Manning (8-17-0-137-3) was injured early in the second quarter on May 15th against the Helena Titans, a pivitol game for the Bulldawgs and hadn't seen action since. Jeff May, the Bulldawgs back-up quarterback, had a career game in Helena in a losing effort after Manning left, but sustained a season-ending injury himself. The Bulldawgs have had to go with untested players from other positions in his stead and played themselves out of the playoffs.

The Gladiators actually scored first and took an 8-0 lead when Keon Pinckney capped a short drive with a 1-yard touchdown, then Dee Jones (9-22-2-89-1) pulled a fake extra point out and found Brad Thurber (3 receptions, 40 yards) for the 2-point conversion. They actually held the lead into the second quarter when the Bulldawgs got two touchdown scores from Manning to Gary Matthews and original Bulldawgs, Casey Neilsen to begin to pull away. Manning's third touchdown pass to Ben Landrian followed by an Eric Harper pick of a Dee Jones pass and a quick jaunt into the end zone in the third quarter "sealed the deal" for the home town Bulldawgs.

Cole Meiners had another exceptional game for the Bulldawgs, rushing for 119 yards on 19 carries and the Bulldawgs first score of the game. Defensively, Jason Blair had another phenomenal game with 7 tackles and 3 sacks, not to be outdone, the Bulldawgs defensive leader of 2004, Rick May recorded 8 tackles and 2 sacks himself in stifling the Gladiator offense through most of the contest.