Kats Maul Gladiators
Adam Lieberman
Monday June 11, 2007
The Las Vegas Gladiators (2-12) remained winless at home for the 2007 season falling on Sunday afternoon 63-48 to the Nashville Kats (6-8). Fumbles, an interception, and a lackluster second half led to the defeat for the Gladiators.
Gladiators’ head coach Danton Barto said, “We sucked again today and the people I feel the worse for are the fans. They pay good money to see us play and they keep seeing that crap.”
Barto was fired several weeks ago but it was decided that he would stay on until the season ended, which thankfully for the Gladiators does in two weeks.
QB Nick Rolovich played a solid game for the Gladiators, but had two costly turnovers in that third quarter which Nashville capitalized on and would prove to be the difference in the contest. Rolovich passed for 319 yards on 24 of 35 completions and four touchdowns.
The star of the game for the Gladiators was rookie WR Travis Lendresse who caught 12 passes for 205 yards and two scores and has established himself as the Gladiators’ number one receiver.
Lendresse said, “It doesn’t matter what the personal stats are, it’s about winning and losing. We’re a young team and we need to learn from it, but it’s very frustrating.”
The afternoon started bad for the Vegas as Nashville’s CJ Johnson to the opening kick off was taken back 56 yards for an early 7-0 lead.
The Gladiators had no answer for Nashville’s offense as they scored a touchdown on all possessions but one. The one possession they didn’t score was missed field goal attempt as time expired in the first half.
Offensive player of the game, Kats’ fullback Dan Alexander, added to his single season touchdown record with 5 scores in the game. Alexander now has a whopping 38 touchdowns with two games reaming for the Kats.
With the win, Nashville keeps its playoff hopes alive while the Gladiators can only look forward to next season as they secured the worst record in the Arena Football League this year.
Coach Barto, “Whoever comes in to coach the team next season is going to have his work cut out for him and I wish him the best of luck.”
Notes: The last team to go winless at home was the 2004 Grand Rampage Rampage, a dubious record they share with 11 other AFL franchises…The Gladiators home attendance average of 5,433 ranks last in the AFL.
