Jason Geathers Comes Up Big In Victory

Trailing 21-0 after a quarter to one of the Arena Football League's elite teams, Rattlers coach Kevin Guy kept telling his players, "It's a 60-minute game."

They need every second to pull out an improbable 48-47 victory Saturday night over the Orlando Predators at US Airways Center.

Jason Geathers didn't play offense until the final series with 29 seconds left. He promptly turned a catch-and-run into a 31-yard play. He then caught Nick Davila's 14-yard pass for a touchdown that cut the score to 47-46 with eight seconds left.

With kicker Joe Schroeder missing two point-after touchdowns, Guy decided to go for the lead.

Davila found Trandon Harvey in the back of the end zone for a two-point conversion and the Rattlers' first lead.
Riley Swanson finished off the comeback by intercepting Nick Hill's desperation pass in the end zone as time expired.

"We've got a special group," Guy said. "They played 60 minutes. It was a full team effort."

Guy was emotional afterwards. Not just by the comeback but by loss of his 2008 kicker, Eric Houle, who was killed in a car accident in Michigan last week. There was a moment of silence before the game for Houle.

"To look up at that screen, and see Eric's face, he's a special human being," Guy said. "We dedicated the game to him. We're all signing the game ball and mailing it back to (Houle's wife) Nichole and the kids."

It was a great comeback for Davila, who was intercepted three times in the first half, one of which was returned for a touchdown by Marlon Moye-Moore 21 yards that gave the Predators (2-1) a 21-0 lead with 1:13 left in the opening quarter.

Davila threw four, second-half touchdown passes and finished 25 of 39 for 344 yards. It was his first 300-yard game of the season.

Davila's fifth TD pass with a little under five minutes left appeared it would be the last time he would touch the ball. Orlando was on its way to killing the remaining time, but Hill's pass at the Rattlers' 5-yard line was intercepted by Virgil Gray.

That is when Geathers made his entrance.

"Hats off to him," Davila said. "He did a great job of staying in the game mentally throughout and coming and making an impact. It just goes to show you that you're never out until you're out."

Davila threw four of his TD passes to Harvey, who shook off two, first-half drops and finished with nine catches for 117 yards. Rod Windsor also had nine catches for 112 yards.

Guy said that the chemistry between Davila and Geathers was off the first three games. Not in the final 29 seconds.

"Jason worked hard at it in practice to try to get on track with each other," Guy said. "He ran a great route. Nick gave him a great ball and it was a great play by Jason."

The Rattlers (4-0), who came into the game ranked No.1 in the Arena Football League's coaches' poll, have a bye week before playing Kansas City.



(azcentral.com)