Photo taken by Titus Wilkinson. Jazer Peterson returns his catch for a touchdown for 22 yards.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

SAN JOSE- The Panthers finished off their home games for the regular season on Saturday evening when they took on the Duke City Gladiators.

After suffering a loss against the Wranglers in their last game the Panthers were looking to bounce back against one of the weaker teams in the league.

The first quarter got off to a quick start for the Gladiators who scored less than a minute in as Hasan Rogers rushed for 24 yards putting them up 7-0.

Later in the quarter the Panthers found themselves in a fourth down situation right at the Gladiators goal line. The Panthers decided to go for it and were rewarded as Daquan Neal connected with JT Stokes making it a 7-7 game.

The score stayed that way until a couple minutes into the second quarter when the Gladiators attempted a lengthy field goal. However Tevaughn Grant had other plans as he blocked the kick into the end zone resulting in a safety securing the Panthers another two points.

Duke City responded quickly as just 20 seconds later Rogers ran in his second touchdown of the game putting the Gladiators up 14-9.

After some stagnant offense Neal made a terrific play as he improvised a quick pitch on over to Shane Simpson who returned it for a touchdown.

Rogers managed to formulate some more offense for the Gladiators as he connected with Tammorio Terry for 15 yards keeping them in the fight.

Right before the first half ended though the Panthers snuck in another touchdown as once again Simpson found himself dancing in the end zone making the score 23-21.

With a somewhat sloppy first half behind them the Panthers came out and played one of their better halves of the season.

It started off with not surprisingly Simpson once again clawing his way into the end zone for seven yards which was then followed up by a touchdown catch from Jazer Peterson.

Now down two possessions Duke City they would respond now with a different quarter back under center as Javin Kilgo had come into the game for Rogers.

Kilgo also managed to find Terry for a 24 yard touchdown while also converting on the two-point attempt making it a 36-28 game.

That excitement did not last long for the Gladiators as on the kickoff return Peterson brought the ball home giving the Panthers their two possession lead back.

In the final quarter there was no scoring until 5:37 when Simpson completed the hat trick with a two yard rushing touchdown.

That score ended up being the final one of the game with score ending at 50-28.

With the win the Panthers move up to 13-3-0 and the Gladiators fall to 2-14-0.

Neal had another solid outing in this one going 12-14 with three touchdown passes and 136 passing yards.

Simpson was the real standout though with three rushing touchdowns, one receiving touchdown and a combined total of 62 yards on the day.

The Panthers will close out the season on July 20th at 6:05 p.m. when they do battle with the San Diego Strike Force on the road.