'Stormers roll over Firebirds (Full Story) 'Stormers roll over Firebirds
By MIKE MacADAM
Gazette SportswriterThe Iowa Barnstormers crumbled the Albany Firebirds' defense like a sand castle in the surf with a 68-57 victory at Pepsi Arena Saturday night. Albany came into the game tied for the league-low in points allowed through three games, but surrendered a touchdown on each of the Barnstormers' first nine possessions.
"They scored nine straight?" Firebirds linebacker Leroy Thompson said afterward, scratching his head. "Physically and mentally, that's a complete breakdown. You practice all week to get things down, and then this happens."
After the Firebirds' best cover man, Larry Jones, left the game in the first quarter with a dislocated toe, Iowa quarterback Kurt Warner became an equal-opportunity destroyer of the Firebirds' defensive backs.
He finished 30-for-39 for 394 yards and nine touchdowns, missing the Arena Football League regular-season record for passing yards in a game by five, and the record for touchdown passes in a game by one.
Whit Taylor of Denver threw for 399 yards and 10 touchdowns in a game against Washington in 1987.
"Warner's got a real good sense of getting the ball off on time, and they did a good job up front," Firebirds head coach Mike Dailey said.
Albany didn't get a hand on Warner until Thompson sacked him for a 13-yard loss in the closing minutes with Iowa leading, 62-50. Chance missed
Warner fumbled, and Firebirds lineman Jerome Brown had a chance to pick up the ball with nothing but green turf in front of him, but he overran the ball, and Iowa's John Motton covered it.
Two plays later, Warner completed his ninth touchdown pass of the game to ice the victory.
The Barnstormers put together the kind of offensive performance Firebirds fans have gotten used to seeing from their own team.
This season, Albany has relied more on defense, but Saturday, it gave up the second-most points in a game in the eight-year history of the team. San Jose scored 69 against the Firebirds last year.
We have to tighten up," Thompson said. "We have to get back to working on the basics a little better. He [Warner] used a lot of three-step drops, and then they ran for a lot of yards after the catch. That hurt us."
Jones caught his toe on the turf during warmups, but still started. But after playing two ineffective series, he watched the rest of the game from the sideline as Warner, unhurried by the Firebirds' pass rushers, went to work on the secondary.
"There was a sharp pain. Then it was like being in the middle of the highway on the dotted line with cars driving by you on both sides," Jones said. "I wanted to move, but I couldn't."
"We really missed Larry Jones," Dailey said. "With that toe, he couldn't change directions or anything."
The Barnstormers' victory overshadowed Albany's best offensive game of the season. Pawlawski sharp Firebirds quarterback Mike Pawlawski finished 29-for-37 for 380 yards and five touchdowns.
"It's hard to feel good in a loss," Pawlawski said. "This team is one unit, especially because so many guys play both ways. It's difficult to feel good, but we did some good things on offense."
Warner was 13-for-18 for 196 yards and five touchdowns in the first half, and he had two touchdown passes called back on penalties. He also completed a two-point conversion pass.
The Firebirds got on the scoreboard first as fullback Chad Dukes bulled over from the one-yard line on the opening possession of the game, but Iowa answered with two touchdowns, and led for the rest of the half.
Warner hit Lamart Cooper for a 45-yarder as Jones fell down, and he found Willis Jacox for a 17-yarder with 4:20 left in the first quarter as Iowa went ahead, 13-7.
After a 24-yard field goal by Albany's Pete Elezovic, Warner hit Cooper for a 19-yard score as Jones arrived too late to make a play.
Iowa 13 21 21 13 - 68
Albany 7 17 14 19 - 57A-11,413.
