Elway Breaks Cleveland’s Heart Again
Will Burge
Wednesday April 16, 2008
It seems as though no matter what Bernie Kosar does John Elway always comes out on top. Just like their many playoff match-ups in the 1980’s, Elway’s Colorado Crush defeated the Cleveland Gladiators in heartbreaking fashion Friday night 69-66.
A raucous crowd of 15,079 showed up Friday night to cheer and jeer as John Elway, one of the most hated figures in Cleveland sports, and his Arena franchise were in town. The Gladiators got out to a quick start scoring on their first possession when Raymond Philyaw led a near perfect drive that ended with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Otis Amey. This would be the first of 6 touchdowns for Amey.
The very next drive Sakeen Wright intercepted Crush quarterback John Dutton and Cleveland converted the turnover into seven more points to take a quick 14-0 lead. The Crush responded when Dutton hooked up with Willie Quinnie from 23 yards out to cut the lead in half. Jason Ball kicked a field goal and the first quarter ended with a 17-7 Gladiator lead.
The first half was all Cleveland. They led 38-31 behind Philyaw’s four touchdown passes and Marlion Jackson’s rushing touchdown. Cleveland held the advantage in time of possession by three minutes and had forced Dutton into two interceptions.
The second half could be described as the antithesis of the first. The Crush immediately tied the game on their first possession with a Dutton scramble for a touchdown. The teams then traded two touchdowns a piece and the third quarter ended with a 52-52 tie.
In the fourth quarter the Gladiator offense seemed to unravel. The first drive of the quarter for the Gladiators ended with an interception in the endzone. Philyaw put up a virtual jump ball for Otis Amey and Rashad Floyd to fight over. Floyd came away with the ball and the momentum.
After a Dutton touchdown pass the Crush had their first lead of the game, 59-52 with 8:22 left. Dutton finished with a stellar 34-48 and 314 yards performance. He threw two interceptions but they were more than offset by his eight touchdown passes.
Philyaw threw another pick on the next drive which all but buried the Gladiators. From his own 24 yard line, Philyaw tried to force a ball to Otis Amey and it was again intercepted by Floyd at the goal line.
“The second one was me just forcing it. I tried to find him on the corner route but it was just bad judgment by the quarterback, terrible judgment.” Philyaw said of the second interception.
Rashad Floyd, the cornerback of the Colorado Crush, is widely known as one of the best corners in the league. For the most part he was kept quiet through three quarters, but when it mattered most Floyd made his presence felt. He finished the game with two huge interceptions.
After the second turnover Cleveland held the Crush to only a field goal, but that ten point lead was just enough of a cushion to hold off the resilient Gladiators. A final desperation on-side kick with 28.4 left was recovered by the Crush and time ran out for Cleveland.
With the loss the Gladiators fall to 3-3 after starting the season 3-0. They also drop their first home game of the year after starting out 2-0 at The Q.
“It sucks losing a home game. We were 2-0 at home, coming home losing in front of your fans, its tough on the city and its tough on the team. It’s early in the season though, we have ten more games left. We’ve got an opportunity to regroup” said Philyaw.
When asked of the three straight losses Coach Mike Wilpolt said, “These last three games we haven’t been able to get away with the mistakes we made in the first three games. The caliber of teams has jumped up… and the little things are hurting us right now. We’re making little mistakes that are costing us the ball game. We’re not at the point where we can overcome a number of mistakes.”
“You got to defend your home and we didn’t defend The Q very well tonight. Defensively we actually played quite poorly and special teams were poor tonight. We have got to get better.”
Once again the struggles of the Gladiators’ secondary became the main source for concern. They gave up too many deep passes and the tackling was quite poor.
When asked of the shoddy tackling Wilpolt said, “We have got to get better at that. They have some fast receivers but they are not very physical and our game was to take it to them physically. We just weren’t wrapping up.”
After over a month on the road the Gladiators finally returned home, but they better not get comfortable. They head right back out and face the Los Angeles Avengers in L.A. this Saturday. Kickoff is set for 10:30 p.m.
