Las Vegas, NV-The Arizona Rattlers increased their win streak to three after jumping on Las Vegas and cruising to a 47-33 win up in Sin City. The Rattlers started off on a good note when Gary Kral nailed a 54-yard field goal to start the scoring. After a fumble recovery on the Gladiators’ first possession, Arizona needed just one play to go up 10-0; a 35-yard bomb from QB Sherdrick Bonner to OS Darrell Jones. Las Vegas got a good kickoff return from Aleric Clark and got on the board with a 19-yard touchdown play from QB Jason Fife to Marcus Nash. The Rattlers punched it into the end zone again after a 6 play, 45 yard drive that ended with Bonner finding Cosmo Dematteo from 4 yards out and Arizona led 17-6.

Nash pulled in another scoring pass from Fife to cut into the lead, but the Rattlers came back with another Bonner/Jones deep hook-up; a 44-yard touchdown play early in the second quarter that gave Arizona a 23-12 advantage. The teams faultered the rest of the half. Las Vegas turned the ball over on an interception and on downs and Arizona missed two field goals.

The Gladiators kept fighting back in the third quarter. The teams went back and forth scoring touchdowns and Las Vegas cut the deficit to five at 30-25. At the end of the quarter, the teams traded interceptions. Vegas couldn’t capitalize, but the Rattlers did with a 2-yard touchdown run by Bo Kelly early in the fourth quarter. That started a streak of stops by the Arizona defense which led to two more Rattler touchdowns and a commanding 47-25 lead. The Gladiators got one more score from Nash, but it was too little, too late.

Bonner was 22 of 33 for 283 yards and threw 5 touchdown passes and one interception. Jones put on a show with his 144 yards on 8 catches and 3 touchdowns to earn Offensive Player of the Game honors. WR/DB Talib Wise was the Ironman of the Game; contributing 39 yards on 6 receptions, making 3 tackles and breaking up a pass. DS Erin Damond was the Defensive Player of the game after leading the team with 7 tackles, recovering a fumble and intercepting a pass. Randy Gatewood also had a strong defensive game; picking off a pass and returning it 36 yards and making 7 tackles.

Fife hit on 25 of 46 passes for 227 yards and threw for 3 touchdowns and 3 picks. His leading receiver was Nash who hauled in 10 passes for 101 yards and scored 3 times.

The Rattlers defense made 7 stops in the game. Three interceptions, two fumbles, and they stopped the Gladiators on downs twice. It’s a good sign going into the second half of the season.

The Rattlers are now in sole possession of first in the Western Division and will take on the 3-5 Avengers on Friday to try and avenge an earlier loss to Los Angeles. Kickoff is set for 7pm.