Hamilton Gets In His Kicks as Avengers Win

The offensive catalyst that pushed the Avengers on Friday night not once handled the ball on offense. Such are the oddities of Arena Football.

Remy Hamilton, the Avengers’ kicker, was perfect on five field goals and sparked a second-half surge with kickoffs in Los Angeles’ 64-51 victory over the Austin Wranglers at Austin, Texas.

Quarterback John Kaleo, who played for Austin last season, threw five touchdown passes, four in the second half. Kevin Ingram and Jerome Riley each caught two touchdown passes. But it was Hamilton who mattered most to the offense.

Although Austin (0-3) held a 206-123 advantage in total yards, L.A. (2-1) trailed only 24-23 at the half because of three Hamilton field goals.

Hamilton was then at the center of key plays that fueled a 17-point Avenger burst in the third quarter.

Kaleo connected with Ingram on a five-yard touchdown pass on the Avengers’ first possession of the third quarter for a 30-24 lead. On the ensuing kickoff, the Wranglers’ Charlie Davidson fumbled and Hamilton recovered.

That led to a Hamilton field goal and 33-24 lead.

“One of the reasons we like Remy is for things like that,” Coach Ed Hodgkiss said. “It’s unusual for a kicker to run down fast and stick his head in there like Remy does.”

Hamilton wasn’t done. His next kickoff fluttered off the end zone net and bounced off the turf before it was scooped up by the Avengers’ Bernard Riley. He walked into the end zone to give L.A. a 40-24 lead.

“Every time you kick off, that can be an offensive possession,” said Hamilton, who is 10 for 10 on field goals. “I have always said that if you have a good quarterback and good kicker, you will be competitive in arena football.”

Kaleo, who was acquired in an off-season trade, took care of the quarterback part. He helped the expansion Wranglers to an 8-8 record last season, then returned with a vengeance Friday, throwing a 48-yard touchdown pass to Riley on the Avengers’ first offensive play.

Kaleo completed 17 of 27 passes for 270 yards.

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In other games:

At Orlando, Fla., Joe Hamilton threw three touchdowns passes and rushed for another score to lead the Orlando Predators to a 61-46 victory over the Tampa Bay Storm.

Idris Price and Michael Brown each scored twice for the Predators (3-0). Cliff Dell caught three scoring passes for the Storm (2-1).

At Las Vegas, quarterback Rod Robinson scored on a three-yard run with four seconds left to give the Las Vegas Gladiators (2-1) a 41-37 victory over the New York Dragons (1-1).

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Foster reported from Los Angeles and Associated Press contributed to this report.