by HOUSTON, TEXAS – The Aviators had their chances today but several miscues in crucial moments cost them the game as they fell 17-13 on the road at the Houston Gamblers. The loss drops them to 1-4 and puts their playoff hopes on life support.
It was a dominant defensive effort for the Gamblers to seal it in the second half by not allowing a single point, despite several chances late for Columbus. The Gamblers finished with three sacks, six tackles for a loss, and held the Aviators under 250 total yards in an effort that controlled the low scoring game.
Down 14-7 in the closing moments of the second quarter, the Aviators had put together a nice drive capped off by a Tua touchdown run to cut it to one, but the extra point was missed and they spent the rest of the game chasing that point, down 14-13. All of this was after Houston had jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the early moments of the second quarter.
The game remained that way for quite a bit as the Aviators couldn’t move the ball at all in the third quarter when they finally put together a nice drive down 17-13 midway through the fourth. They got to a third and goal, but after McClendon was sacked, Coe missed a chip shot field goal, keeping the difference at 4 points. Those two kicks proved costly as that made up the difference.
It wasn’t over yet as the Aviators had one last chance to make something happen as McClendon led a beautiful drive just outside of the two minute warning but then fumbled it away when he was only a few yards away from scoring after breaking a solid run. Remarkably it looked as though they could have had one more shot at it with 1:55 left on the clock but a third down stop was negated when Walter Palmone lined up in the neutral zone. That was it, as Houston went on to capture the victory,
These two teams will collide again on Friday night in Columbus as Houston now sits at 2-3 while Columbus is at 1-4. Kickoff is at 8:00 PM ET on FOX.
