Monday, May 9, 2005 | 8:57 a.m.
The playoff race won't be much of one for the Gladiators if they keep playing like they did Saturday night against Dallas.
That's a good thing.
Putting forward easily their most complete game of the season, the Gladiators raced out to a 32-point lead in the first half and never allowed the Desperados into the game, winning 58-38 at the Thomas & Mack Center. It's the first in a series of three wins that Las Vegas (8-6) needs to guarantee a playoff berth, with the toughest assignment coming this week at Western Division leader Los Angeles (9-5).
A win would put the Gladiators in prime position to lock up an American Conference wild-card spot in the season's final week, or possibly contend for the division title with some help from other teams. A loss would hand the division to the Avengers and force Las Vegas into a situation where it could need massive assistance in the last week for a shot at the playoffs.
No pressure there, huh?
"There's nothing that says we're done if we don't win," Gladiators coach Ron James said. "But we realize that if we do win, we're in great position because we'll hold the tiebreaker then over L.A. It's going to be a wild finish."
There might not be much Hollywood drama to the game if the Gladiators come out like they did against the Desperados (7-6-1). The Las Vegas defense, dormant for the better part of the past six weeks, rose up and held Dallas without an offensive touchdown in the first half. The unit recorded five takeaways in all, including three interceptions for Cornelius Bonner.
Add that to the excellent offensive rhythm the Gladiators have enjoyed for most of the past month and the team begins to look like the ArenaBowl contender that players and coaches have insisted they can be this year.
"We're in a very good rhythm right now offensively," James said. "And if we can play the way we played tonight defensively, I think we'll be a very tough team to handle down the stretch."
That is, if they can keep their most important legs healthy and on the field. Already playing with offensive specialist Marcus Nash, who has been hampered by a partially torn hamstring, Las Vegas suffered through a healthy scare late in the first half when quarterback Clint Dolezel could not walk off the field under his own power after a seemingly innocuous hit.
Dolezel was hit around the ankles on a pass play and had his left foot rolled up under him, severely straining it and sucking the air out of the building at a time when Las Vegas enjoyed a 35-10 lead.
"The initial pain when it happens, you get kind of nauseous," Dolezel said. "Once you get past that, then you get taped up and get that swelling stopped, that's when you can get the adrenaline going and it's not that big a deal."
He returned to begin the second half and Dolezel played into the fourth quarter, alleviating fears that he might miss his second long stretch of the year. Dolezel missed more than a month early in the season with a broken right middle finger.
Dolezel looked no worse for the wear, finishing 19-of-33 for 215 yards with seven touchdowns and two interceptions - both coming on plays where he was hit when he threw. Nash, who is playing at little more than 50 percent right now, managed five catches for 75 yards and three scores.
Nash credited the defense for making life easy on the offense by keeping Dallas quarterback Clint Stoerner off balance and jumpy all night, recording a pair of sacks on the rookie.
"The defense played wonderful," Nash said. "The defensive line just kind of had them intimidated. They played well."
The entire performance reminded Dolezel of the last stretch of complete football that the Gladiators played.
"It kind of reminded me of last year when we made that run," Dolezel said. "That's how we were doing games."
That run included wins in five of the final six weeks of the season, with Las Vegas rallying to finish 8-8 and barely missing the playoffs. The lone loss during that time? The second-to-last week at Los Angeles, where the Gladiators try to avoid repeating history Saturday night.
archive
