ARIZONA RATTLERS

Rattlers smothered in second half by San Jose

Aug 1, 2015, 8:42 AM | Updated: 8:47 am

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If the Arizona Rattlers are going to capture their fourth straight ArenaBowl title, they won’t have the luxury of home-field advantage throughout the postseason.

That’s because the Rattlers saw the San Jose SaberCats reel off 27 straight points in the second half on their way to a 56-29 win at SAP Center in San Jose Friday night. With the win, the Sabercats (16-1) will have home-field advantage throughout the National Conference playoffs, which begin in two weeks.

Arizona (13-4) trailed 29-26 at halftime, but got a break to start the second half. Fabrizio Scaccia’s kick wasn’t handled by San Jose’s Reggie Gray, and bounced back to the 20-yard line, where it was recovered by Michael McAdoo. The Rattlers had to settle for a rare field goal attempt from Scaccia, and he connected from 27 yards to knot the score up at 29-29.

That was basically the highlight of the second half for the Rattlers.

San Jose quarterback Erik Meyer would toss four second-half touchdowns, including a back-breaking 34-yarder to former Rattler Maurice Purify late in the third quarter to put the SaberCats up 42-29. Purify, who was playing in his first game for San Jose, finished with 10 catches for 108 yards and three touchdowns.

Conversely, Rattlers QB Nick Davila struggled mightily in the second half. The league’s reigning MVP completed only 7-of-21 passes for 63 yards and an interception after halftime. He would leave the game in the fourth quarter after getting hit in the backfield by San Jose’s Jason Stewart, but he walked off under his own power.

Davila came into the game completing 68 percent of his passes, but hit on only 45 percent (19-of-42) Friday night. He was also sacked twice and harassed on just about every drop-back.

Arizona will close out the regular season next Saturday night against the Portland Thunder, then will host a first-round playoff game most likely against the Spokane Shock (6-10). San Jose, meanwhile, will visit the LA KISS in Anaheim next Saturday to close out their schedule.

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