SaberCats Head to Arizona to Take on the Defending AFL Champions
Leanne Cozart
Friday April 5, 2013
In the 2012 season the San Jose SaberCats faced the Arizona Rattlers three times and had two victorious campaigns. While the SaberCats were able to defeat the Rattlers twice in the regular season, they weren’t able to get the job done when it counted the most in the first round of playoffs where they lost 51-48 in the snake pit. The Rattlers went on to take the title of ArenaBowl Champions leaving the SaberCats with a bitter taste in their mouths.
It’s a fresh new year and the time has arrived for these two rival teams face each other once again. Both are 2-0 heading into week three of the season and only one team can come out on top. The SaberCats will be traveling to a hostile environment where the crowd will be hyped up and the Rattlers will be fighting to remain the best in the West.
Coach Darren Arbett spoke on Comcast SportsNet SaberCats Weekly about the upcoming game against the Rattlers stating, “Their fans are crazy, they’re going to be on us. It’s an Arizona team that’s number one in the coach’s poll, number one in the power poll and then (2012) Champions.”
In quarterback Aaron Garcia’s first season with the ‘Cats he’s accumulated 552 yards and 12 touchdowns. Some of Garcia’s top targets have been Jason Willis, Huey Whitaker and Jamarko Simmons. Last season as a Talon, Garcia put the Rattlers defense to the test when he posted 594 yards and 12 touchdowns in only two games against them.
On the other side of the ball, veteran defensive back Clevan Thomas is not only a leader to his teammates, he also leads the defense in tackles and interceptions for the 2013 season and the SaberCats defense is currently second in the league for takeaways.
The Rattlers are the League’s number one ranked scoring offense led by the 2012 ArenaBowl MVP and quarterback Nick Davila who has 589 yards and 14 touchdowns heading into week three. Davila has been frequently and successfully connecting with Jared Perry, Tysson Poots, Kerry Reed and Maurice Purify so far this season. On the defensive side of the ball, in the secondary Virgil Gray leads the Rattlers defense in tackles and is also a threat to opposing special teams when he’s returning kicks.
Both the SaberCats and the Rattlers coaching staffs’ have a lot of ties to each other, making everything that goes into the game plan and preparation that much more intense. Rattlers head coach Kevin Guy was previously an ArenaBowl winning defensive coordinator in San Jose and Coach Arbet thinks, “He’s the best coach in this league right now, and they’re the best team in the league, they’re champions. They’ve been to two strait ArenaBowls” as he stated on Comcast SportsNet SaberCats Weekly. The SaberCats will also be going up against former defensive specialist and current Rattler defensive coordinator Omar Smith. ‘Cats defensive coordinator Cedric Walker also spent time on the other side when he was a defensive specialist for three seasons with the Rattlers.
While this is going to be an intense battle between two top tier teams that would love more than anything to kill one another on the field, it still is just week three. This early in the season there really isn’t too much on the line because it’s just the start of the long journey to ArenaBowl XXVI. Winning this game will however set the tone for the remaining weeks of the season. If the SaberCats can get a road win in a hostile atmosphere against the defending ArenaBowl Champions, it could give them the momentum they need to propel them through season ahead.
“We all play this game because of the challenge that it brings, the other reason we play this game is to be the best and if you want to be the best you have to beat the best and we have an opportunity this weekend to play the best team in Arena Football,” said Coach Arbet on Comcast SportsNet SaberCats Weekly.
The game will be broadcasted on CBS Sports Network on Saturday, April 6 at 5:30 PM PT.
Leanne is a freelance sports journalist residing in the San Francisco Bay Area as she finishes up her Mass Communication, Media Production B.A. at Cal State University, East Bay. This will be her second season as a correspondent covering the San Jose SaberCats.
