posted March 3, 2008 at 18:08 EST in Other Articles

New York Dragons vs. Cleveland Gladiators

Tonight’s National Conference battle between Eastern Division members New York and Cleveland gives both clubs the opportunity to start the season fresh after both franchises suffered through horrendous 2007 campaigns. The New York Dragons played with a skeleton crew for a majority of the season as injuries took a stranglehold of their roster. The most notable injury occurred to QB Aaron Garcia who only managed to suit up in just 6 of their 16 overall games. The result was a 5-11 SU mark and 7-9 mark ATS. However, Dragon fans have to be thrilled with the words that came out of QB Garcia’s mouth,
"For the first time in a long time, I feel like I can move around and do things like I used to be able to do," Garcia said by phone last week from Dragons headquarters. In the six games he played in last year, the Dragons went 4-2 SU and ATS with big wins over Kansas City and Philadelphia.

As for the Gladiators, this club was simply woeful in their final year of existence in “Sin City”. Former Cleveland Browns QB Bernie Kosar was a key cog in bringing the franchise over to Cleveland, and once he did, he overhauled the roster almost completely. Only three of 22 players on the active roster as of last weekend are holdovers from the Glad’s 2-14 team from a year ago. Leading their charge will be QB Raymond Philyaw who did a fabulous job in Kansas City last season. His efforts allowed the Brigade to reach the post-season in just the franchises second year of existence, and Mr. Kosar and company are hoping he can work his magic this year.

The AFL has been absent from Cleveland since the early 90’s, but the new owners and coaches of the Gladiators are overly excited about debuting once again this evening.

I doubt we'll need to give the players a rah-rah speech," Gladiators coach Mike Wilpolt said. "Just being the first game at The Q will be enough. It's a big deal for ownership, coaches, players, fans and the league."

Wilpolt is confident his charges will respond when the whistle blows.

"I think we've got a team the city of Cleveland can be proud of and get behind," Wilpolt said. "The fans can expect the Gladiators to play football for 60 minutes, to play hard, smart and physical."

That said, oddsmakers didn’t think highly enough to open them up as the favorite in this contest. NY currently sits as a 1.5-point road favorite with the ‘Total’ set at 102.5 of which both can currently be bet upon at BetUS.com right now!!!

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