Destroyers bested against Gladiators

The Columbus Destroyers of the Arena Football League lost a showdown with the Cleveland Gladiators Saturday night 59-57 in front of 15,964 inside Nationwide Arena.

The match featured a tight contest throughout the entire game. Neither team could manage to take more than an eight point lead in the game. As with many arena league games, lots of touchdowns and offense took place in this first ever ‘Battle of the Buckeye State’.

With two points being the difference, many tiny plays could have made the difference.

First one coming just five minutes into the game when quarterback Matt Nagy appeared to connect to Columbus wide reciever Derek Lee for an eight yard touchdown pass, however that touchdown was voided on an offensive pass interference and Columbus had to settle for a field goal.

Columbus would briefly lose the lead when Cleveland’s Marlion Jackson scored on a 10 yard run midway through the first. The Destroyers would come back on offense with a 43 yard strike by Nagy to reciver Calvin Russell to put the team within the six yard line. Lee would avenge his called back touchdown with a reception from six yards out to take the lead in the final minutes of the first. Columbus would hold the lead until the third quarter before the teams would trade blows. Columbus held a 31-23 halftime lead.

In the mean time, Columbus was struggling with field position as Cleveland outgained Columbus on kick returns 229-103. The turning point came in the third quarter with Columbus up 31-29, Cleveland stuffed Columbus on four consecutive plays and the Destroyers had a turnover-on-downs. Cleveland would add a touchdown to take their first second half lead.

“(Cleveland’s) special teams kept setting them up with good field position,” Destroyers defensive lineman Michael Landry said. “It obviously put the defense’s back against the wall and we had to make the plays just didn’t get it.”

Reciever Rasheed Marshall had a reception to give Columbus the lead once again. Cleveland answered with a touchdown of their own to take a 42-38 lead right before the end of the third. Columbus regained the lead early in the fourth when Nagy connected with runningback Harold Wells for his third touchdown of the game. However Destroyers kicker Mark Lewis missed his point after attempt to make the game 44-42 in favor of Columbus.

The two teams would trade touchdowns midway through the fourth to make the game 51-49. Cleveland added a field goal with 6:54 left in the game to give them the one point lead. Columbus would try to rally with a drive down the field. Nagy from the Cleveland 14 yard line passed to reciever Matt Thomas for a reception but he fumbled the ball inside of the 10 and was recovered by Cleveland’s Brando Hefflin.

Cleveland responded with a three minute touchdown drive. As many Columbus fans were giving up on the game and heading towards the parking lots, Nagy tried to rally his offense one last time. His 33 yard touchdown pass to Lee got the score within two with 22 seconds left.

Lee’s third touchdown of the game led to a dramatic two point conversion attempt which would send the game to overtime. After each team called a timeout, Columbus broke the huddle and attempted to confuse Cleveland by changing their formation. Nagy passed to his right but overthrew receivers Lee and Marshall as the ball landed in the front rows of the arena.

“We were actually going to try to hit a shovel pass, but our wing guy got caught up with the defensive end,” Nagy said. “It looked like it was a bunch of nothing but we had a decent play set up but they just played good defense.”

Even though Columbus was only a play or two from changing the result of Saturday’s game, Destroyers head coach Doug Kay said he felt his team did not deserve to win.

“I have never sat in the locker room after a loss and felt I deserved to win,” Kay said. “If we lost, there is a reason we lost.”

Columbus has now fallen 0-3 whereas Cleveland is undefeated at 0-3. Certainly a bad start for the defending National Conference champions.

“We have to play with more energy, we have to play more aggressively – I am talking mentally aggressively too so we can go out on the field and make plays,” Kay. “Right now, I don’t see enough excitement in our eyes that says ‘I am going to go out and make a play.’"