Duke City Gladiators adding to 2024 roster

Duke City Gladiators kicker Ernesto Lacayo happily signs autographs for young fans at a game. (Courtesy photo)

One by one, the Duke City Gladiators are assembling a roster for their 2024 Indoor Football League season, which kicks off March 23 vs. the San Diego Strike Force in the Rio Rancho Events Center.

It marks the third season the Gladiators – in their 10th overall season — have called the Events Center home, where they were 5-3 in 2022, and 8-8 overall, and 4-4 in 2023, in their 5-10 record.

Over the past few weeks, the team has announced it has signed veterans Greg Dent Jr., a two-way player; kicker Ernesto Lacayo, wide receiver Devanaire Conliffe, “a baller at Notre Dame College, (who) recently won a championship in the CIF; and then, the most-puzzling signing, former coach Dominic Bramante, who will be a co-coach with Griggs.

The team also signed Aaron Dilworth, a wide receiver who played the 2023 season with the IFL champion Bay Area Panthers. Following that accomplishment, Dilworth was drafted in the fifth round of the XFL draft by the Orlando Guardians.

In 2022, he was with the Sioux Falls Storm, where in just eight games he caught 39 passes for 509 yards and scored eight touchdowns and became the first player to be called up to the Canadian Football League from the IFL that year. He played in two games for the Edmonton Elks.

As a senior wideout at Texas A&M-Kingsville in 2018, he caught 42 passes for 540 yards and seven TDs; Koy Detmer, son of former BYU great Ty Detmer, was his quarterback there.

Another former Sioux City Storm player, defensive lineman Warren Thomas, was also recently signed to the Gladiators’ roster. From his time with the XFL’s Roughnecks to dominating the field with the Storm, Thomas adds talent and experience to the Gladiators.

On Feb. 7, the team announced the signing of DB Antonio Oliver, a former New Mexico State Aggie who also played at Bethune Cookman University. He attended a mini-camp with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and then signed with the Orlando Guardians in the XFL.

The Gladiators also announced they’ve signed Justin Stockton, who played at Texas Tech and later showcased his talent with stints with the Seattle Seahawks and the Detroit Lions. In 2021, Stockton played a crucial role in leading the Massachusetts Pirates to an IFL championship; in 2023, he was with the Memphis Showboats in the USFL.

Griggs, back for his second season with Duke City, said, “We are thrilled to welcome Greg Dent Jr. back … (because) his experience, athleticism and playmaking ability make him an invaluable addition to our team.”

Griggs’ new partner, Bramante, helped launch the team as the New Mexico Stars in 2015, when the Stars played in Santa Ana Star Center, now the Events Center; he stayed through the team’s transition into the Gladiators.

After the 2019 season and the Gladiators’ second title, Bramante moved on to Northern Arizona, then spent the past few years away from the game, devastated by a life threating COVID pneumonia illness.

“The Gladiators are my baby,” Bramante told KRQE-TV. “I really owe one last chance to see if we can get the Gladiators back where they were.”

The home opener will be Youth Sports Night. In a gesture of community support, all Rio Rancho Public Schools student-athletes will be granted free admission to the game, fostering a sense of camaraderie and sportsmanship among local youth.

The team’s schedule is unusual, in that with eight home games in the 16-game schedule, the team has but one game in March, one in April and one in May – and then backloaded with three home games in June and two in July.

The eight-game home slate is as follows:

March 23, 6:05 p.m. vs. San Diego Strike Force

April 6, 6:05 p.m. vs. Tucson Sugar Skulls

May 11, 6:05 p.m. vs. San Antonio Gunslingers

June 15, 6:05 p.m. vs. Las Vegas Knight Hawks

June 22, 6:05 p.m. vs. Bay Area Panthers

June 29, 6:05 p.m. vs. Tucson Sugar Skulls

July 7, 3:05 p.m. vs. Frisco Fighters

July 21, 3:05 p.m. vs. Northern Arizona Wranglers