Valor Game Preview: Road to Redemption
Jon Stark
Thursday April 27, 2017
The Washington Valor (1-1) are headed to Cleveland, Ohio where they’ll face the Gladiators (0-3) at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, April 28th inside of Quicken Loans Arena. The game will broadcast live on Monumental Sports Network. Will the Valor come home 2-1 after their first road trip or will the Gladiators break their losing streak before hosting Philadelphia?
Cleveland played the Tampa Bay Storm last Saturday night while the Valor were busy inside of Verizon Center with the defending ArenaBowl champions. Washington's defensive back Tracy Belton picked up his third interception of the season last week, that nasty pick six on Philly's first pass of the game, he's already making a case for a 2017 Defensive Player of the Year nod. It wouldn't be a surprise to see him add another INT and four or five tackles this week.
Valor wide receiver Mike Washington continues to impress, averaging 118.5 receiving yards per game, only second to Cleveland's WR Quentin Sims who currently leads the league in touchdowns, receptions and receiving yards per game. You can definitely thank quarterback Arvell Nelson for helping out with that last weekend against the Storm. In his first start of the season he was simply on fire for his city, 26 for 35, 358 passing yards, eight touchdowns and one of those scores was on the ground, still they lost 62-61 to Tampa Bay.
This game could turn into a shootout, Cleveland has scored the second most points in the league with 150 but surprisingly they're still 0-3, all three were lost by six points or less. Sounds about as bad as that 1987 Washington Commandos season I've mentioned previously. Sims isn't the only target on their roster, WR's Collin Taylor, Larry Brackins and Mike Preston are valuable as well. Washington's offense might also want to keep an eye on DB Kelvin Rodgers and defensive lineman Willie McGinnis, last week they combined for 16 tackles and two sacks, not so great news for Valor QB's Erik Myer and Bernard Morris.
Jon studied Business Management at the University of Pittsburgh and is originally from Maryland. An avid DMV sports fan, he often attends Capitals, Orioles, Wizards and Redskins games. Now a Washington Valor season plan holder and columnist for ArenaFan, he`ll be at every home game covering the team. He spends his free time with friends and family and freelancing graphic design projects. You can follow Jon on Twitter @5FIFTY3
