Avengers Get What They Need

This was a welcome sight for the Avengers. The clock winding down and everyone looking relaxed on their bench.

John Kaleo made this a kickback ending, throwing for four touchdowns and running for two in a 59-28 victory over the Tampa Bay Storm on Saturday in an Arena Football League game in front of 12,819 at Staples Center. Lonnie Ford’s three touchdowns helped make it the second largest margin of victory for the Avengers in six seasons.

This was the pick-me-up the Avengers (5-3) needed after a 72-50 loss to Dallas last week. The victory could put them into a share of first place in the Western Division, depending on the outcome of today’s game involving Las Vegas (5-3) and San Jose (4-3).

Kaleo provided the offensive spark that allowed the Avengers to clear their bench at the end of the game after taking a 17-7 halftime lead. He threw touchdown passes to Tony Locke and Kevin Ingram, then scored on a one-yard run, for a 31-7 lead with 34 seconds left in the third quarter. Kaleo threw for 301 yards and got to watch the last minute from the bench.

It turned out to be the perfect time to catch Tampa Bay because the team had not been playing well and was dealing with other distractions.

The Storm remained winless on the road (0-4) this season. It was also playing its first game without Coach Tim Marcum, who was suspended this week as part of the team’s penalty for salary cap violations. The Storm (4-4) responded by turning the ball over five times.

Tampa Bay scored on its first possession, a seven-yard pass from Shane Stafford to Lawrence Samuels.

On its next three possessions, the Storm was turned away after getting inside the 10-yard line. The Avengers held on downs, Ingram intercepted a pass in the end zone and the Storm’s Matt George missed a 19-yard field-goal attempt.

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In other games: Matt Nagy threw four touchdown passes to help the Georgia Force (7-2) take the Southern Division lead with a 43-40 victory over the New Orleans VooDoo (6-3) at the Superdome.... Tony Graziani threw eight touchdown passes -- five to Marcus Knight -- to help the Philadelphia Soul (4-5) beat the Grand Rapids Rampage, 64-41, at Philadelphia. The Rampage fell to 1-7.... Aaron Garcia threw seven touchdown passes -- four to Chris Anthony -- to lead the New York Dragons (6-2) to a 56-55 victory over the Columbus Destroyers (1-7) at Columbus, Ohio.... At Nashville, Joe Germaine threw six touchdown passes to help the Arizona Rattlers (2-7) end a seven-game losing streak with a 48-35 victory over the Nashville Kats (1-7).

Associated Press contributed to this report.