Dieker's Nine Touchdowns Lead Cleveland to Comeback Victory

Jonah Rosenblum
Saturday March 15, 2014

Gladiators Rally from 17-Point Third-Quarter Deficit to Steal Win at CONSOL Energy Center

PITTSBURGH — The Cleveland Gladiators had two chances to put last year's 4-14 season behind them.

The first, they failed to capitalize on. The second, they handled beautifully en route to a 63-53 victory over East Division rival Pittsburgh.

Trailing 31-20 midway through the second quarter, Cleveland got a rumbling touchdown from offensive lineman Kitt O'Brein, a two-point conversion from Dominick Goodman and a pick from Marrio Norman.

The stage was set to take the lead going into the intermission. Instead, quarterback Chris Dieker underthrew a lob to Thyron Lewis in the red zone, allowing Power defensive back Virgil Gray to swoop in for the pick.

"You can't do that to Virgil Gray, because he's going to come under and get it," Cleveland coach Steve Thonn said.

Cleveland started the second half no better, with four straight incompletions, a remarkable diving touchdown grab by Pittsburgh wideout Shawn Kauleinamoku and an embarrassing fumbled kickoff by new acquisition Dominic Jones.

Just four minutes into the third quarter, it was the Power boasting a 45-28 lead.

The Gladiators (1-0, 1-0 East Division) didn't panic, however.

By nature, the high-scoring Arena Football League is conducive to comebacks.

"This is Arena Football," Dieker said. "We know it just like everybody else."

Dieker calmly dinked and dunked his way downfield with three straight completions. A 13-yard touchdown to Tyrone Collins drew Cleveland within 10.

The Gladiators failed to snag a high bounce off the bar on the ensuing kickoff, but still managed a four-and-out to get the ball back.

Collins came up with another big reception on Cleveland's next drive, catching a short pass in the slot on third and 18 and weaving his way inches from the marker. On fourth and one, on the first play of the fourth quarter, Dieker plunged into the end zone to bring the Gladiators within a field goal.

"That's all up front," Dieker said. "That's where it all starts, with those four guys. If they get that push, then I just get the ball and I follow them."

Thonn gave his signal-caller a little more credit.

"It was a little bit of a push, but he took a hit and bounced off on that fourth and one and kept going," Thonn said.

Dieker was only getting started.

Following a Grady fumble, Dieker had another plummet into the end zone — his third rushing score of the game.

Later in the quarter, Dieker's perfectly thrown ball to Lewis, hitting the wideout in stride, arms fully extended, gave Cleveland a 56-45 lead. The play occured on third down, where the Gladiators were a healthy 5 of 10 on the night.

"That one to T-Lew was huge," Thonn said. "We needed that play, and he hit it perfect."

Wide receiver Aaron Lesue, in his first game with Pittsburgh, gave the Power (0-1, 0-1) a shot with a key reception in the slot. Fullback Justin Lawrence followed with a quick run into the end zone to draw Pittsburgh within 56-53.

Once again, it was Dieker sealing the deal, however. Starting from the Pittsburgh nine, Dieker rolled right on first down and fell two yards shy of paydirt, then clinched the victory with a two-yard touchdown run.

"There really wasn't another option to who was going to run the ball down there. It was going to be Chris," Thonn said. "He's just such a good runner. You don't realize how good a runner he is."

Dieker finished 24-of-36 for 251 yards and nine touchdowns, five through the air and four on the ground.

Lewis led all receivers with 118 yards, making several tough grabs against the wall and in traffic.

"He's a playmaker," Dieker said. "He's been in the league for a little while now so he's kind of mastered the route-running technique and he knows defenses so well."

Prechae Rodriguez had a very successful debut for new-look Pittsburgh, with 105 receiving yards and three touchdown grabs, but quarterback Tommy Grady (two picks and a pivotal fumble) and Lesue (67 receiving yards) got slightly more mixed reviews.

"Although (Tommy) comes here with a lot of fanfare and a lot of high hopes, he's still just a quarterback. All of the other guys still have to do their jobs as well," Pittsburgh coach Derek Stingley said. "There's a lot of things that went on that unfortunately went against us, but I can guarantee you this, we're never going to have those issues again. That team in the locker room is fuming right now."

Thonn admitted that after starting 0-5 in 2013, Saturday's win was particularly important.

"This is a huge win," Thonn said. "There's no other way to look at it."