SALT LAKE CITY – Not even a game in snow and mountains could cool off the hot start of the Orlando Apollos on Saturday.
Quarterback Garrett Gilbert threw for 244 yards and a touchdown to lead the Apollos to a 20-11 win over the Salt Lake Stallions on a cold, snowy night in the higher altitude of Utah.
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"This was a fun one," Apollos head coach Steve Spurrier said on the NFL Network broadcast afterward. "I told the guys beforehand, if us Florida boys can come up and win one in the snow in Utah, we'll have something to talk about."
The win sets up a showdown next Saturday at the Birmingham Iron, which entered this weekend as the only other unbeaten team in the Alliance of American Football.
Leading 6-3, the Apollos (4-0) scored two second-half touchdowns to break open what appeared to be a defensive struggle.
First, Gilbert hit Donteea Dye for a 20-yard touchdown pass with 6:01 left in the third quarter. A subsequent 2-point conversion gave the Apollos a 14-3 lead.
After Salt Lake cut Orlando’s lead to 14-11 with 27 seconds left in the third quarter, the Apollos drove the field and took a 20-11 lead (2-point conversion failed) on a 2-yard touchdown run by Akeem Hunt with 11:17 remaining in the game.
Charles Johnson had 105 receiving yards for the Apollos.