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The Gladiators have been throwing the ball enough to demand air-raid sirens. They've also been mixing in plays with off-balance lines, shovel passes and direct snaps. There have even been onside kick sightings.

But if Glenelg head coach Butch Schaffer is to be believed, we should pay no attention to the team in front of the curtain.

"That's unusual, though," Schaffer said. "We run very few unbalanced lines, and traditionally we only throw 15 times a game. We do different things every week."

The complex creativity of the Gladiators' attack had both positives and negatives in a 28-20 overtime loss to visiting Marriotts Ridge on Friday.

Mustang lineman Austin Carroll picked up a loose ball in the first overtime and ran it into the end zone for a controversial game-winning touchdown. On the play, the Gladiators' defense felt they had a stop when Scott Wheeler wrapped up quarterback Tim Blair and drove him to the ground. It would have been a sack for a loss of four yards on fourth down, but instead it was ruled that Blair fumbled the ball, thus allowing Carroll's winning score.

"We've played hard every game," said Glenelg head coach Butch Schaffer. "Unfortunately, we've played some very good teams and had some close losses."

On the Gladiators' next possession, four running plays were stopped short of the goal line.

Initially, neither offense produced in the first half. Glenelg (2-3) took a 7-0 halftime lead on the 40-yard fumble recovery return by Colin Osbourne.

And while not a direct result of the offense, two turnovers and a kickoff return burned the Gladiators in the third quarter.

The Mustangs (4-1) had three drives in that quarter, all three starting in Glenelg territory, and all three ending in touchdowns.

The first drive began at the 18 yard line courtesy of a 56-yard kickoff return by Matt Banta. The second began 42 yards away because of an interception by Kyle Williams. And the third was only 30 yards away with an interception from Paul Lee.

The visitors took what looked to be a commanding lead, as Blair ran in touchdowns of 4 and 2 yards, and threw a 20-yard pass scoring pass to Derek Coleman.

The Gladiators would wound itself with another interception and a fumble before they finally opted to attack back in the final five minutes of play.

After getting sacked back to the Glenelg 23 yard line, Shannon Maura broke loose on a 22-yard run and Gage Trawick hit a 35-yard pass to Ricky Dubois.

The big burst of plays helped set up a 9-yard touchdown pass from Trawick to Casey Alteiri.

With 2 minutes and 20 seconds left to play, the Gladiators forced the Mustangs to punt in just 77 seconds. They got to the Mustangs 40 yard line before facing a 4th and 10 with 26.3 seconds left to play.

It was then that a happy accident tied up the game, as Trawick's pass, intended for Dubois, was deflected. Taylor Sones snagged it out of the air and found 40 yards of open daylight for the score.

Glenelg is traditionally known for its run attack. But in the second half, they called 31 pass plays to the seven run attempts.

Shaffer noted that the team only threw 34 times total, and the heavy passing attack was in direct response to being down two scores.

"All of our games have been like [this], and the rest of them are probably going to be like that too," Schaffer said.

"We play a tremendous schedule."

However, the schedule the Gladiators play is both their bane and their chance at redemption.

In the Class 1A South Region, there's only two 4-1 schools pulling away from the pack, Baltimore City's Dunbar and Reginald Lewis.

Glenelg is still within a win of Prince George's County's Forestville (3-2) and Baltimore's W.E.B. Du Bois (3-2), and is in a pack of four teams with 2-3 records.

Meanwhile, the Gladiators' schedule offers up three straight 3A schools, which can allow them to catch a load of playoff points if they can beat league foes Centennial (2-3), Atholton (1-4) and Howard (4-1).

The Gladiators then finish the season with two 2A schools in Oakland Mills (1-4) and River Hill (5-0).