By Kahlil Najar and Emily Zahner

SAN JOSE – The San Jose SaberCats (8-4) easily handled the LA KISS (2-10), 63-35 tonight in San Jose. Rookie SaberCats quarterback Nathan Stanley completed 25-of-37 passes for 280 yards and 7 touchdowns. Reggie Gray caught 6 passes for 92 yards and a pair of touchdowns and Dominique Curry had 3 touchdowns to lead the San Jose receiving core. Defensively Clevan Thomas and Simeon Castille each pulled down a pair of interceptions and Ken Fontenette had 8 tackles on the night.

Stanley started tonight over regular starter Russ Michna who was hurt in the loss to the Rattlers and has been placed on injured reserve. 

On his start Stanley said, “I’m still learning every day, but I am trying to shake that rookie thing off. I know it can be a boost to the other team if they know they are playing a rookie. It was great to go down and score on the first drive. It was good for my confidence.”

The Sabercats scored first with a nice strike from Stanley to Jason Willis who was able to score from six yards out and give the Cats a 7-0 lead. Aaron Garcia, who was starting for the Kiss, tied up the game less than a minute later with a touchdown pass to Julius Wilson. The Cats retook the lead with 5:27 left in the first on Curry’s first touch down of the evening.

The Cats struck again early in the second when Curry pulled down his second TD of the contest at 10:45 of the second and made it a 21-7 lead for San Jose. Garcia found leading Kiss receiver Donovan Morgan streaking down the middle of the field and brought the SaberCat lead back to 7 points at 21-14. The Cats the scored 14 unanswered points to end the half and go into the half leading 35-14.

The Kiss started the second half strong when Garcia found two receivers open for a pair of touchdowns and made the score 35-28 with San Jose in the lead and less than 8 minutes left in the quarter. In the final quarter, San Jose scored four times including a 13-yard touchdown interception by Simeon Castille and ended the score at 63-35.

The Cats stay home this week and face the Spokane Shock next Saturday at 7:30pm.