The Utah Blaze, for the second week in a row, will be facing a new-look team they know precious little about today. The 1-0 Cleveland Gladiators will host the 0-1 Blaze in a 10:30 a.m. game at Quicken Loans Arena.
Technically, the Cleveland is the relocated Las Vegas franchise that the Blaze played twice last season, splitting the two games. But the reality is that the Gladiators have new coaches, new management and a revamped roster.
"Most of their key players, their impact players are all new," said Blaze coach Danny White, who didn't even spend time watching film from last year's games against the Gladiators.
Instead, the Blaze have been watching film of last year's L.A. Avengers and Austin Wranglers games to get a feel for what to expect. It makes sense, since Gladiators' new head coach, Mike Wilpolt, was the Avengers' defensive coordinator last season and the Gladiators' new offensive coordinator, Brian Partlow, was the head coach of the Wranglers a year ago.
White also could watch the Gladiators' impressive season-opening victory over New York last Monday night. While the Las Vegas franchise struggled last year to a 2-14 record and played before sparse crowds in 2007, Cleveland is off to a hot start under first-year president and CEO Bernie Kosar, the former Cleveland Browns star quarterback. Cleveland opened the year in front of 17,391 fans and expects another big crowd for today's game.
"The crowd was awesome," said Gladiators fullback/linebacker Marlion Jackson, one of the few holdovers from Las Vegas. "I've never played a home game in the AFL where the crowd was like that."
The Gladiators are led by veteran AFL quarterback Raymond Philyaw, who had five touchdown passes in the opener. His favorite target was Otis Amey, who caught seven passes for 101 yards in the opener.
The Blaze, meanwhile, are trying to get over their tough season-opening loss to the Arizona Rattlers. Utah, after leading for most of the game, came up short in the final seconds when a game-winning field goal bounced off the upright in a 63-62 lead.
"We were clearly the better team on the field," said White of the opener. "It was tough because we had about eight guys who all made critical mistakes, but it was the only mistake of the game that they made."
Well, actually, Blaze kicker Steve Videtich made two mistakes, missing both a late extra point before the last-second field goal. That's why he's the former Blaze kicker. Videtich, who was the only player to see action in every Blaze game through the first two seasons, was cut this week and replaced by former Las Vegas Gladiators kicker Steve Azar.
While the loss was disappointing in the opener for White, he was still generally pleased with the play of his new offensive and defensive lines. He was also happy with the play of quarterback Joe Germaine, with the exception of one bad pass that was intercepted in the second half.
Following today's game the Blaze will have a quick turnaround. They play at Orlando on Friday.
BLAZE ON THE ROAD
Utah Blaze (0-1) at Cleveland Gladiators (1-0)
Today, 10:30 a.m.
TV: none
Radio: 1320 AM
E-mail: lojo@desnews.com