Rattlers start slow, finish strong in playoff rout of Spokane
Aug 15, 2015, 11:08 PM
PHOENIX — Arizona Rattlers head coach Kevin Guy said earlier in the week that historically, his football teams tend to let up a little bit once they clinch a playoff spot and then turn it on when the postseason starts.
It’s worked. The Rattlers have won the last three ArenaBowl championships.
Arizona forgot to “turn it on” from the opening kickoff Saturday night in their National Conference semifinal against Spokane, falling behind 14-0 in the first quarter.
But once they did put their foot on the gas, the outcome was never in doubt.
Quarterback Nick Davila threw eight touchdown passes and the Rattlers defense came up with seven stops in a dominating 72-41 win over the Shock in front of 10,322 fans at US Airways Center.
Arizona got the first possession of the game, and turned the ball over on downs at the Spokane 16-yard line. Three plays later, Spokane’s Arvell Nelson threw a screen pass to tight end/tackle Deveric Gallington, who rumbled 34 yards into the end zone.
The Rattlers couldn’t muster anything on their second drive either, turning it over on downs deep in their own territory. Nelson hit Nick Truesdell on an 11-yard touchdown pass on second down to give Spokane a 14-0 lead with 4:27 left in the opening quarter.
The Snake Pit was starting to get restless.
Their fears were quelled soon after, however. After throwing an incomplete pass on first down on Arizona’s next possession, Davila threw four straight completions, the last a 6-yard scoring strike to Chase Deadder to put Arizona on the board.
On the first play of the second quarter, Nelson was pressured in the end zone and was called for intentional grounding, giving the Rattlers a safety and further opening the floodgates. Davila threw touchdown passes on Arizona’s next three drives and the Rattlers led 30-28 at the half.
The second half was all Arizona; the Rattlers outscored Spokane 42-13 in the final 30 minutes to win going away.
“Traditionally, we always start slow in the first round (of the playoffs),” Guy said following the contest. “I was proud of the guys to find a way to overcome it. We were down 14-0 and got stopped the first two times on offense coming out. We’ve got to do a better job of starting faster.
“But I thought we showed some perseverance and the guys found a way to get it done.”
Davila completed just 3-of-8 passes for 31 yards on those two possessions. The rest of the way, he went 23-of-35 for 284 yards and eight touchdowns. The reigning league MVP took responsibility for the stumble out of the gate.
“It starts with me offensively, we’ve got to come out better,” he said. “Not taking anything away from Spokane, but that’s not what you want to have as an offense. But we woke up after that and we were rolling from there.”
The Rattlers now advance to the National Conference Championship Game against the San Jose SaberCats, who have won both meetings between the teams this season. Linebacker Tyre Glasper says to expect a much different game this time around.
“We’ve got to go out there and play Rattler football,” he said. “We went up there the first time and we didn’t, point blank. Period. I’m confident in my boys and we’ve just got to go to work this week and get ready to go to Stockton and handle our business.”
Yes, Glasper is correct. The SaberCats won’t be able to host the game in their home arena — SAP Center — because the circus is in town. Instead, they’ll have to move the operation about 90 minutes to the northeast to Stockton Arena.
Glasper doesn’t think the locale will have much of a bearing on the outcome.
“No, we’re football players, man,” he said. “They’re thinking how we’re thinking. We’ll play anywhere. If we need to play in a parking lot, we’ll play in a parking lot. I’m pretty sure that’s their mindset as well. With the ArenaBowl on the line, you don’t care where you play.”
Notes
• Alex Zendejas was brought back as the emergency kicker before the regular-season finale against Portland, and he’s been perfect so far. The former Arizona Wildcat connected on all ten of his extra points Saturday and is now 19-of-19 since taking over for Fabrizio Scaccia, who is sidelined with a sports hernia.
“I think Alex Zendejas has been a great addition,” Guy said. “He’s perfect since he walked in the door.”
• Deadder and Rod Windsor combined for 18 catches for 133 yards and seven touchdowns in the game.
• The win was the Rattler’s tenth straight playoff victory. Their last postseason loss came in ArenaBowl 24 — a heartbreaking 73-70 loss to the Jacksonville Sharks on August 12, 2011 at US Airways Center.
• The Rattlers are seeking their fifth straight ArenaBowl appearance. San Jose hasn’t advanced to the league championship game since 2008, when they lost to the Tampa Bay Storm 59-56 in ArenaBowl 22.
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