Rattlers taking ArenaBowl to Glendale after rout of Gladiators

A season that began in Maricopa with camp held there for the first time will finish in Glendale, where the Rattlers will play for the first time in the ArenaBowl.

One more overpowering performance in their Phoenix Snake Pit home, an 82-41 rout of the Cleveland Gladiators before a season-high crowd of 15,103 at Talking Stick Resort Arena, takes the Rattlers to Glendale to play a game for the first time.

That championship game will be at Gila River Arena on Aug. 26 at 4 p.m. against either the Philadelphia Soul or the Jacksonville Sharks, who meet Sunday for the American Conference championship.

"Our work ethic started in Maricopa," an excited coach Kevin Guy said. "We practiced in Mesa. We played in Phoenix. And we're going to finish in Glendale. We're on the state tour right now. We might as well be politicians."

The Rattlers, the National Conference champs for the fifth time in six years, are bringing the ArenaBowl back to the Valley for the first time since 2011 when they lost on the last play of the game to the Sharks.

Since then, they won three ArenaBowls in a row, and last year, fell short on a controversial call in the final minute of the National Conference final to the San Jose Sabercats in Stockton, Calif.

In that game, safety Jeremy Kellem appeared to have pried the ball loose from receiver Reggie Gray before he got into the end zone. But officials ruled he had scored before fumbling the ball away to the Rattlers. That score was enough to overcome the  Rattlers and end their streak of four consecutive ArenaBowl appearances.

Kellem was ready to walk away from the game after that. But seeing his brethren defensive backs get injured and the Rattlers starting to crumble on a long succession of East Coast games, the 2015 Defensive Back of the Year returned to the team eight games ago.

Kellem was on top of his game Saturday, when he intercepted two passes, returning one 25 yards for a score in a 34-point second quarter.

He also poked the ball loose from a Gladiators receiver before he got into the end zone. Linebacker  Dan Buckner recovered. The officials ruled it a fumble, and the Gladiators lost the appeal.

"Last year, it was a tough break and it sat with us all off-season," Kellem said. "Coming into this game, we knew this is where we fell last time. So we wanted to come in here and get over that hump."

They did so with 10 stops, and quarterback Nick Davila throwing seven touchdown passes, before giving way to backup Shane Boyd in the final 13 minutes.

The Rattlers, with a strong pass rush led by first-team All-Arena defenders Damien Borel and Tyre Glasper, forced quarterback Arvell Nelson into 21 of 43 passing with just three TDs. His main target, Quentin Sims, caught 14 passes for 172 yards and the three TDs, but he also fumbled twice.

Anthony Amos, Maurice Purify and Rod Windsor each caught three TD passes with both Amos and Purify amassing more than 100 yards for the Rattlers.

"Cleveland is a good team, they were fighting all the way through, and now it's on to the ArenaBowl," Davila said.

Phoenix's downtown arena has been home sweet home since the Rattlers (15-3) began playing Arena Football in 1992.

But, because the Mercury and the WNBA returns from the Olympics break on Aug. 26, the Rattlers, the No. 1 seed, will be hosting in Glendale.

They had a workout in Glendale before playing in their sixth consecutive National Conference final on Saturday.

That whet their appetite, as they poured it on once again against a Gladiators team that suffered a 68-20 loss to the Rattlers in Phoenix three weeks ago.

This time, the Gladiators (8-10) were able to score 20 points in the first half. But the Rattlers built a 28-point lead that could have been more had Nick Davila not made a rare mistake and bounced a pass from 13 yards out off the end-zone bar that landed in the hands of linebacker Curtis Young for an interception with nine second left.

"We didn't want to leave it in the instant replays' hands," Guy said. "We wanted to come and dominate them and not leave it anybody's hands. I'm so proud of this team this year."

Reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-460-1710. Follow him at twitter.com/azc_obert.