Georgia Firebirds show improvement but fall 40-38

ALBANY — After a strange week, one in which its coach was fired and the team made some personnel changes, one might not have known it was a tough one for the Georgia Firebirds.

The team gave arena league football fans in Albany something to cheer about.

In their home opener at the Albany Civic Center, they lost the lead in the final quarter and fell to the Atlanta Vultures 40-38 Saturday night as arena football returned to the Albany Civic Center after a two-year absence.

But it was far cry from the 86-0 thumping they endured against the Columbus Lions last week when the team mustered just 20-plus yards of total offense.

The offense generated four touchdowns and 144 yards of offense, while the defense intercepted four passes and forced a fumble. Former Monroe standout Chavious Jackson returned a fumble 23 yards for a score and also returned an interception 15 yards.

“I liked what I saw,” said new coach Antwon Savage, who took over this week. “We’ve still got a lot of things we need to work on. But we’re going to come back, move some people around, put them in the right places and keep getting better.”

The Firebirds, after allowing a touchdown on the opening series, rallied to tie when Zack Brown burst through a pile of defenders and scored on a 2-yard run with 4:36 left in the opening quarter.

They took the lead at 12-6 when Marcus Brooks tossed a 10-yard touchdown strike to Isaiah Jupiter for a 12-6 advantage.

The Vultures scored a pair of unanswered touchdowns to grab a 20-18 lead late in the second quarter, but the Firebirds used their defense to force a fumble that Jackson scooped up and returned 23 yards to send the Firebirds into a 24-20 halftime advantage.

After Atlanta rallied to tie the game at 32 with 10:17 left, the Firebirds used their defense to set up the go-ahead score. Jackson notched an interception, then returned the bobbled ball 15 yards with 6:42 left to play. That seemed to be enough.

But the Vultures recorded a safety with less than a minute left, then marched down the field and scored on a 10-yard slant pass to take the lead with 17 seconds left.

The Firebirds had a chance but a deep pass was batted away, then the Vultures sacked Brooks to end the game.

The final minute was tough for Savage to watch, but he said things will get better.

“That was really tough,” he said. “But like I tell the guys, you can’t leave anything out there on the field. We left a lot of points out there tonight. If we capitalize on the points we left out there, I believe we win this game.”