Sports

Fumbles give Round 1 to Florida

• Four Wildcats turnovers give Florida the first of three critical games with South Georgia this year.

Paul Dehner Jr.

ALBANY — The South Georgia Wildcats offense dialed down their explosive offense into a methodical string of underneath passes to pull within range of victory in a

Saturday night showdown with rival Florida.

The gameplan was to take what the Firecats gave them.

But when South Georgia gave Florida four turnovers, it instead was the Firecats that turned Round 1 of this three-bout, South Division fight into an efficient 51-41 beating at the Civic Center.

“It was a slugfest,” Wildcats QB Andrico Hines said. “We blinked one or two times and got hit.”

The punishment doled out by Florida (4-0) left an early two-game advantage on South Georgia (3-2).

Wildcats coach Derek Stingley called Florida “the best team in the af2” earlier this week and didn’t budge much from his assessment after watching their precise execution.

Veteran quarterback Chris Wallace and receiver Matt Burnstein drove the action. Burnstein grabbed nine passes for 119 yards and two scores while Florida never committed a turnover and scored on all but two possessions.

More than that, it was Wallace — who was 26-of-44 for 285 yards and four touchdowns — and the Firecats that reeled off 21 unanswered points while the Wildcats fumbled the game away in a decisive third quarter.

South Georgia only ran two offensive plays in the 15-minute span, both fumbles that turned into Florida touchdowns.

For a Wildcats team that beat the Firecats all three times last season, including a victory in the first round of the ArenaCup playoffs, the bounces of reversed in a new year.

“Look back to last year when we had success against them, they turned the ball over against us,” Stingley said. “They are the kind of team that will capitalize on mistakes. They didn’t make any mistakes, we did, and the score showed it.”

Melvin Parris began the first Wildcats series of the second half with a fumble on a fullback dive. P.J. Berry followed in coughing up the ball on his own five on a screen pass. Florida’s Tony Stubbs recovered and ran into the end zone to build a 34-28 Florida advantage.

Both players accepted blame for the mistakes, but an undeniable momentum shift proved to be one the Wildcats couldn’t recover from.

Berry did his best to bring it back by returning the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, one of three electric scores he would weave his way to along with a team-high 51 receiving yards.

With Florida’s defensive backs giving up 10 yards every snap, most of the receivers’ yards came on hitches and screen passes.

“We just dinked and dunked down the field and wanted to make plays in the end zone, which we were doing all night until they caused the fumbles,” Berry said. “Turnovers just kill you.”

They eventually buried South Georgia.

After forcing a field goal and fighting from a 51-41 deficit with little less than five minutes remaining, Hines hit Scott Cloman crossing the field.

Cloman leapt to make the catch, came down awkwardly near the wall, but lost control of the football in the process.

Wilcats coaches would question the fumble call on the field, but the Firecats’ recovery and milking of a critical two-and-a-half minutes of the clock was insurmountable.

One last-ditch effort in the final minute turned into a Brent Burnside interception of Hines to end the game.

“We came out and shot ourselves in the foot and it was an uphill climb from there,” said Hines, who was 22-of-33 for 166 yards with four passing touchdowns and another rushing in his second game with the Wildcats. “Once we clean everything up with the fumbles, offsides and penalties, we should be fine.”

This was South Georgia’s first loss in the division after beating Tennessee Valley and Daytona Beach.

The second of the three-part series with the Firecats will be May 24 at Florida. They will reconvene again at the Civic Center two weeks later on June 14.

“They won the first one,” Stingley said. “The season isn’t over. Nobody said we had to go undefeated anywhere — within division or whole league — to win the championship.”

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