Gladiators still have chance for postseason

Scoring 38 unanswered points Saturday evening in their game with the visiting Vegas Knight Hawks, the Duke City Gladiators rallied for a 53-30 victory, snapping a three-game skid.

The Gladiators (5-8) are idle this week, then have home games remaining with Tucson (7-5) on July 8 and Bay Area (8-5) on July 16, teams ahead of the Gladiators in the Indoor Football League’s Western Conference. The top four teams qualify for the postseason; Duke City is tied for fifth place with the San Diego Strike Force.

Vegas scored touchdowns on its first two possessions, with its second point-after attempt blocked and returned 48 yards the other way for two points by Duke City’s Jimmy Thomas, making it 13-2.

Vegas added another touchdown early in the second quarter, then added a rouge on the ensuing kickoff for a 22-2 lead.

Tim Whitfield scored the first of his three rushing TDs, with Ernesto Lacayo’s point-after reducing the deficit to 22-9.

But wait – the Gladiators recovered an onside kick, and Lacayo’s 47-yard field goal in the final minute of the first half trimmed the Knight Hawks’ lead to 22-12.

Duke City scored the first four touchdowns on the second half to ice the game: Tyron Laughinghouse caught a 25-yard TD pass from quarterback Charles McCullum, Whitfield added rushing TDs of 9 and 6 yards, and backup QB Demry Croft added a 4-yard TD run with 6:30 left in the game; Lacayo added PATs each time, finishing the game 6 for 6 in that category.

After Vegas scored its lone TD of the second half, Croft scored again, this time on an 11-yard run, and Laughinghouse scored on a fumble recovery.

The game’s lone drawback was the excessive number of penalty flags thrown: Vegas was whistled 11 times for 82 yards; Duke City had nine penalties worth 46 yards.

IFL notes: The Indoor Football League is adding two teams for the 2024 season: The Bismarck (ND) Bucks, who were in the league from 2017-22, then took a year off; and the Columbus (Ohio) Wild Dogs, which obtained a franchise in 2021 but hasn’t been activated yet.