Avengers Are Run Over in Sixth Loss in a Row

The Avengers’ season of aggravation continued Saturday night with a 53-36 loss to the San Jose SaberCats at Staples Center.

The Avengers (3-11), who have lost six consecutive games, struggled holding on to the football and were forced to play catch-up the entire second half against San Jose (8-6), which has won five games in a row to climb to the top of the Western Division.

Rookie quarterback Sonny Cumbie produced decent statistics for the Avengers, completing 20 of 31 passes for 278 yards and four touchdowns. But his two interceptions did not help against the SaberCats, who pounded the Avengers with five rushing touchdowns.

“Coming in, we felt that we just had to play a complete game and if we did that, we should come out on top,” San Jose linebacker/fullback Phil Glover said. “The last time we played them, we let up and it cost us.”

The Avengers handed San Jose a 75-61 defeat in the Bay Area in March, but it was a different story in the rematch. Fullback/linebacker Brian Johnson ran for three scores and Glover had two more for the SaberCats, who seemed to play most of the game in cruise control against the struggling Avengers, the defending Western Division champions.

For Coach Ed Hodgkiss, who had a 38-24 record in four playoff seasons with the Avengers before this year, it’s all about the future over the final weeks for his team.

“I want to see what some of these guys can do,” Hodgkiss said about the Avengers, who shuffled players in and out of the lineup most of the game Saturday.

“We’ll move some guys around and see them at different positions over the last couple of games, see if we can add depth for us down the road.”

The Avengers’ problems began early Saturday when Cumbie threw an interception in the end zone the first time the offense had the football. The SaberCats then turned to their veteran quarterback Mark Grieb, who led San Jose to scores on every possession in the first half.

The turning point came late in the second quarter after Glover scored on a nine-yard run to give the SaberCats a 28-21 lead. The Avengers’ Antoine Burns fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and four plays later, Brian Schmitz made a 23-yard field goal to give San Jose a 10-point advantage at halftime.

It was more of the same for the Avengers at the start of the third quarter when Johnson scored to stretch the SaberCats’ lead to 37-21. That was the end of the story for the Avengers, who never really threatened the remainder of the game.

Grieb completed 21 of 38 passes for 263 yards and two touchdowns but did not throw an interception for the SaberCats, who ended a three-game losing streak to the Avengers.