions they are. San Jose went 4-4 in the red zone continuing their 100% efficiency rating for the season.
They were both lucky and good. With two minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter, George Williams of the SaberCats fumbled the ball in front of the goal line. Barry Wagner recovered the ball in the end zone for a SaberCats touchdown.
The Gladiators’ low score was due in part to a strong San Jose defense and part to a bad performance by the Las Vegas offense. In the 2nd quarter, the Las Vegas coach replaced struggling Jay McDonagh (21-9-2 for 86 yards) with Todd Hammel (23-13-0 for 212 yards).
Head coach Frank Haege, when asked about his quarterback plans, said he "would have to look at the tape, do some soul searching, and try to make a decision.” He cited McDonagh “missing a couple of guys and holding the ball a bit too long” as reasons for pulling him. Kicker Steve Videtich continued to be the one steady bright spot in the Gladiator offense, going 4-4 on extra points and 1-1 on field goals.
Mistakes kept Las Vegas from seizing the momentum in this game. In the second quarter, George Williams intercepted a Mark Grieb pass for a touchdown. It was called back for a penalty and two plays later San Jose scored a touchdown of their own. The penalty caused a 14-point swing in the score. Neither team was able to execute a successful onside kick the entire afternoon.
With under a minute remaining, Todd Hammel fumbled the ball and James Roe recovered the fumble and returned the ball seven yards for another SaberCats touchdown, making the score 71-37. I was reminded of what Johnny Carson said after his fourth (or was it fifth?) divorce, “They just can’t hurt me anymore.”
“There is often one game a season you just have to forget,” said Mike Horacek. “Usually you have one game a season where nothing goes right. That’s not to take away anything from San Jose, they played a great game.”
“The second quarter was an absolute debacle,” said Haege. “It seemed like half the time we were at second and twenty.”
2-3 is certainly not a disastrous record. Las Vegas has to straighten out the mental aspects of the game: no careless penalties and fewer turnovers. Without these unnecessary mistakes, the Gladiators are competitive with any team in the league. However, no one factor would have made the difference in this game -- the SaberCats were the better team.
While acknowledging the work ahead of them, Haege did sound a positive note, “I am proud of our guys. No matter what happened, they kept fighting and playing hard...”
Scott Miller is a professional computer geek and talk show host in Las Vegas. His show is streamed live from klav120am.com on Fridays at 8PM. Archives of his show, The Usual Suspects can be found at his website.
