Avengers Lose in Last Minute, 62-55

The Dallas Desperados got some payback Saturday night, defeating the Avengers, 62-55 in front of 12,309 at Staples Center.

In the teams’ last meeting May 4, Los Angeles eked out a 52-51 victory.

After Dallas took the lead on Patrise Alexander’s six-yard run with 48 seconds left, the Avengers had two chances to tie it up, each time with Chris Jackson just missing the catch.

With 31 seconds left, quarterback Tony Graziani passed to an open Jackson in the end zone, but Jackson had the ball go through his hands. Then, with 16 seconds left, Jackson wasn’t able to make the grab again.

The fact that it was Jackson’s second game back after sitting out because of a broken wrist wasn’t the reason he missed.

“It was very not like him,” Avenger Coach Ed Hodgkiss said of Jackson, who had two touchdown catches. “We have a lot of confidence in him, and he’s been our go-to guy. It’s unfortunate that it happened in that kind of situation.”

Greg Hopkins had four touchdown catches for the Avengers (4-3). Dallas improved to 3-4.

Graziani finished with 20 completions in 34 attempts and two interceptions.

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In other games, San Jose defeated Buffalo, 63-35, to improve to 7-0; Georgia ended a five-game losing streak with a 49-34 victory over Detroit; and Toronto defeated New York, 63-38.