He's been in Ohio for almost a decade now, but Gladiators defensive back Brandon Hefflin is a Pittsburgh boy and, yes, he's a Pittsburgh Steelers fan.

''Every time I tell someone that, I get that reaction,'' he said after someone nearby expressed their dismay at the prospect.

Considering he plays here in Northeast Ohio on a team moving to the second round of the Arena Football League playoffs, fans of that sport may be willing to forgive that major transgression.

For the most part, Hefflin, 27, has evolved into an Ohio guy courtesy of geographical osmosis. Hefflin's Ohio football career began at the University of Toledo. He eventually claimed a spot with the Columbus Destroyers, that city's AFL team, in 2005. He arrived with the Gladiators via free agency, one of Bernie Kosar's shrewd moves, this past winter.

After establishing himself during three seasons in the AFL, Hefflin took a risk, joining a team that relocated from Las Vegas with a 2-14 record last season.

He came for a visit and the organization's management and professionalism won him over.

''It was a gamble, but fortunately it worked out pretty good,'' Hefflin said Thursday after practice. Indeed. Hefflin now finds himself on a playoff team once again, as the Destroyers sit out this playoff season.

That isn't to say that everything worked smoothly this season. While the Gladiators offense, led by quarterback Raymond Philyaw, has cruised for much of the season, to say the defense has been inconsistent would be generous. First downs and touchdowns came too easily for the Gladiators' opponents this season in many ballgames.

Even in this past week's 69-66 victory over the Orlando Predators, the defense showed its usual weakness in the defensive backfield. Toward the end of the regular season, that was a bone of contention for offensive players, including wide receiver Otis Amey, and they called out the defensive backs in particular.

''That was his way of chal
lenging us. We stepped up to the challenge,'' Hefflin said of Amey's words. ''We took it upon ourselves to work hard at practice and get better prepared.''

Something clicked somehow. In their playoff clinching game the final week of the season, the defense held Hefflin's former team to 35 points. And although last week's wild-card playoff game ended up being a typical AFL shootout, the defense came through with some serious effort. Hefflin himself accounted for three turnovers (two interceptions, one fumble recovery), something that earned him the league's ADT Defensive Player of the Week Award.

''He finally made a play,'' coach Mike Wilpolt joked during practice last week. ''He could have made a few more but he just didn't finish. That's the name of the Arena Football League. You get two to three chances a game as a defensive backfield and you've got to make them. It's the difference between winning and losing.''

Still Wilpolt knows where his team would be had Hefflin not turned into a ballhawk. ''If he drops any of those interceptions, we probably don't win the ballgame.''

He also hopes that Hefflin has a few more of those plays in him as they prepare to face the Georgia Force on Monday night at 8 in the AFL's divisional playoff round. For his part, Hefflin wants just one thing — to help the Gladiators win a championship and right now, a solidified, consistent defensive backfield would go a long way toward helping to achieve that goal.

''We're starting to get that chemistry,'' he said. ''The more we're out there we bond a little bit better, the communication gets a little better and I just try to keep those young cats up.''

Should the defensive backs continue the play fans have seen the past couple of weeks and the Gladiators march to the Arena Bowl at the end of the month, Hefflin's admiration of the Steelers may be forgotten. Yeah, right.