Extra points go awry for Preds, who yield decisive TD with 1 second to go

The Orlando Predators surrendered a touchdown with one second to go Saturday night and lost 62-61to the Pittsburgh Power in an Arena Football League game atUCF’s CFE Arena.

Earlier in the fourth quarter, an extra-point attempt by Preds kickerMark Lewis bounced off the left goal post and ultimately cost Orlando before an announced crowd of 5,008.

Lewis missed two extra points in a final quarter in which 47 points were scored, 26 by the Preds (6-4). Pittsburgh improved to 7-3.

“It was uncharacteristic ofMark, and we’re going to have to rally around him and pick him up after tonight,” Preds coach Rob Keefe said. “One person didn’t lose this football game. I’m not going to blame it on anybody. Everyone in that locker room knows we need to be better.”

“We have to learn howto put teams away. I want this to hurt. I want this to sting. I’m really irritated.”

Pittsburgh quarterback Tommy Grady completed a 4-yard pass to Hank Edwards to tie the score at 61, and Julian Rauch made a long extra point after the Power were penalized 10 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct.

PredsQBBernardMorris completed 16 of 26 passes for 230 yards and five touchdowns. The Orlando native also ran for three scores. Greg Carr hauled in seven catches for 113 yards and three touchdowns, and Larry Brackins caught two TDpasses.

“We didn’t get it tonight,” said Morris, who made his Orlando debut last week. “You’d rather lose by 100 versus one. If three or four plays went differently, it could’ve been a different outcome.

“I told the guys, ‘It’s OK. The world’s not over. We still have a lot of games to play, but we can always learn from something like this.’ ”

The Preds trailed by seven in the fourth quarter until Morris ran 9 yards into the end zone, tying the game at 48 with about nine minutes left.

Tracy Belton then gave Orlando its first lead since the second quarter when he returned an interception 8 yards for a touchdown.

The score was tied at 28 after the first half, but the Power took the lead for the first time about five minutes into the third quarter when Tommy Grady connected with Prechae Rodriguez for a 13-yard touchdown.

Grady completed 29 of 48 passes for 306 yards and eight TDs.

The Preds will travel to face the Iowa Barnstormers next Saturday night.