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Sabercats Bite
By Correspondent-Michael Burtch
San Jose, SJ-The Arizona Rattlers had to play from behind again, but this time their defense didn’t respond this time and they fell short to the San Jose Sabercats 61-49 on Sunday.
The Rattlers (5-5) fell behind early never recovered. They spotted San Jose (4-6) a 13-0 lead in the first quarter after the Sabercats defense stopped their first two drives. Arizona finally got on the board early in the second quarter when WR/DB Randy Gatewood pulled in a 34-yard bomb from QB Sherdrick Bonner. San Jose answered and continued to answer each Rattlers score. The teams traded touchdowns the whole second quarter. FB Bo Kelly caught a short touchdown passes and Curtis Fagan pulled in a couple, but the Sabercats countered with a touchdown reception by WR/LB James Roe and three scoring catches by OS Ben Nelson including one with just 3 seconds left in the half. The second quarter netted 55 points between the teams. San Jose went into the break up 40-28.
The Rattlers looked a little sharper in the third quarter, but since San Jose got the ball to start the second half their deficit grew to three scores. After another Bonner-Gatewood hookup, the Arizona defense made a stop and scored again on a Bonner 4-yard run to narrow the margin to 47-42. San Jose got their offense moving again and answered the Rattler comeback. Arizona pulled within five points one more time, but couldn’t stop the Sabercats to have a chance to come back.
Bonner completed 21 of 41 passes for 347 yards and threw 6 touchdown passes. Fagan led the receivers with 11 catches for 187 yards and 3 touchdowns and Gatewood had 64 yards on 3 receptions and scored twice. Joe Todd earned Defensive Player of the Game honor for the second straight week after making 8 tackles, one for a 6-yard loss, and breaking up 2 passes.
Sabercat QB Mark Grieb was 26 of 37 for 361 yards and tied a career high with 9 touchdown passes. Nelson, who was named the game’s Offensive Player of the Game, pulled in 11 passes for 203 yards and 5 touchdowns. Roe pulled in 10 balls for 111 yards and scored 4 touchdowns. Roe also made a couple of tackles and broke up a pass to earn Ironman honors.
The Rattlers are still in first in the Western Division, but are tied with Las Vegas. Arizona stays on the road and will face new division rival Utah on Friday in their second match-up against former coach Danny White. Arizona will return home on April 15th to face Chicago.
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Rattler tickets can be purchased by calling 602-514-8300
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azfl.com Rattler Report 2004, 2005, 2006
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