A costly loss for the Gladiators


It’s looking like the journey to the OFC Championship the Sudbury Gladiators covet so dearly will be forged on the road. And in the end, they have only themselves to blame for that fact. Missing countless opportunities to hand the visiting Burlington Stampeders their first loss of the year, Sudbury dropped a 32-30 decision Saturday at Queen’s Athletic Field.

It was one of those games where being close just wasn’t enough, not when the combination of Burlington miscues and big plays by the Gladiators opened the door for a crucial victory. Unfortunately, the offsetting effect of untimely, undicisplined penalties, messed up defensive coverage and dropped passes was easily enough to provide the Stampeders with room to chalk up their fifth straight win.

Trailing 18-6 late in the first half, the Gladiators gave their fans something to cheer about as Joey Martellacci darts 103 yards on the final play of the opening thirty minutes, narrowing the gap to 18-13. That momentum seems to carry into the second half as Martellacci runs for his second major just 1:25 in, this time from 47 yards out, putting Sudbury ahead 20-18.

The defense jumps into the action later in the third quarter as a jarring tackle from Taylor Roberts knocks the ball loose, with Mitch Portelance recovering on the Burlington 43 yard line. A pair of incomplete passes force the home side to settle for a 32 yard field goal from Alex Carriere, but head coach Brent Richer and company are more than happy to take a 23-18 lead into the final 15 minutes of play.

From there, things unravel quickly for the Gladiators. Defensive end Colton Bonnah comes up big with a nine yard sack, but offsets his hard work when he is nailed for unnecessary roughness after a pushing match with Burlington quarterback William Finch. Finch would get the last laugh, marching the visitors downfield before calling his own number from 5 yards out for this third touchdown of the game – Burlington leads 25-23.

Bonnah atones for his earlier misdemeanour, scooping up a Stampeders fumble on their own 43 yard line minutes later, but a Dan Poirier pass sails in and out of the hands of Alex Carriere, forcing a punting situation. Facing second and nine deep in his own territory, Finch is flushed out of the pocket and on the run when he spots Brendan Conway all alone on the sidelines, a passing play that would cover 51 yards.

With another costly penalty handing the Stampeders a first down on the Sudbury 26, Finch needs only two plays before hitting Trevor Reid on a crossing pattern from 21 yards out, giving Burlington a 32-23 lead with under six minutes remaining. With the contest appearing all but over, the Gladiators make things interesting as Poirier finds Mark Randa upfield and the Lo-Ellen Park product does the rest, racing 73 yards to paydirt.

Needing a successful onside kick to give themselves one last chance at pulling a victory from this fourth quarter debacle, Carriere’s kick sails a couple of feet high as Sudbury looked to simply get a hand on the ball before it went out of bounds. The Stampeders run the remaining 1:25 off the clock, thanks in large part to scrambles of 15 and 16 yards respectively by Finch, as the Gladiators see their record fall to 3-2-1 in the process.

Needless to say, the notion of shooting themselves in the foot time after time did not sit too well with coach Richer following the close loss. “To beat Burlington, we needed to establish the run, which I thought we did pretty well – we had a couple of big runs. Unfortunately, our pass protection wasn’t there – Dan (Poirier) had a hand in his face the whole day, even if shotgun formation”, said Richer.

But as was evident to anyone watching this game, there was plenty of blame to go around when the dust finally settles. “The penalties really drive us crazy as a coaching staff. We take the lead, make a big sack and then take a stupid penalty on a push that’s uncalled for” added the passionate bench boss, clearly frustrated with the turn of events over the final quarter of play.

Noting that he fully expects that the loss will mean that the Gladiators will not have home field advantage for any playoff games this year, Richer tipped his hat to the conquering Stampeders. “They did enough little things right to win this football game…it wasn’t a question of whether our guys wanted the win. I believe that we did – we just didn’t do enough to deserve it.”

Gridiron Gab: The Gladiators were without the services of big play receiver Josh Haslam from the beginning of the second quarter on as the normally sure-handed wideout was felled by the flu bug….Sudbury will have to recover quickly as the Twin Cities Predators travel north next weekend, facing the Gladiators at 4:00 p.m. at Queen’s. The Predators upended the local lads 20-15 when the teams met back in week two in Kitchener-Waterloo.

by Randy Pascal / sudburysports.com
July 4, 2010
[URL]http://www.sudburygladiators.com/sr/inthenews.html

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