Graziani Is on Target for Avengers

UNIONDALE, N.Y. —  Aaron Garcia is the only quarterback in the history of the Arena Football League to throw for 100 or more touchdowns in a season. And he has done it twice for the New York Dragons.

Avenger quarterback Tony Graziani would love to be the next signal caller to reach the century plateau.

The left-hander threw for five first-half touchdowns and the Avengers never looked back in a 58-53 victory over the Dragons on Sunday in front of 9,547 in Nassau Coliseum.

Graziani completed 21 of 38 passes for 232 yards and seven touchdowns as the Avengers (8-6) ended a two-game losing streak and moved into the AFL’s sixth playoff spot with two games remaining in the regular season.

“Our playoffs started a few weeks ago,” said Graziani, who has 88 touchdown passes. “I have to give our guys a lot of credit the way they came into New York and beat a good team.”

The Avengers forced two turnovers in the first half. Kevin Ingram recovered a first-quarter fumble to set up a four-yard touchdown reception by Chris Jackson and give the Avengers a 21-7 lead with 14 minutes 37 seconds left in the half. Ingram also intercepted a pass intended for Will Holder at the Dragon nine.

Three plays later, Graziani fired a short touchdown pass to Jackson, his second score of the half with 8:57 left.

Graziani provided a needed second-half spark to help keep the Avengers’ playoff possibilities open when he hit Jackson with fourth-quarter touchdowns of 37 and 25 yards to seal the win.

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In other games:

Raymond Philyaw threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy McDaniel with 38 seconds left to give the Chicago Rush (10-4) a 45-41 victory over the Dallas Desperados (6-8) at Rosemont, Ill.... Adrian McPherson threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Andy McCullough with 55 seconds left to give the Indiana Firebirds (8-7) a 59-56 victory over the Colorado Crush (9-5) at Indianapolis.... Clint Dolezel threw five touchdown passes and scored a touchdown to lead the Las Vegas Gladiators (7-7) to a 44-35 victory over the San Jose SaberCats (10-4) in the Thomas and Mack Center at Las Vegas. Marcus Nash had 11 catches for 117 yards and three touchdowns, and set an AFL season record with 137 receptions.... Joe Hamilton ran for two touchdowns and threw for two more to lead the Orlando Predators (8-6) to a 43-26 victory over the Austin Wranglers (8-6) at Austin, Texas.

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Associated Press contributed to this report.