'Birds suffer first loss (Full Story)
May 23, 1998 - Final 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Totals New York 7 27 7 16 57 Albany 12 17 10 7 46 Firebirds suffer first loss
By MIKE MacADAM
Gazette SportswriterALBANY - Mike Perez doesn't lose at the Pepsi Arena, no matter what team he's playing for.
Traded by the Albany Firebirds to New York prior to last season, Perez came back to haunt Albany for the second time, earning MVP honors in a 57-46 CityHawks victory Saturday night.
The Firebirds outgained New York, 343-246, and had 25 first downs to 15 for the CityHawks, but Perez kept it clean on offense, throwing no interceptions.
Albany quarterback Mike Pawlawski, meanwhile, threw two interceptions in the end zone on consecutive possessions in the second half.
Perez, who owned most of the Firebirds' passing record when he was traded, helped New York win at the Pepsi Arena last year, 62-41.
"Mike Perez is a great player, and we've seen him do that in a CityHawk uniform and a Firebird uniform," Firebirds head coach Mike Dailey said.
Albany lost for the first time this season, and fell to 3-1. New York improved to 2-2 to tie New Jersey, and tighten up the National Conference's Eastern Division standings.
It was a bittersweet return for Perez, who is still friendly with many of the Firebirds players and coaches.
"The hardest thing is playing against friends, guys that you love," Perez said. "My fondest memories in Arena Football are here in Albany. We had such a family here, that I miss the guys, I miss what we had. But it's a business, and things happen, things change. You move on, but you don't forget.
"I'm a competitor, and it's unfortunate it has to come against people you care about, but when the game starts, friendship goes out the window." Fired up by hit Trailing by two points going into the fourth quarter, Albany appeared to get a play to rally around when Pawlawski was body-slammed by New York's Eddie Blake after throwing a pass away into the stands.
The Firebirds rushed to Pawlawski's defense, and after a near brawl, Blake was ejected.
But on the first play following the fight, Pawlawski hit the wrong Eddie Brown in the end zone. Both teams have a player named Eddie Brown, and it was the CityHawks' Brown who stepped in front of the Firebirds' Brown to snare Pawlawski's pass.
"That took a little air out of our sails," Dailey said.
New York drove down to score a touchdown that made it 48-39, and the Firebirds answered with a long drive, but Pawlawski threw another interception in the end zone.
"I thought Greg Hopkins was open, and I just tried to stick it through a window that was too small," Pawlawski said. "I forced both of them."
"Our defense did a great job of keeping everything in front of them, and not giving up the big play," Perez said.
Pawlawski hit Eddie Brown - the right one, this time - with 45.5 seconds left to bring Albany within 51-46, but Pete Elezovic's onside kick bounded into the stands, and Perez ran it in from the seven-yard line to close out the scoring.
"It brings you back to reality quickly," Dailey said. "We were 3-0, but we had made some mistakes and overcome them to win. Tonight we couldn't."
"Maybe I've been too confident," Pawlawski said. "I know we're going to score. But I made two glaring mistakes, and because I'm the quarterback, any mistake I make is huge."
Pawlawski and Perez dueled to a standstill in the first half. Pawlawski was 13-for-17 for 173 yards and three touchdowns, and Perez was 14-for-17 for 151 yards and three touchdowns.
Albany took a 12-7 lead on touchdowns by Eddie Brown and Chad Dukes.
Dukes failed to bring down former Firebird Andy Chilcote on a three-yard touchdown run, but made up for it by bringing the ensuing kickoff back 53 yards to the one-yard line. He powered over from there, and Elezovic's second missed extra point left the score at 12-7.
Cornelius White scored his second touchdown of the season on a 15-yard pass from Pawlawski to give Albany a 26-21 lead late in the second quarter, but New York drove for a touchdown and scored another one on the ensuing kickoff when Brown fumbled.
A 26-yard pass from Pawlawski to Jay Jones for his only catch of the game to set up Elezovic's 34-yard field goal pulled the Firebirds within 34-29 at halftime.
Notebook
Former Firebird David Patten performed the pregame coin toss. Patten played wide receiver for the New York Giants last season.
With his four touchdowns, Albany's Eddie Brown reached 1,000 points for his career.
Pawlawski's 15-yard scoring toss to White in the second quarter was the 100th touchdown pass of Pawlawski's career.
