Gladiators' Shot At Perfection Blocked

If you want something bad enough, you have to go get it.

Those were Greg Cole's thoughts just before the Bradenton Gladiators lined up for a 20-yard field goal attempt late in Saturday night's Florida Football Alliance game at the . Seconds later, Cole came around the edge to record a block that gave the Magic City Bulls a 31-28 victory.

Cole played at the University of Kansas and had a training-camp stint with the San Diego Chargers, but the blocked field goal, which enabled the Bulls to finish the regular season at 10-0 and knock the Gladiators from the ranks of the unbeaten, may have just been the greatest moment of his football career.

"It feels good to me to be the game-winner," Cole said. "I never had the chance to be the game-winner. It is definitely up there (among my accomplishments)."

The Bulls gave up three unanswered touchdowns over the final 19:38 of the first half and entered intermission facing a 21-3 deficit. It didn't take long for them to dig out of that deficit, as they scored three touchdowns in the first six minutes of the third quarter.

A pair of runs by Jerry Seymour, which covered 54 yards, set up an 11-yard scoring pass from Julio Martinez to Johnny Johnson with 13:05 left. On the first play after Johnson ended the Gladiators' first series of the second half with an interception, Seymour found the end zone from 18 yards out.

The Miami-based team demonstrated its quick-strike ability after forcing a punt as Martinez found Johnson, who spent most of the first half at quarterback, for a 73-yard touchdown pass.

Seymour finished with 189 yards, including a 2-yard scoring plunge with 9:47 left that accounted for the game's final points, on 24 carries. Seymour felt the buildup for the game was similar to what he experienced in 2003 when he and his teammates from Miami's Monsignor Pace recorded a 27-17 win over host Sarasota Booker in the 2003 state semifinals.

"On the bus ride up, it brought back some memories," Seymour said. "It has been almost 10 years. I'm just glad to come back with a new team and new teammates for this atmosphere. This is a crazy atmosphere here in Bradenton, but I love it. We stepped up and met the challenge."

The Bradenton offense seemed to do more than enough for a vaunted defense, which had allowed a shade over five points per game prior to Saturday night, in the first half. Quarterback Nicholas Kirby threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Bayshore High grad Marquis Murray on a 3rd-and-26 with 4:38 left in the first quarter.

Craig Carnes capped the Gladiators' next series with a 33-yard touchdown run. Former Manatee High standout Jeff Charlton closed out a drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock by hauling in a 10-yard touchdown pass from Kirby.

Kirby threw for 238 yards on 14-of-23 passing with three touchdowns, including a 38-yarder to Charlton with 6:32 left in the third quarter. His final completion was a screen pass to Chauncey Jones for 45 yards and a new set of downs at the Bulls' 4 with two minutes remaining.

However, Magic City overcame an offsides penalty and thwarted three runs by Jones to put Gladiators head coach Wendell Faison in the unenviable position of either going for the game-winning touchdown or settling for overtime with the field goal attempt.

"That was my decision to try to take the game into overtime because I wanted my defense to reset and I wanted my offense to reset," Faison said. "Like any other coach, it was a learning experience."

Both teams will receive byes next week when the first round of the league's AFC playoffs get underway. If each team wins its second-round home playoff game on April 16, they will meet for a shot to play for the league championship in Miami.

"We'll see them again," Faison said. "I think this was good for our team to be in this situation like this, so we can rise to the occasion."