Arizona Rattlers To Host Jacksonville Sharks in ArenaBowl XXIV

Adam Markowitz
Monday August 8, 2011

ArenaBowl XXIV is officially set! The National Conference champs, the Arizona Rattlers will take on the Jacksonville Sharks, the American Conference champions on Friday night at 8:30 ET. The ArenaBowl will be played at the US Airways Center in Phoenix, AZ.

The Rattlers were the first team to punch their ticket to the ArenaBowl. They fended off a feverish rally by the Chicago Rush at the end of their game on Saturday night, posting a 54-48 victory.

QB Nick Davila threw for 283 yards and seven scores, while WR Jason Geathers hauled in 10 balls for 150 yards and four scores. However, it was the defense that truly shined on this day. Arizona picked off three passes, recovered two fumble, and forced two stops on downs, and it really had the screws on QB JJ Raterink virtually every single time that he dropped back to pass. The Rush stormed back from a 41-19 deficit to get within six points, but they never were able to get the ball back in a position to tie or win the game.

For the Rattlers, this will be the first time back in the ArenaBowl since 2004. This will be their sixth appearance in the ArenaBowl, posting a 2-3 record. There are only three franchises, the Tampa Bay Storm (5), Detroit Drive (4), and San Jose SaberCats (3),  that have won more than two titles. Currently, the Orlando Predators join Arizona with two championships. The Storm and Predators have both played in seven ArenaBowls. The Rattlers will move within one of the league record.

The man of the hour is going to be QB Aaron Garcia, though. For the first time in his whopping 16 year career, Garcia has finally made it to the big one. He led the Sharks to a wild win over the Georgia Force 64-55 on Monday night to move on to the ArenaBowl. Garcia went 22-of-28 for 313 yards with eight TDs.

Georgia did everything that it could to stick around against the top team in the American Conference. It held a 34-33 lead with less than a minute to go in the first half, but a Garcia TD pass with 0:09 left in the first half proved to be the winning score. QB Darnell Kennedy threw three incomplete passes and fumbled on the first drive in the second half, turning the ball over for the first time in the game. The Sharks failed to score a TD in their final drive before the one minute warning, but a 36-yard field goal by K Marco Capozzoli prove to be arguably the biggest play of the game. It gave Jacksonville a nine point lead with just a minute to play. Kennedy was intercepted by LB Bill Alford to effectively end the game.

Jacksonville is playing in its first ArenaBowl in just its second season in the league. This is the fifth straight ArenaBowl with at least one first-timer in the league's title game, joining the 2010 Spokane Shock, 2008 Philadelphia Soul, 2007 Chicago Rush, 2006 Colorado Crush, and 2006 Georgia Force.

Davila and Garcia combined for 233 TD passes on the regular season, finishing first and second in the league with 117 (tied for the league record) and 116 TDs respectively. These were the top two offenses in the history of the league. Jacksonville was good for 1,158 points (64.3 PPG), while Arizona put up 1,114 points (61.9 PPG). These two also played fantastic defense. The Sharks conceded 50.5 PPG, No. 6 in the AFL. The Rattlers finished with the league's second best defense at 46.4 PPG.

Arizona set a league record this year with 16 regular season wins, and it can become the first team in AFL history to win 19 games including the postseason in the same campaign. This year, the Rattlers went 8-1 at home, and they have now won 10 home games, also a league record shared with Jacksonville, which is also 10-1 at home.

These two played way back in Week 1 of the regular season, and it was one of the best games of the year. After Jacksonville scored the first nine points of the game, the two teams alternated scores for the rest of the game. In the end, it was a Geathers TD reception with 31 seconds left in the game that proved to be the difference. Garcia was intercepted by DB Kevin McCullough on the first play of the final Sharks drive to seal the deal.

Garcia went 24-of-39 for 259 yards with five TDs against two picks. Davila went 27-of-46 for 284 yards with six scores and no picks. WR Trandon Harvey, who didn't take a snap offensively in the National Conference Championship Game, led the team in Week 1 with 12 catches, 130 yards, and four TDs.
The Rattlers won 55-52. Arizona leads the all-time series 2-0 after winning when these two teams met last season in Jacksonville 66-50.