MIKE PETICCA

Special to The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Gladiators maintained their perfect season with a miracle finish on Friday night against the Philadelphia Soul, scoring three touchdowns in the final 51.7 seconds for a 54-52 Arena Football League win at Quicken Loans Arena.



Cleveland is 9-0 midway through its 18-game schedule. The Gladiators, trailing 52-48, scored the winning touchdown when quarterback Shane Austin scrambled out of the pocket and found a sliding Thyron Lewis in the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown pass on the final play, which began with 0.8 seconds to go.



"It's unbelievable," a smiling Austin said moments after the game. "He was trying to get open. I threw him kind of a weak pass and he was able to get it.



"We kind of drew up that last play. I figured if I could scramble, I could buy some time as the clock ran out. .... There is a lot of fight in us. It's unbelievable."



The Gladiators' next game is next Saturday in Pittsburgh against the Power. Cleveland leads second-place Pittsburgh (6-3) by three games in the American Conference East standings and has already beaten the Power twice this season.



"The one thing we've learned about Arena football is that you never leave in the last minute," said Gladiators coach Steve Thonn. "Anything can happen.



"These guys have never panicked. I think that's the biggest thing. I think that shows their character."



Dominic Jones' 56-yard kickoff return for a Cleveland touchdown cut the Philadelphia lead to within 45-35 with 11:16 left. The Gladiators trailed, 52-35, before Lewis caught a 19-yard scoring pass from Austin with 51.7 seconds left. Then, after Dominick Goodman recovered an Aaron Pettrey onside kick at the Cleveland 11, he capped a 39-yard scoring drive by catching a 4-yard touchdown pass from Austin with 24.2 seconds left. That trimmed Philadelphia's lead to 52-48.



Cleveland's Luke Black then recovered yet another Pettrey onside kick to set up the drive that was capped by the Austin-to-Lewis game-winner. The touchdown was proceeded by two Austin-to-Goodman passes for 14 yards and a 14-yard toss to Collin Taylor.



Austin competed 29 of 46 passes for 345 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions.



The Soul built a 21-7 lead in the game's first 10 1/2 minutes, even though it ran just five offensive plays for 32 total yards during the three-touchdown binge. Robert Redd's 38-yard return of the opening kickoff set up a two-play, 18-yard Soul scoring drive. Jones then lost a fumble on the following kickoff, and Philadelphia needed just 14 yards on three plays for its second touchdown and a 14-0 lead.



Cleveland pulled to within a touchdown on Austin's 4-yard touchdown pass to Tyrone Collins, but Philadelphia immediately upped its lead to 21-7 as Redd took the kickoff and sped 56 yards for a score.



Philadelphia led, 31-14, at halftime.



Goodman, in his fourth AFL season -- all with the Gladiators -- passed the 500-reception and 5,000-receiving yard milestones. He caught 10 passes for 113 yards and a touchdown, boosting his career totals to 508 catches for 5,030 yards and 84 touchdowns.