Macon Steel lose their debut in American Indoor Football

Indoor football’s return to Macon wasn’t short on excitement Saturday, with the Macon Steel mounting a rousing comeback at the Macon Coliseum.

The visiting Carolina Force, however, robbed the Steel of a victory, with a 30-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Shayne Milligan to Julius Gregory with 18 seconds to go for the game-winning score in a wild 45-38 loss for the Steel in their inaugural contest in American Indoor Football.

The Steel rallied from a 37-9 deficit at the end of the third quarter to lead 38-37 with 25 seconds left before Carolina’s score with only a few seconds remaining.

“When we were in halftime, I told them, ‘We’ve got to play as a family one play at a time. We can’t try to get home runs, everyone can’t try to take over the game by themselves,’ ” Macon head coach Ervin Bryson said. “I believe in the second half that we played as a family.”

The Steel travel to face the Cape Fear Heroes on Saturday in the second game of their seven-game regular-season schedule. They’ll host Cape Fear at 7 p.m. on April 7.

For most of three quarters Saturday, things didn’t look good for the Steel. The 37-9 deficit came after an interception of Macon quarterback Marcus Brooks was returned 10 yards by Tramaine Billie for a touchdown. Turnovers contributed to Macon’s slow start. Of Carolina’s 24 points in the first two quarters, 14 came on either returned fumbles or interceptions. The Steel lost three fumbles Saturday with each quarterback, Brooks and Oscar Davenport, being intercepted once.

“Our offense cannot give the game away like we did early,” Bryson said.

Brooks finished with 179 passing yards, entering the game in place of Davenport in the first quarter. Bryson indicated that Brooks is the team’s No. 1 quarterback following Saturday’s game.

Macon had the ball for a majority of the third quarter, possessing the ball on all but two offensive snaps but failing to score on a pair of offensive drives.

Macon’s defense, which dug in during the second half to allow just two offensive scores, sparked the Steel early in the fourth when Robert William Jr. stepped in front of a Milligan pass to return it for a touchdown. Then, Macon’s offense, having been unable to put points on the board, finally cashed in. Driving from just shy of the 25-yard line, which is midfield in American Indoor Football, Brooks found an open Terry McGhee, who fought past defenders to score and cut the Carolina lead to 37-23 with 7:32 to play.

The Steel’s defense kept Macon in it, preventing the Force from scoring on long pass plays in which receivers were relied upon to make catches and out-maneuver Macon defenders.

“Our defense did a great job. We just made too many mistakes early that cost us,” Bryson said

Thanks to that effort, another touchdown pass to McGhee, this one from 28 yards away, the Carolina lead was trimmed to 37-29. But with 1:04 to play and with the ball in the hands of the Force, Macon’s hopes of coming back further seemed unlikely.

But the Steel defense came up big once again, tackling Milligan in the end zone for a safety with 51 seconds to play. After receiving the ball on the free kick at its own 20, the Steel had a shot at coming back to win, trailing 37-31.

On third down from his own 19-yard line, Brooks looked downfield and found open receiver Kent Schoolfield. The former Fort Valley State standout wasn’t denied the end zone, making his way in. The extra point by former Northside star Devon Pike put the Steel ahead 38-37 with 25 seconds to go. Schoolfield finished with 69 receiving yards on five catches.

For the Steel, however, it turned out to be not enough as 25 seconds was enough time for the Force to deal the Steel a tough loss in the first game experience for many Steel players new to the game of indoor football.

“We’re happy with how we responded, but we didn’t finish,” Brooks said.

This story was originally published March 24, 2012 at 9:06 PM with the headline "Macon Steel lose their debut in American Indoor Football."