CLEVELAND – A typical arena football game is fast, high scoring and energetic. This was not the case at The Q tonight until the last three minutes of the game as the Cleveland Gladiators defeat the Jacksonville Sharks 41-40 in a thriller.
Cleveland QB Arvill Nelson had a solid game with 221 yards with three touchdowns and three rushing touchdowns, the offense couldn’t find a spark against this hard hitting, smack talking Jacksonville defense until the fourth quarter.
Two of the touchdowns were by Collin Taylor who continues his streak of games with a receiving touchdown which is now at 22 games.
Jacksonville is better than their record shows. They have the best runner in the game in Derrick Ross, talented playmaker in Tiger Jones and a future AFL Hall of Famer in Tommy Grady. The Sharks defense is made up of some of the most feared tacklers in the league. It was surprising to see them score more than they did in this game.
Once again, the team was without standout DB Joe Powell and it shows. The defense, who can make the tackles and stop a drive, don’t have the playmaking ability that Powell brought.
Cleveland did force a fumble in the fourth quarter and had key stops in the final drive to prevent Jacksonville from scoring. The defensive line did get in Grady’s face a few times and he took a few hits but the o-line from Jacksonville didn’t allow one sack on the night and that will win you football games no matter what.
The fourth quarter was a heart stopper. Down by five with only 53 seconds remaining, the Gladiator defense came up big and forced a turnover on downs.
With one big heave from Arvill to Taylor, the connected for a 26-yard touchdown that put them up by one. They tried for a two-point conversion and failed but it didn’t matter as Jacksonville couldn’t find the endzone and missed a field goal as time expired and gave Cleveland the win.
The Gladiators host the Portland Steel who are having a rough start to the season as they haven’t won a game. Hopefully Cleveland won’t let them “steel” a win here at The Q.
STATS: Tommy Grady 26-42 for 241 yards and 5 touchdowns. Joe Hillis had 14 catches for 131 and 4 touchdowns.
Arvill Nelson 17-30 with 221 yards and 3 touchdowns and 3 rushing touchdowns. Collin Taylor had 6 catches for 101 yards and two touchdowns.
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