Rattlers Dominate Steel 76-49

(photo credit: Arizona Rattlers/Twitter)

Behind a solid night from quarterback Nick Davila, the Arizona Rattlers swept the season series with the Portland Steel with a dominant 76-49 win in front of 14,401 fans at Talking Stick Resort Arena.

It was a wild night that saw five touchdowns scored in the final minute of the first half, and was also a big night for Jeremy Kellem, making his return to the Rattlers. "The first two days of practice, I probably only had four reps of covering in the field the deep motion," Kellem said. "I knew coming back out there, there would be an adjustment. Practice tempo and game tempo is totally different.

Kellem got burned on the game's first deep pass from Shane Austin. But he caught a break when the receiver dropped a sure touchdown. But after that he slowly worked himself back into the Rattlers system. He was a big reason why the Rattler defense held Portland scoreless in the third quarter as Arizona increased their lead to 62-31 after three quarters. 

"I'm just glad he's here," quarterback Nick Davila said about Kellem. "Not just on the football field, but in the locker room, that presence is big. We need him on the back end on defense. He's a coach on the field. I love him."

The Rattlers have owned the Steel/Thunder in the first two years of the series, but Arizona knew this one would be a challenge. Portland finally won its first game last week against the Tampa Bay Storm, and their offense was finally rolling thanks to Shane Austin. Saturday the Steel were rolling, as Austin threw for over 350 yards and five touchdowns. But the Steel couldn't produce enough offense after halftime to finally beat Arizona, who they are now 0-10 against lifetime.

Next up for Arizona: a home showdown with the Philadelphia Soul. "I think Philly is the best team in the league," head coach and general manager Kevin Guy said. "They're coming to our house. I'm sure Rattler Nation is going to be fired up for that. It should be a good home-field advantage for us here, get the place rockin.' But it's a short week. We play Friday night. We've got to recover and get right to game planning and make sure we're ready to play mentally."