Week 14 (7/24/99): Albany vs Florida

'Birds make short work of Bobcats

ALBANY - The game was over in less time than it took to list Eddie Brown's accomplishments during the pregame season MVP award announcement.

At least it seemed that way.

The Albany Firebirds have played some close games this season, but not on Saturday, when they led, 9-0, before even taking a snap from center. Showing no rust from a week layoff, the Firebirds swatted the Florida Bobcats at Pepsi Arena, 71-39, to improve to 10-3 with just a road game against Houston left before the playoffs start at home.

Quarterback Mike Pawlawski was 17-for-20 for 227 yards and six touchdowns in just three quarters, and really it was only two quarters, since he threw one pass for one yard and one touchdown in the first quarter.

"It was amazing, it was an all-around game today," Pawlawski said. "It was odd. Usually when I come in for the first series, I'm loose, but when I came in [in the second quarter], I was tight.

"We relaxed during the break [bye week], but we still stayed with football, the way you should. These guys are all professionals."

"The one thing we focused on was not being rusty," Brown said. "The defense set the tempo. The intensity was there, there was no let-up, and we were able to do what we wanted to."

Improve standing With Arizona losing to Milwaukee, the Firebirds moved into the third seed for the playoffs and could still possibly finish with the top seed after the regular season is over.

Saturday's game drew an announced crowd of 13,069, the largest home attendance since a game against Arizona on July 23, 1994 (13,153).

The crowd didn't have to wait long for something to cheer about. After going crazy during Brown's protracted award announcement, the fans had barely gotten back into their seats before the Firebirds took control.

On Florida's first possession, Joe Jacobs pressured quarterback Braniff Bonaventure to a fumble out of the end zone for a safety, and Jay Jones returned the ensuing kickoff 57 yards for a touchdown.

"We were getting pressure all night," Jacobs said. "He [Bonaventure] couldn't set his feet. When [backup] Fred McNair came in, he's a veteran, and he mixed up the count, but the other guy is new, and he kept going on `One.' "

After the Bobcats kicked a field goal, Van Johnson almost returned the kickoff for another touchdown before being pushed out of bounds by the last man at the Florida 13.

Leroy Thompson ran for 12 yards, and Pawlawski finally got to throw a pass, if you want to call it that. He flipped a little shovel pass to Brown for an easy one-yard score and a 16-3 lead.

Brown, Greg Hopkins and Saratoga High graduate Mike Waldron, making his first Arena Football League appearance, scored touchdowns in the second quarter to give Albany a 37-10 halftime lead.

Florida's only touchdown in the first half was scored on a bizarre play in which a completed pass was stripped from behind, was almost picked up by two Albany defenders, and then was finally scooped up by Bobcats fullback Bryant Jackson, who ran it 14 yards for the score.

The Firebirds took a 57-17 lead in the third quarter on two more touchdown catches by Hopkins and one by Albany Academy graduate Carl Sacco.

Backup quarterback Jeff Loots took over for Pawlawski in the fourth quarter.

"I'll tell you what, the defense came with it," Pawlawski said. "We're a very professional team, and something like this shows you. The defense played great, the special teams were great. I threw one pass in the first quarter, and it was a shovel pass. Every game, I see something new, and that was another new one."

Hopkins finished with 114 yards on six catches, and Brown had seven catches for 51 yards.

The Firebirds were successful on the ground, too, as Thompson picked up 27 yards on five carries, and Waldron had 21 yards on five carries.

Notebook
Albany kicker Don Silvestri's kickoffs looked like outtakes from "Son of Flubber." Most of his kicks cleared the nets completely, and one even hit the loudspeakers, which any physics major will tell you is a difficult feat, considering the ball has to stay under the scoreboard at midfield, but still have enough power to stay high enough to hit the speakers over the far end zone. . . .

Arena Football League commissioner David Baker attended Saturday's game for a trophy presentation to team owner Glenn Mazula and general manager Joe Hennessy commemorating the Firebirds' 10th anniversary season.

Another guest of the Firebirds' for the game was former New England Patriot Darryl Stingley, father of Firebirds defensive specialist Derek Stingley. . . .

The Firebirds did not dress starting fullback/linebacker Tim Brown or starting lineman Jon Krick, each out with injuries. Brown is on injured reserve, so he won't play next week, and Krick has a deep thigh bruise and could play if needed, but he'll likely sit another game, too, to get healed for the playoffs.