National Arena League: Jacksonville Sharks Chew Away Monterrey Steel

National Arena League: Jacksonville Sharks Chew Away Monterrey Steel

National Arena League: Jacksonville Sharks chew away Monterrey Steel in Jacksonville as 8,970 people gathered and watched. Jacksonville moves up to 8-0 and Monterrey goes down to 3-3.

Things were very slow to start, with the only points being a field goal from Nick Belcher at the end of the first quarter. To start off the second quarter, Jacksonville’s Micheaux Robinson intercepted the ball. This was helping running back Derrick Ross and the Sharks offense score a touchdown.

Although this was a great start to the second quarter, Jacksonville only found two more points the rest of the quarter. Monterrey finally found some points after they allowed a safety and kicked a deuce from Brandon Rutherford. The score going into halftime was 14-2 with Jacksonville on top.

The Sharks and Steel were both playing bad and not like they should have been.

Eric McIntosh finally had his first interception on the night after dropping two in the first half. Jacksonville had their backs against the wall after this interception, allowing a safety.

Belcher nailed another deuce after the safety, which helped Jacksonville keep the same lead. Getting into rhythm, McIntosh caught an interception, but this time, he returned it for a touchdown. Belcher was also in a rhythm, dropping another deuce.

The Steel finally get something, a long bomb to Marty Gilyard for a touchdown. In the third quarter, either team still wasn’t playing at their best, but some individual players started to get going.

The Sharks, backs against the wall again, scored on a deep pass to Mo Williams for a 45-yard touchdown. Belcher tied his record with the most deuces by kicking his fourth deuce.

Ross makes the final touchdown of the game, making it a 42-13 victory over the Monterrey Steel.

Monterrey’s Joe Sykes and Jerry Turner changed the whole game, causing Jacksonville to make mistakes.

If this is how Jacksonville is going to play in the playoffs, they might be in some serious trouble. Sloppy playing doesn’t win playoff games. They’re lucky that it wasn’t the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks or Columbus Lions that they were facing.

Monterrey needs to get something together. They have all the talent they could possibly have with Jabari Fletcher, Jacoby Jones, London Crawford, Sykes, and Turner. Something new this week was that they left their anger behind and kept playing. There were no cheap shots, fights, or injuries because of foolish acts. There’s a start to becoming a talented team.

Team MVPs

Jacksonville Sharks:

Nick Belcher: Belcher tied his record with four deuces on the night and making field goals, too. Belcher almost got as many points as Monterrey did tonight.

Eric McIntosh: Although McIntosh had a really rough and slow start to the night, he made some huge plays to help Jacksonville get more points and pad their lead. He may have dropped two wide open interceptions, but he made both of them up, which one was a pick-six. Nothing else you can ask for when it comes to this guy.

Monterrey Steel:

Brandon Rutherford: Even though the Steel didn’t win, Rutherford still got a lot of points for his team. Rutherford may have missed a couple of field goals, but nobody should expect him to make anything if it’s deep in their own territory.

Marty Gilyard: Gilyard helped the team out by being a leader. He is a proud owner of the “I scored a long touchdown against Jacksonville” award. Not too many people can say they’ve done that. Keep in mind, he did it IN Jacksonville. Even though his team was down a lot in the second half, he didn’t quit.

 

Main Photo Credit: Brandon Russell, Last Word on Sports