Friday, May 21, 2004 | 11:07 a.m.
Las Vegas Gladiators (7-7) at Los Angeles Avengers (8-6)
7:30 p.m.; Staples Center, Los Angeles
Radio: ESPN 920-AM. TV: None.
Gladiators quarterback Clint Dolezel recognized the two teams on the screen, but not much else.
The Gladiators did face Los Angeles three months ago, losing 62-55 at the Thomas & Mack Center. But heading into Saturday's game that will decide which team stays in the playoff race, neither the Gladiators (7-7) nor the Avengers (8-6) resemble the teams on Dolezel's tape.
"I watched that film the other day and we both play totally different than we did early in the year," Dolezel said. "Our schemes, our personnel ... it should be a better football game than the first one and actually, that first one was pretty darn good."
The intensity is likely to surpass the first game because of the stakes. To have a shot at the playoffs, the Gladiators must beat the Avengers -- preferably by more than seven points to secure the tiebreaker against them -- then beat Columbus next week and hope for help from other teams.
Los Angeles also needs to win to remain in the eight-team hunt for one of the four remaining postseason berths. The Avengers staged a fourth-quarter comeback marked by Gladiators' special teams miscues to claim the teams' first meeting, but Dolezel feels the difference this time will be in another area.
"They're playing their best football right now and we are too, but our defense is playing a lot better, I think, than theirs is right now," Dolezel said. "So I think that's probably hopefully going to be the key."
Las Vegas has allowed less than 40 points per game during its four-game winning streak. That kind of defense is rare in the Arena Football League, where rules are designed to favor offenses. But Gladiators' linebacker/fullback Frank Carter feels that it is some old-fashioned defensive line pressure on the quarterback that is keying the defensive effort. Confidence, Carter said, is feeding confidence.
"We've got an attitude right now that we're the best defense in the league," Carter said.
That defense will be put to a stern test against Los Angeles, which owns the top scoring offense in the league at 57.1 points per game. The Avengers' connection of quarterback Tony Graziani and offensive specialist Chris Jackson is one of the few in the league that can rival Las Vegas' combination of Dolezel and Marcus Nash. Graziani's 88 touchdown passes eclipse Dolezel by eight.
Still, with 12 interceptions in the past four games and three defensive backs with five interceptions each, Las Vegas is playing its best defense of the season at the right time.
"The defense knows that if they get a couple of stops, the game's pretty much going to be in hand," Dolezel said.
Offense is no problem for the Gladiators, who rank third in the league at 53.8 points per game. Nash needs just five touchdown catches over two games to break the AFL single season record of 46. He set a single season mark for receptions last week at 139.
Gladiators coach Frank Haege is confident enough in Nash that he cut prize free agent signing Terrill Shaw on Tuesday. Dolezel and Shaw were a dangerous duo in Grand Rapids and were to do the same in Las Vegas, but Shaw spent most of the season on injured reserve.
"I'm disappointed," Dolezel said. "I think Terrill's still got some great years ahead of him. I think he'll do well (with) whoever he gets picked up by (Philadelphia signed him). I just hope it doesn't come back to haunt us down the line if we lose a receiver here or there and end up struggling and end up having to play some DBs over there."
The way the past month has unfolded, that move might turn to gold, just like the acquisition of Coco Blalock to solidify the special teams that cost Las Vegas its first meeting with Los Angeles.
"We're kind of peaking right now," Haege said.
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