Week 11 (7/2/99): Albany vs New England

'Birds bash New England

ALBANY -- Feeling like a new man -- or at least his old self -- Albany Firebirds quarterback Mike Pawlawski shredded the New England Sea Wolves defense Friday night. He was so efficient that, with nine minutes left, he had the luxury of taking the rest of the night off as his teammates put on the finishing touches.

Pawlawski completed 28 of 33 passes for 339 yards and seven touchdowns as Albany defeated New England, 72-46, at Pepsi Arena, his second consecutive strong game since he changed medications to deal with a bleeding ulcer.

Pawlawski, who established a franchise career record with his 208th touchdown pass, completed 13 of 14 passes for 176 yards and four touchdowns in the second half. His final pass was a 5-yard touchdown to Van Johnson that gave the Firebirds a 49-38 lead with 9:32 left.

"I think he's an unbelievable quarterback," Firebirds coach Mike Dailey said. "I think he's a great, great player and a great leader."

Pawlawski's work done for the night, the Eastern Division-leading Firebirds (8-3) turned to their running game, defense and special teams to bring home the win that increased their division lead to 2.5 games over New England and New Jersey, tied for second at 5-5.

In the final eight minutes, rookie fullback Jamie McGourty scored on a 9-yard run, Greg Hopkins returned an interception 45 yards for a touchdown and lineman Kyle Moore-Brown returned a muffed New England kickoff 4 yards for a score.

"That was really odd,'' Pawlawski said of his fourth-quarter inactivity. "It's a game of bounces and that happens sometimes.''

In particular, Pawlawski liked the decision to go with the running of McGourty, who was playing for the injured Tim Brown (strained shoulder muscle), after the Firebirds had recovered a New England onside kick. The rookie from Springfield College swept left for 15 yards and then right 9 yards for the score to make it 58-38 with 7:29 left.

"You just come up and say, our guys are going to outplay your guys right now, and you just run the ball," Pawlawski said. "It kind of puts an exclamation point on it." New England lost for the second time to Albany this season, but Sea Wolves and former Firebirds coach Mike Hohensee said he didn't feel any shame over the defeat.

"It's tough, but I thought our guys played hard," he said. "I don't think the score is anyhow indicative of how the game was played. I'm sure they feel very fortunate to get out of here with a win. I'm extremely proud of our football players. We were given no chance in this game."

After missing the Arizona game May 22 with a bleeding ulcer, Pawlawski started taking the medications prevacid and prilosec to block the production of acid in his stomach. But those caused him headaches, so he switched to pepcid before the Iowa game last week. In his last two games, he's thrown for 17 touchdowns.

"Sometimes when he was on the (other) medication, when he was in the huddle, his eyes were kind of hazy," said Albany's Eddie Brown, who caught 11 passes for 122 yards and three touchdowns. "Now you can see the fire in his eyes, he's motivating the team."

The Sea Wolves were right in the game, trailing 49-38 with possession, when New England and former Firebirds quarterback Mike Perez was called for intentional grounding in the end zone, meaning a safety for Albany and a 51-38 lead.

New England was required to kick the ball back to Albany. Mike Black attempted an onside kick, but Firebirds lineman Sean Tremblay recovered the ball amid a melee at the New England 24, leading to McGourty's touchdown.

The Sea Wolves weren't done howling, scoring on a Perez touchdown pass and a two-point conversion. Then they recovered an onside kick at the Albany 23 and suddenly were back in the game, trailing 58-46 with more than a minute left.

Perez guided his team to the Albany 2, but two penalties backed up the Sea Wolves to the Albany 13, and on third-and-goal, Hopkins intercepted a Perez pass over the middle and returned it 45 yards for the game-clinching touchdown with 14.5 seconds left.