Gladiators see opening against rival Avengers

Adam Candee

Friday, Jan. 28, 2005 | 10:29 a.m.

The Las Vegas Gladiators have spent two years looking up and finding Tony Graziani, Chris Jackson and the Los Angeles Avengers stepping down on them.

The Avengers beat the Gladiators in their first game representing Las Vegas two years ago, and then stunned them late in the fourth quarter early last season before bouncing the Gladiators from the playoff chase in Week 16.

Now that the Avengers are breaking in a new quarterback and offensive specialist -- just as Las Vegas did a year ago -- the Gladiators see an opportunity to get back at Los Angeles in Sunday's nationally televised season opener at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Graziani, the former Avengers quarterback, and Jackson, their offensive specialist, tortured Las Vegas. Graziani tossed 23 touchdowns and no interceptions in three victories, sending nine of them to Jackson. The duo hooked up for a 31-yard score on the first play from scrimmage in the Gladiators' season-opening loss at Los Angeles in 2003.

Both stars left Los Angeles in free agency -- Graziani to Phialdelphia and Jackson to Grand Rapids. In their places are veteran QB John Kaleo and holdover WR/DB Kevin Ingram, both established veterans but without an established rapport.

"Hopefully they'll be out of sync like we were at the beginning of last year," Gladiators quarterback Clint Dolezel said.

Dolezel was just beginning to set up his record-setting connection with offensive specialist Marcus Nash. The two come into the 2005 season as one of the most feared tandems in the league after hooking up for a league-record 154 catches, 1,771 yards and 46 touchdowns. Only Jackson's 1,803 receiving yards kept Nash from a triple crown of statistics last season.

Now doubling as the team's offensive coordinator, Dolezel also has speedy WR/LB Coco Blalock, along with new additions in WR/DB Dameon Porter (Austin), WR/DB Joe Douglass (Los Angeles) and WR/LB Junior Lord (Detroit), to take the pressure off Nash. Las Vegas returns most of its starting group from a year ago, and Dolezel said that means offensive timing is vastly improved from early last season when the Gladiators returned just seven players from 2003.

"We're far ahead of where we were last year," Dolezel said.

The biggest challenge facing the Gladiators might be a revamped Avengers defense, led by former Indiana head coach Mike Wilpolt. A finalist for the Gladiators head coaching job created by Frank Haege's firing before assistant Ron James was promoted to the position, Wilpolt left Indiana after the team folded in the offseason.

The Firebirds allowed 46.4 points per game last year, fifth-best in the league. An Avengers team rooted in defense would certainly be a switch from years past. Los Angeles boasted the league's best offense at 56.5 points per game in 2004.

"I don't think they'll be the L.A. of old, but they'll be no slouch," Dolezel said.

James acknowledged the Gladiators' struggles against Los Angeles in past years, but called all three losses "winnable games." He feels that with Las Vegas returning so many players, the team will be in better position to start the season against a quality Avengers team.

"We're going in with a little better team chemistry," James said.

It can't get worse to open this season than it did last year. The Gladiators allowed two touchdowns in the final 12 seconds of the game to lose last year's season opener at Colorado, 43-42, a week before coming home and squandering a fourth-quarter lead to the Avengers in a 62-55 defeat.

Those losses contributed to a 3-5 start that forced the Gladiators to scramble even for a shot at the playoffs. Las Vegas won five of its final six games to finish 8-8, with the only loss in that stretch coming in a 54-51 defeat at Los Angeles.