Destroyers Lose Home Opener, Drop Record to 0-3.
By Giles Kennedy, Columbus Wired Contributor
Photos by Tom Theodore

Columbus fought hard. But not hard enough. The National Conference champion Destroyers fell to new rival Cleveland by 2 points, 59-57.

Late in the fourth quarter, former Columbus Destroyer (now Cleveland Gladiator) Brandon Heffin recovered a fumble by Columbus quarterback Matt Nagy at 3:50.

This was the tone for the whole night. Just when you think the Destroyers get a break; it slips away.

“This league is very unforgiving,” Columbus head coach Doug Kay relented, “If they catch you down, they’ll (the opposing teams) break your neck. We need to realize very quickly that time is running out for us to start to be good.”

15,946 fans saw the agony. A good portion of those fans made the drive from Cleveland to see the Gladiators take on the Destroyers.

This marked the first time in professional sports that Columbus and Cleveland competed against each other.

Columbus and Cleveland both battled hard.

Columbus struck first in the beginning. New back-up quarterback and former Ohio State QB Justin Zwick held the ball for kicker Mark Lewis for 3 points; 6:15 in the first quarter.

Cleveland came back at 3:29 with quarterback Raymond Philyaw handing the ball to fullback Marilon Jackson for the first touchdown.

Through out the game; back and forth lead changes, neither the Destroyers nor the Gladiators were not willing to give up.

At least, offense from Columbus’ roster was not the issue in the loss as Columbus did total 351 yards of offense, compare to 204 yards from Cleveland.

Leaders included Matt Nagy’s main connection, promising wide receiver Derek Lee (171 yards, 11 catches) and new Destroyer wide receiver Calvin Russell (96 yards).

Matt Nagy completed 24 for 35 passes. The Destroyers even led at the end of the first half 31-23.

It was not enough as in football, everything came down to turnovers. 2 fumbles with one covered by Cleveland.

Again in the fourth quarter, Cleveland’s Brandon Heffin picked off the fumble from Columbus’ Matt Nagy.

Quarterback Matt Nagy with a 33 yard pass to Derek Lee to make it 59-57. That was it. With 21 seconds left, Columbus’ Mark Lewis failed the extra point. Columbus failed an offside kick.

Cleveland Gladiators 59, Columbus Destroyers 57. This was not a great game to witness.

Cleveland took advantage of Columbus’ ill fortune. They gained a 3-0 stellar start in their new home since moving from Las Vegas.

The defending National Conference champs stagger with a 0-3 start. The Destroyers lost to Dallas last weekend 36-46. They even fought back in a 3-point loss in Denver against the Colorado Crush March 2nd 47-50.

“That wasn’t the intention at the start of the year,” Coach Kay stated about the team, “We wanted to improve the energy. But we haven’t played that way yet.”

Columbus heads on the road to Salt Lake City next Saturday to face the Utah Blaze at 9:00 p.m. EST. They return home to the confines of Huntington Field at Nationwide Arena on March 29th to hopefully cage the Orlando Predators.