Gladiators Riding a Wave To Possible Playoff Berth
Scott Miller
Friday May 21, 2004
San Jose jumped out to a 21-point lead with 14 of their points coming off of Gladiator turnovers. A frustrated Clint Dolezel, once again, made bad decisions in the first half. Then the tide turned. The Gladiators scored last in the first half and first in the second half. Suddenly, it seemed the combination of Dolezel and OS Marcus Nash could do no wrong. Marcus Nash (11 catches, 117 yards and 3 touchdowns) set a new single season record for number of receptions (139).
Gladiator special teams continued to have kicking problems. On a bad snap from center, Bryan Gowins injured his left foot. Gowins did return to the game later. But not before QB Clint Dolezel had to kickoff. Dolezel had been an all-state kicker in high school and hopes the team never has to try this again. He also had a successful onside kick.
One reason for San Jose’s low score was the absence of two of their key offensive players; FB/LB Brian Johnson and OS James Roe did not play.
“They had their had two main offensive weapons out and we were able to take advantage of that,” said Haege.
The Thomas & Mack officiating curse continued. Gladiator WR/LB Maurice Bryant was thrown out in the third quarter, extending to three the number of games in a row that someone has been ejected. There were two offensive pass interference calls—it is rare to see one in a game). This game also tied the league record of 21 penalties in a game as San Jose had 10 for a total of 77 yards and the Gladiators had 11 for 93 yards.
This loss pushed San Jose out of first place in the Arena Football League Writers’ Association poll for the first time in eleven weeks.
The Gladiators play in Los Angeles (8-6) on May 22nd at 7:30 p.m. Both teams are battling for one of the four remaining playoff berths, while Chicago, New Orleans, San Jose, and Arizona have clinched playoff spots.
NBC Renews
In other news, the AFL announced that NBC has extended the agreement to broadcast games for two more years. The original agreement was for two years (2003-2004) and contained an option at NBC’s discretion for four additional years, although both sides mutually agreed to the two-year extension. NBC has also made a similar two-year deal with the National Hockey League starting next season.
Scott Miller is a professional computer geek and talk show host in Las Vegas. His show is streamed live from klav120am.com on Fridays at 8PM. Archives of his show, The Usual Suspects can be found at his website.
