Bandits hold off Spartans, await home finale

Bandits 51, Spartans 34

The Bandits jumped out to an early two-touchdown lead and led by as many as 21 in the fourth quarter as solid line play guided an otherwise inconsistent offense to victory in Augusta. Richmond's defense made three first half stops and more than made sure that the Spartans would not be able to outscore the Bandits. New signee Aaron Alexander made his indoor debut and caught three passes for 44 yards and a touchdown. The 6' 6" wideout showed a quick adjustment to the small field and ran good routes all night, including a corner fade pattern on an attempted two-point conversion that proved how effective a tall, athletic receiver can be in the close quarters of AIFL end zones. Tim Jones had a third quarter interception that led to a touchdown which gave the Bandits an insurmountable lead.

Player of the Game: Redd Thompson, with six catches for 89 yards and four touchdowns. Redd also shook off a big hit from two Spartan defenders to score the game's final touchdown that capped a seven play, 5:38 game-icing drive.

Offensive Stars: Dan Rounds, Patrick Cheatham, and Patrick Herd, who gave Robbie Jenkins loads of time to look for his receivers and did not give up a sack all night.

Defensive Stars: Shannon Davis had two interceptions, Lawrence Lewis had 1.5 sacks.

Other Links:	Times-Dispatch summary
	Augusta Chronicle recap
	AIFL overview

Next: vs. Chattahoochee Valley Vipers, Saturday 7pm