Georgia Firebirds drilled by Jacksonville Sharks

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It took exactly two minutes and 56 seconds for the Jacksonville Sharks to find the end zone Saturday night at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

And when the Sharks grabbed the lead, they never looked back, rolling to a 55-26 victory over the Georgia Firebirds. It was the Firebirds’ second straight loss and the second time the team has lost to Jacksonville. The Sharks defeated the Firebirds in an exhibition game earlier this month.

New quarterback Percy Turner moved the team 37 yards in four plays when he hit Terrence Ebague on a 22-yard touchdown pass to answer Jacksonville’s opening scoring drive and trimmed the deficit to 7-6.

But the Sharks scored 21 unanswered points to take a commanding 28-6 advantage when Marvin Ross returned the opening kickoff of the third quarter 57 yards for a score.

Turner added two one-yard rushing touchdowns in the second half to keep the Firebirds in the game at 35-19, but Jacksonville scored 20 straight points to extinguish any thoughts of a comeback.

Turner also threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Ebague.

In his first game after taking over the quarterback duties full-time, Turner threw for 181 yards on 19-of-35 with two touchdown passes to Ebague.

Ebague finished with five catches for 92 yards, while John Harris caught seven passes for 40 yards.

The Firebirds (0-2) will play at the Columbus Lions April 1 at the Columbus Civic Center.