Jason Geathers Scores Winning TD with 31 Seconds Left

The Arizona Rattlers finally made their extra points, toughened defensively and made the plays in the end to beat the Jacksonville Sharks 55-52 Saturday night in their Arena Football League opener at U.S. Airways Center.

Nick Davila's 9-yard pass to Jason Geathers with 31 seconds left was the difference.

The Rattlers didn't lead until 4:30 remained, when Virgil Gray returned a kickoff 55 yards for a touchdown. Joe Schroeder, who missed three extra-point tries in the first half, gave the Rattlers a 47-46 lead with 4:30 remaining.

Linebacker Kevin McCullough intercepted Aaron Garcia's pass with 23 seconds left, and Davila ate up the last 18 seconds by throwing four straight passes high into the crowd.

"That's Arena football," said Davila, who finished with 286 yards and six touchdown passes, completing 27 of 46 passes. "You've got keep playing."

The beginning wasn't the kind of splash the Rattlers wanted to make to open an 18-game schedule.

They dropped three passed and gained no yards in their opening series. They missed three extra-point tries in the first half. They lost the ball on an on-side kick. And they allowed 17-year veteran quarterback Aaron Garcia look ageless, as Jacksonville built a 30-25 halftime lead.

But the Rattlers recovered nicely, especially in the final minute of the half, when Marquis Floyd intercepted a Garcia pass in the end zone and Davila found Nate Forse from 16 yards out as time expired.

Floyd said he felt he had to make amends for an on-side kick that bounced off of him and was recovered by the Sharks earlier in the half. That led to a touchdown.

"That on-side kick was on me," Floyd said. "He kicked a high shot off of me. I felt I had to make up for that."

After Davila fumbled the ball on the first series of the second half, the Rattlers played mistake-free, and kicker Joe Schroeder, booed for missing three extra points in the first half, became clutch.

Schroeder's extra point gave the Rattlers their first lead, 47-46, with 5:17 left. It came after Virgil Gray returned the kickoff 57 yards for a touchdown. Before then, Gray was bottled up on kickoff returns.

"It was my first real look on the returns in this game (off the nets)," Gray said.

Garcia, the league's career leader in passing yards and touchdown passes, completed 14 of 18 for 141 yards and three touchdowns in the half. He was limited to two TD passes in the second half. He finished 24 of 39 for 259 yards.

After Forse dropped two passes and Trandon Harvey another to start the game, the Rattlers became stick-fingered. Harvey finished with 12 catches for 130 yards and four TDs. It was his best game as a Rattler since 2008.

"We kind of got the cobwebs out a little bit in the first half," Davila said. "We finished with situational football. We remained poised and it paid off."



(azcentral.com)