SAN JOSE — SaberCats quarterback Erik Meyer would rather forget his first few plays since returning from an injury that cost him two games. He’ll take the rest of his night though.
Meyer threw for 406 yards and nine touchdowns to lead the SaberCats past the Cleveland Gladiators 70-58 on Saturday night and remain undefeated (9-0) in the Arena Football League.
“The first quarter, there was a little bit of nerves, and I was rushing things a little bit,” Meyer said. “I had to shake off the rust.”
San Jose’s defense rose to the occasion in the second half, recording a shutout in the third quarter after allowing the Gladiators to score on every possession to take a 52-42 lead into halftime. It was the first time all year the SaberCats (9-0) were behind after two quarters.
Reggie Gray, who caught 14 passes for 201 yards, caught five touchdown passes, and Adron Tennell caught six passes for 87 yards, including a pair of scoring tosses. Diondre Borel, with eight catches for 79 yards, and Rich Ranglin also caught TD passes.
“At halftime we heard them celebrating,” Gray said. “We didn’t like that. The defense stepped up big time.”
The Gladiators scored first, only the second time an opponent scored first against San Jose, and then took advantage of a Meyer fumble to grab a 14-0 advantage.
Meyer misfired on his first two pass attempts but then connected on 27 of his next 31 to rally the SaberCats.
San Jose marched down the field opening the second half, with Meyer and Borel connecting on 17-yard scoring play to close the gap to 52-49.
That’s when the SaberCats’ defense dug in, stopping the Gladiators on downs at the San Jose 4-yard line.
Six plays later, Ranglin caught a screen pass and rambled into the end zone on a 15-yard reception, putting the SaberCats ahead to stay at 56-52.
Cleveland (5-4) drove to the SaberCats’ 7-yard line on its next drive. Three incomplete passes later, San Jose took possession, this time leading to a 14-yard scoring play to Gray.
The defense stepped in and held Cleveland on its next two drives as well, with Ken Fontenette recording his team-leading eighth interception with a spectacular catch in the end zone.
For Gladiators quarterback Shane Austin, it was his AFL-leading 11th pick.
Gray’s final touchdown reception, with 52 seconds to play, sealed the game for San Jose, which travels to play the Portland Thunder on Saturday.
Defensive lineman Luis Vasquez made a nice play during the fourth quarter to help one defensive stop. He anticipated a screen pass along the sideline and stayed home to break up the play.
Saturday’s game
SaberCats (9-0) at Portland (3-5), 3 p.m.
