Gayle gallops Legends past Gladiators in OT - DJ's Blog

DJ's Blog

Gayle gallops Legends past Gladiators in OT

Posted on January 20, 2009 at 11:30 PM.

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Gayle Sayers was a one-man wrecking crew Jan. 20. The Carolina Legends running back not only churned out 212 yards on the ground and scored two touchdowns, but he returned two kickoffs for scores as well.

And still, it nearly wasn't enough.

With the Legends' game against the Gladiators knotted at 35-35 in the closing seconds, Gladiators defense back, Mel Renfo, who midway through the fourth quarter returned a kickoff 98 yards for the game-tying score, intercepted a Jim Harbaugh pass and, with the clock winding down, appeared on his way to ending the game in dramatic fashion, only to be tripped up at the Legends' 35-yard-line with 1 second to play.

The Gladiators attempted a 52-yard field goal, but it fell short, sending the Armchair QB's North Division game into overtime. In the extra session, Sayers carried the ball on six of the Legends' eight plays, including the game-ending 2-yard run.

The 41-35 loss effectively slams the door shut on the Gladiators (2-7) playoff hopes.

"We fought hard today, but came up a little short," Renfro said. "It hurts to be out of the playoff race, but knowing the guys on this team, we'll continue to battle."

Renfro, who drew the criticsm of coach/owner, Dan Johnson, during the team's mid-season report, responded with his best game of the season as he had three tackles, including one for a loss on a rush by Sayers.

"That's the type of performance we hoped to get out of Mel when we drafted him," coach Johnson said. "Hopefully, he continues to play this way down the stretch."

While the passing defense was solid - the Gladiators intercepted Harbaugh three times - the usually strong run defense was shredded by Sayers, who averaged 8.5 yards per carry.

"Gayle is quick and if he gets a running start, he's hard to take down," linebacker Carl Banks said.

On offense, the Gladiators were on fire, scoring every time they had the ball aside from two Sammy Baugh interceptions. Baugh completed 15-of-23 attempts for 324 yards and three touchdowns.

Wideout James Lofton showed why the Gladiators drafted him No. 1, as he made a spectacular leaping catch over Terry McDaniel and Ronnie Lott for a 71-yard score. Lofton finished with 149 yards on 4 catches.

Don Maynard (5 catches, 78 yards, TD), Andre Reed (4 catches, 72 yards) and Christian Okoye (17 carries, 75 yards, TD) all had solid performances for the Gladiators.

"We were really clicking on offense," Reed said. "It would've been nice to have won the coin-toss because I know we would've scored."

Comments

# 1 RogueHominid @ Jan 21

Wow, what a game! I hate how easy it is to catch DBs with linemen and quarterbacks after picks. I actually played Pappy earlier and caught Renfro from behind with Roger Staubach, lol. That should NEVER happen!

Sayers scares me to death. He took one 77 yards from scrimmage in our game, and I'm lucky that's all he did in our game. Lofton is pretty dangerous for you. I would have loved to see that leaping catch--he can really go get 'em on jump balls.

Hang in there and keep fighting! You've had a lot of really close losses. I think with some added defense next season you'll be good to go. This season is gonna be full of shootouts, but you've got the right team build for it. Good luck!

# 2 CreatineKasey @ Jan 21

Sayers has been completely bipolar this season. Go check his game trends... 15 yards one game then 175 the next. I've been thinking about your team and how the heck all these close losses happen. I've noticed this observation: the lack of intangible abilities with this build. Maybe you need some more clutch/leadership guys running around. Just a thought.

Anyway GREAT writeup! I love to hear game changing plays described. In this particular writeup I liked the James Lofton jumping over 2 legends for a 70 yard TD and the Renfro runback. Good stuff!