Avengers Cast Jackson as the Hero, Win at Atlanta

Chris Jackson missed the Avengers’ last two games with a broken bone in his right wrist, but on Friday, wearing a soft cast, he didn’t miss anything, catching 13 passes for 194 yards and six touchdowns to lead Los Angeles to a 74-53 victory over the Georgia Force before 5,512 at Phillips Arena in Atlanta.

In going two games over .500 for the first time in their brief history, the Avengers (4-2), who led 37-30 at halftime, set a team single-game record for points scored.

With 1:51 remaining and Los Angeles trailing, 53-45, Jackson caught a seven-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tony Graziani, then caught a two-point conversion pass to tie it, 53-53.

“He is a money player,” Avenger Coach Ed Hodgkiss said of Jackson. “And he’s yet to let us down.”

On the ensuing kickoff, Avenger kicker Remy Hamilton recovered his onside kick attempt at the Los Angeles 11. Three plays later Graziani floated a 31-yard scoring pass to Greg Hopkins with 36 seconds left that gave Los Angeles the lead for good, 60-53. Hopkins caught eight passes for 90 yards.

But Georgia (1-5) wasn’t through imploding. The Force mishandled Hamilton’s next kickoff, which bounced off the goal nets, and the Avengers recovered at the Force six.

Graziani, who completed 27 of 36 passes for 352 yards and seven touchdowns, capitalized with a three-yard touchdown pass to Jackson.

The final indignity for the Force came on the next kickoff. Hamilton’s kickoff hit the goal nets again and bounced off the crossbar. Chad Dukes fell on the ball in the Georgia end zone for the Avenger’s last score.

“That is the uniqueness of the Arena game,” Hodgkiss said. “The nets are in play, and sometimes you get a break like that. And our guys did a super job of running down and recovering the ball.

“That was the difference in the game tonight.”