Avengers Overcome Mistakes, and Force
The mantra of the Avengers this week was to “shore up some of the small mistakes,” quarterback John Kaleo said, that occurred in the season-opening loss at Las Vegas.
That may still be a work in progress. But the Avengers found Friday that they could, for one night, endure some mistakes, big and small.
The bottom line was the Avengers, after a standing start, came away with a 46-41 victory over the Georgia Force in front of 12,488 in their home opener at Staples Center. So this was progress.
Last season, the Avengers were 3-5 at Staples Center. Coach Ed Hodgkiss looked to change that by tweaking the pregame routine, having the team ride together in a bus to the game.
The bus-lag seemed to last into the second quarter. By then, fans were expressing some unhappy feelings, after the Force jumped to a 21-3 lead with nine minutes left in the first half.
The Avengers climbed out of that rut behind Kaleo, who threw three touchdown passes; Remy Hamilton, who tied a team record with four field goals, and a defense that seemed to finally figure out Force quarterback Jim Kubiak.
Kubiak threw for 180 yards and four touchdowns in the first half but labored through the second half. He had two touchdown passes after halftime but had a pass intercepted in the end zone by Brian Sump, which left the Avengers leading, 43-34, with 4 minutes 41 seconds to play.
Hamilton then put the game out of reach with a 29-yard field goal with 2:05 left.
Kaleo closed the 21-3 gap, taking the Avengers on three touchdown drives in the final nine minutes of the half. He threw two touchdown passes in that time, the last, a 30-yarder to Kevin Ingram, enabling the Avengers to go into halftime trailing by only three, 27-24.
The Avengers scored two quick touchdowns to start the second half, the second coming when Antuan Simmons recovered a fumble in the end zone on a kickoff.
That gave the Avengers a 37-27 lead and left the Force doing the chasing -- a role reversal from the first half, when Kubiak threw touchdown passes to Troy Bergeron on the Force’s first three possessions, giving Georgia its 21-3 lead.
Mistakes by the Avengers contributed to Georgia’s early success, including a fumble on a bad exchange between center Bernard Riley and Kaleo. That led to Kubiak’s 11-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Bergeron on a blown coverage by the Avengers.
*
Andy Kelly threw six touchdown passes to help the New Orleans VooDoo beat the expansion Nashville Kats, 59-34, at Nashville. Kelly completed 29 of 33 passes for 277 yards.
*
Associated Press contributed to this report.
