CLEVELAND — Nick Davila threw for 237 yards and eight touchdowns and the Arizona Rattlers won their third consecutive ArenaBowl title with a 72-32 victory over the Cleveland Gladiators on Saturday night.
The Rattlers are the second team in Arena Football League history to win three straight titles. It was also the Rattlers’ fifth overall championship, tying them with the Tampa Bay Storm for the most in league history.
“It feels great,” Rattlers coach Kevin Guy said. “We knew a few years ago we had a good young group, good core group, and I thought we could have some good years.”
Rod Windsor paced the Rattlers receivers with seven catches for 123 yards and three touchdowns and Davila was selected as the MVP.
The Rattlers took advantage of numerous mistakes by the Gladiators and went into halftime with a 44-13 lead.
“We didn’t want to do finesse on them too much tonight,” Rattlers defensive end Cliff Dukes said. “Our whole angle was to get in their heads early. Not talking trash or nothing, but just going out and playing football like how it’s supposed to be done.”
Kerry Reed, Tyson Poots and Chris Jackson each had two touchdowns for Arizona. Reed also had a 46-yard interception return for a touchdown to put Arizona up 14-0 early in the first quarter.
Gladiators quarterback Shane Austin was 18 of 41 for 210 yards and three touchdowns and four interceptions.