Posted on 3/14/2008 8:33:48 PM

Arena Football - Cleveland Gladiators vs. Columbus Destroyers

By Mike Rose

Saturday marks the first meeting between these new in-state rivals. The Cleveland Gladiators enter this contest unbeaten in their first two home games, but visiting the defending National Conference champions should prove to be a much more difficult task than playing at the friendly confines of the ‘Q’.

You’ve got to tip your cap to Glads Head Coach Mike Wilpolt for taking a team that was downright embarrassing a season ago and turning them into legitimate contenders for the ArenaBowl. The always efficient Raymond Philyaw has been phenomenal in his first two outings of the season. He owns the 4th best completion percentage in the league amongst starting QBs (68.9%) and the 2nd highest QB rating (128.9) to go with his 11 TD passes. The Cleveland offense is 2nd best in the AFL with 127 points scored throughout the first two weeks two weeks.

At the other end of the offensive spectrum, the Columbus Destroyers have only scored 83 points in two games and only have one offensive weapon of note; WR Derek Lee. Lee has accounted for 48% of the Destroyers yardage and seven of the team’s 12 TDs on the year. Though the defense hasn’t put up terrible numbers, they are clearly missing the big play ability of DB Jerald Brown (16 INTs in two seasons with Columbus) and the presence of Ken Jones up front in the trenches (10 sacks in 2007).

It always seems fishy when a winless team is installed the favorite against an undefeated team, but that didn’t prevent oddsmakers from opening the Destroyers up as 3-point home chalks. Many have invested in the undefeated Glads however moving the line a whopping seven points, ultimately turning Cleveland into 4-point road favorites. The last time the Gladiators franchise was a road favorite was way back in April of 2005. Including last year’s ArenaBowl, the Destroyers have played three straight games to the ‘under,’ but with a fairly low total of 102.5 hanging on the board right now at BetUS.com, this streak could come to an end. Though they failed to cover as nine point pups at Dallas last week, Columbus had covered 6 of their previous 7 and look to continue that streak as a home dog in this spot. Find out whether the new kids on the block can knock off the conference champs in this in-state battle this weekend!

Game Time: 7:00 ET

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