By Matthew T.F. Harrington
SAN JOSE, Calif. – It was the tale of two kitties, or rather Cats, Saturday night at the SAP Center, where the San Jose SaberCats rallied from a dismal first quarter to top the Cleveland Gladiators 70-58.
The Cats trailed 52-42 after the first half, allowing Cleveland to score on every first-half drive, before clamping down defensively in the second half.
From there the SaberCats (9-0) only surrendered one score, a touchdown in the waning seconds of regulation, while putting up 28 second-half points to remain undefeated in 2015.
“They’re a good football team,” said SaberCats owner and head coach Darren Arbet of the Gladiators. “They came out with a lot of energy. I’m proud of my guys, they stayed the course. They never got fluster, they never got rattled. They just continued to play football.”
The man known as “Big Play” Reggie Gray had plenty of them Saturday. The SaberCats receiver put up the highest total in receiving yards by a San Jose wideout, finishing the night with 201 yards. Gray wound up in the end zone 5 times, the highest single-game total by any Cat this year.
“He’s been doing it all year,” said Arbet. “That’s why I call him ‘Big Play’. He comes up with big catches. He makes things happen. He’s tough as all outside.”
Quarterback Erik Meyer, returning from injury after missing the past two games, completed 30 of 42 passes for 406 yards. He ended the night a touchdown shy of a ten-pack.
“The first quarter, there was a little bit of nerves,” said Meyer. “I was anxious to get back on the field. I was rushing things a little. I had to shake a little rust off. I think it took about a quarter, quarter-and-a-half for me to settle down and feel good again.”
“He’s a great quarterback in this league,” said Arbet. “He’s going to go down as one of the best. He’s been MVP in this thing. Having him back and healthy is a big plus for this football team.”
Cleveland Quarterback Shane Austin threw for 7 touchdowns in the first half, with receivers Collin Taylor (4 touchdowns) and Amarri Jackson (3) splitting the scoring load. The Gladiators (5-4) wrapped up the half on a 40-yard Adrian Trevino field goal, sending San Jose to the locker room trailing for the first time all season.
San Jose kept pace, failing to score on its first drive of the game before showing why it is the top-ranked offense in the Arena Football league. The SaberCats matched the remaining drives one-for-one, with fullback Odie Armstrong rushing for the first touchdown. Gray (3) and Adron Tennell (2) caught the other five TDs of the half to keep San Jose within two possessions heading into the final half-hour of play.
“They were eager to go after us,” said Gray. “We’re undefeated so we get everybody’s best shot. The thing was at half time we heard them over their celebrating. We understand that it is four quarters. We came out in the second half and the defensive stepped up and played tremendously. Offensively we just had to score every time.”
Meyer opened the second half with a two-play drive, capping the run with a dink pass that Diondre took 17 yards to the house to pull San Jose within a field goal 52-49. The Cats defense, tops in the league averaging 34.9 points a game on the campaign, stuffed the Gladiators offense a yard-short of the first down at their the San Jose 4-yard line for the first Cleveland turnover on downs of the game 5:21 into the third.
San Jose took its first lead of the night on the ensuing drive, a six-play 46-yard march culminated in a Meyer 15-yard screen pass to Richard Ranglin for six points. Nich Pertuit hit his 8th of a perfect 10 extra point attempts for a 56-52 lead 5 ½ minutes from the end of the third. The Cats defense forced another turnover in their own end after Cleveland failed to gain the 7 yards needed on a 4th-and-goal attempt with 90 seconds left in the frame. The SaberCats didn’t score on their brief possession.
Reggie Gray capped his big night with two more touchdowns in the 4th before Cleveland found its way back on the scoreboard. San Jose smothered Cleveland into an interception by Ken Fontenette and a four-and-out on the first two fourth-quarter drives for the visitors before Collin Taylor rushed a yard for the final score of the game with just 4 ticks of the clock left. By then, the game had already been decided.
“We started getting some pressure on the quarterback in the second half,” said Arbet. “They did a nice job. We changed up what we were doing. We were pocket collapsing (Austin). That’s a good offensive line. They were taking care of us. We started throwing moves on them and getting up the field.”
Next weekend, the SaberCats travel to Portland to take on the Thunder Saturday night. The Thunder have struggled to a 3-5 record this season
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