CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Collin Taylor, normally a wide receiver, made big plays on both offense and defense, and Shane Austin, Dominick Goodman and Donnie Fletcher came through in the final minute to help the Cleveland Gladiators to a dramatic 62-54 victory over the Tampa Bay Storm in an Arena Football League game on Friday night.

Taylor helped keep Cleveland in the game at Quicken Loans Arena with three touchdown receptions from Austin and a 12-yard interception return for another score.

Austin drilled his sixth touchdown pass of the game, an 8-yarder to Goodman, to give the Gladiators a 55-48 lead with 52 seconds left. Fletcher then intercepted a Jason Boltus pass and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown, boosting the Cleveland lead to 62-48 with 34 seconds to go.

Boltus' 28-yard touchdown pass to T.T. Toliver with 16 seconds left capped the scoring.

"We made some big plays at the end," Cleveland coach Steve Thonn said. "Donnie Fletcher made a huge play. Collin is playing great right now. He's making big plays for us, which is what we need."

The picks by Taylor and Fletcher helped redeem a Cleveland defense that had allowed a combined 112 points in losing its previous two games, to the Arizona Rattlers and the Philadelphia Soul.

The Gladiators, who went 17-1 last season then won two American Conference playoff games before losing to Arizona in the ArenaBowl championship game, are 3-2.

Austin finished with 23 completions in 38 attempts for 285 yards, with Taylor catching 11 of his passes for 111 yards. Boltus completed 25 of 38 passes for 366 yards and seven touchdowns.

Taylor, who had played some on defense earlier this season, intercepted a Boltus pass and returned it 13 yards for a touchdown and a 42-35 Cleveland lead with 4:36 to go in the third quarter.

"Collin is actually a very good jack linebacker," Thonn said. "We don't play him there all the time because we need him for our offense. He does a great job reading the quarterback's eyes."

Taylor gave Cleveland the lead again, at 48-42 with 10:41 left in the game, when he caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Austin on a fourth-and-goal play. Tampa, though, then blocked kicker Adrian Trevino's extra point try.

Boltus then scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak, but the score remained tied, 48-48, when Tampa botched its extra point.

Cleveland's offense caught up with Tampa on the scoreboard several times, including twice in the third quarter for ties at 28 and 35, as Austin threw touchdown passes of 24 and 31 yards to Taylor and Amarri Jackson, respectively. Both receivers turned short tosses into scores as they sprinted around and past Storm defenders.

Boltus threw for four touchdowns in the first half, including scoring passes of 38 and 27 yards to Toliver, who ran open behind the Cleveland defense on both plays to build a 28-14 Storm lead. The Gladiators then closed to within 28-21 with 21.7 seconds left in the first half when Taylor made a superb 5-yard touchdown catch on an Austin pass thrown behind him in the end zone.

Jeramie Richardson had given the Gladiators their first touchdown, tying the game at 7-7 in the first quarter. Richardson, on a seldom-used running play, broke a tackle just beyond the line of scrimmage and sped 23 yards along the right sideline boards. A 9-yard Austin to Goodman touchdown pass in the second quarter pulled the Gladiators into a 14-14 tie.

-- Mike Peticca, Special to The Plain Dealer