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It's tough to see just looking at the standings, however, after a good long look, one can see that there's a world of difference between the Glenelg High football team's 0-4 start in 2007 compared to this year's 1-2 start.

Take the case of Friday's 38-35 loss to visiting Wilde Lake, where the Wildecats head coach Doug DuVall cashed in his 299th career win. The Gladiators were within 19 seconds of victory before an interception dashed their last hope.

Down 31-14 in the third quarter, Glenelg rallied back with plays ranging between improbable to almost impossible. Gage Trawick threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Brittain, and Shannon Maura ran in three touchdowns for Glenelg.

"I've had good games, but this was pretty big," Maura said.

But even with the effort, it looked grim for Gladiators when Wilde Lake quarterback Danny March scored on a 14-yard touchdown gallop with 3 minutes and 41 seconds left to play. It was the end of a drive that started on the 18 yard line, and featured eight carries from March for 87 yards.

It took all of one play for Glenelg to steal all the momentum in the stadium, when Colin Osbourne returned the kickoff for a 90-yard touchdown.

A.J, Rosenthal booted his second onside-kick attempt of the night. The second time was the charm, as Ricky Dubois was able to knock it away from the Wilde Lake receiving line and into the hands of Lee Lucas.

The Gladiators made it all the way down to the Wilde Lake 15 yard line before things fell apart. With 37 seconds left, the first pass attempt was overthrown, while the Wildecats defense scored a sack on the second attempt.

The third throw was the disaster, as March, Glenelg's natural enemy, caught the pass in the end zone. One knee later and Wilde Lake walked away with a win.

Maura ran in touchdowns of 3 and 4 yards in the second quarter. Rosenthal was 5-for-5 on extra point kicks.

"I've got more gas in the tank," Osbourne said. "We couldn't put it in when we needed it. We're going to work hard this week in practice and get it back next week."

The prospect of getting back to the grind is less painful this year.

"This year, we're close in the games," Rosenthal said. "We're not getting blown out."

While the 1-2 start to the season has shades of last year's 0-4 start, the record is deceptive.

"It was rough last year," Maura said. "This year, we're a lot better as a team. We play together. Last year we were individuals."

In all three games so far, Glenelg has either won or been on the cusp of victory. In week 2, they were up 21-12 at halftime before host Long Reach came back to win 32-21.

The Gladiators opened the season with a 20-7 conquest of Mount Hebron. This Friday, they travel to Hammond. And going into Week 5, Glenelg wouldn't mind repeating their finishing feat of 2007 when it closed out the year with six straight wins.