Luis Perez’s San Diego homecoming was worth a hundred hugs and kisses, which is exactly what the Otay Ranch High School/Southwestern College alumnus received from family members and friends following the Birmingham Iron’s 32-29 walk-off win over the San Diego Fleet in an Alliance of American Football game Sunday at SDCC Stadium.
Perez, who was pressed into emergency back-up duty after an injury to Iron starting quarterback Keith Price, completed his first three touchdown passes of the season while marching the team down field for a game-winning 44-yard field goal by former Charger place-kicker Nick Novak as time expired.
As Perez walked off the field with a well-deserved smile, he was quickly overwhelmed by the outpouring of emotion from “la familia,” which turned out to number about 200 people, who were gathered along the outfield rail to greet their conquering hero.
Perez began to cry as family members hugged and kissed him. It was a surreal scene.
“I told them before the game that I might not start, and that I might not even play,” Perez explained in a post-game press conference. “I hadn’t been playing well lately. But they said they would come out anyway to support me and support the team to get a win.”
It was a triumphant homecoming for both Perez, who led Texas A&M-Commerce to the 2017 NCAA Division II national championship after playing two seasons at Southwestern College, and Novak, who played four seasons for the San Diego Chargers (2011-14) and grew up in San Diego before his family later relocated to Virginia.
“It’s a great feeling to come back to San Diego where I was born and raised, to be able to do it in front of my friends and my family, and for them to come out and still support me when I wasn’t supposed to play, is really big,” Perez said.
Novak sought redemption on the game-winning field goal after missing an earlier attempt in the game.
“Great game,” commented Southwestern head football coach Ed Carberry, who was among a Fleet-record 20,986 fans who attended the contest. “My family and I had a great time watching Luis succeed. Exciting stuff.”
Fast start
Perez kicked off the AAF’s inaugural season with a 3-0 record as the Iron’s starting signal-caller, creating a buzz in leading the Birmingham franchise to wins over the Memphis Express (26-0), Salt lake Stallions (12-9) and Atlanta Legends (28-12). In those three games, he collected 595 passing yards while throwing one interception.
As it turned out, the Iron faced off its season against three of the league’s weakest teams, assuring Perez of decent numbers. He was less successful in the Iron’s fourth game against the visiting San Antonio Commanders, completing 48.7 percent of his passes for 202 yards and two interceptions as Birmingham lost 12-11.
The former SWC quarterback was benched in the Iron’s fifth game, 31-14 loss to the undefeated Orlando Apollos. Perez completed three of seven passing attempts for just four yards with one interception for a microscopic 10.7 passer rating.
Birmingham head coach Tim Lewis handed the quarterback reins to former University of Washington QB Keith Price, who finished the game with 234 passing yards and one touchdown (the team’s first passing touchdown of the season).
Through five weeks, Perez had passed for 801 yards with no touchdowns and four interceptions.
Price drew the start in Sunday’s game against the Fleet but suffered a facial injury (a bloody mouth after being hit by two San Diego defenders, according to Lewis) after completing three of four passing attempts for 18 yards and being sacked twice.
The Iron trailed 3-0 on a 36-yard field goal by the Fleet’s Donny Hageman at the time of Price’s departure.
A training camp cut by the NFL L.A. Rams last season, Perez has called the AAF a “league of opportunity” for players attempting to play their way back to the NFL.
He got that opportunity in Sunday’s game. It’s apparent he still needs to develop his technique if he is going to stick permanently with an NFL team.
While throwing for three touchdowns and a season-high 359 yards, he also threw two interceptions, one of which led to a Fleet touchdown in the third quarter that turned what seemed to be a comfortable 21-9 Birmingham lead into a wild roller coaster ending.
Perez didn’t waste time leaving his mark on the game. He passed 13 yards to former Indianapolis Colt Trent Richardson to give the Iron a 6-3 lead late in the first quarter.
Perez started the second quarter by hitting receiver L’Damian Washington on a quick slant pattern that Washington later turned into an 83-yard scoring run down the sideline. Perez held his ground in the pocket, taking a big hit as he released the ball.
There is no extra-point conversion attempt in the AAF. Both two-point conversion attempts failed, leaving the visitors ahead 12-3 on the scoreboard.
The Fleet countered with a one-yard passing score from quarterback Mike Bercovici to tight end Ben Johnson to narrow the score to 12-9.
But a 23-yard field goal by Novak extended the Iron’s lead to 15-9 at halftime.
Richardson (16 carries, 46 yards) continued to pound the ball and break tackles at the goal line, plunging in from two yards out to put the Iron ahead 21-9 early in the third quarter.
But two San Diego touchdowns and one successful two-point conversion attempt quickly handed the hosts a 23-21 lead heading into the final quarter.
As a young quarterback, Perez been criticized (and rightly so) for attempting to do too much in games, particularly throwing ill-advised passes while on the run under pressure.
Travis Feeney and Demetrius Wright finished with picks for the Fleet. Perez was lucky he wasn’t intercepted on two other occasions when a Fleet defender dropped the ball.
But Perez pushed aside an uneven performance to drive the Iron down field for two critical fourth quarter scores.
He capped a five-play, 52-yard drive with a 23-yard pass to Washington deep in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown with 45 seconds elapsed in the fourth quarter to put the visitors back on top, 29-23, following a successful two-point conversion pass to Washington.
Perez had to rally his team once again in the final 4:32 after the Fleet had tied the game, 29-29, on a 13-yard scoring pass from Bercovici to Francis Owusu.
Perez navigated the 50 yards needed to position Novak for the game-winning field goal on 10 nerve-racking plays. The former Mustang had to scramble twice to avoid sacks and move the sticks down field.
Novak, whose NFL career statistics include 182 field goals and 256 extra-point conversions, earned the AAF’s initial Special Teams Player of the Week Award after kicking four field goals in the season opener. He now has nine for the Iron on the season.
But the win was ultimately reserved for Perez, who received undying love from his multitude of supporters.
The ex-Jaguar finished the game by completing 27 of 49 passes (55.1 percent) while rushing four times for 28 yards to log a much-improved 81.9 passer rating.
“I did find a rhythm after a while,” Perez admitted. “Competition brings out the best in you.
“I love it (the AAF). It’s a development league, complementary to the NFL. We have guys who were third and fourth on the depth chart. You’ve got to get better each week as individuals and as a team.”
Perez seems to have gotten better.
Through six weeks, Perez ranks fourth in the league with 1,160 passing yards while completing 55.3 percent of his passes. His three touchdown passes are offset, however, by six interceptions for an overall 65.1 passer rating.
Price has a 63.6 completion percentage and 97.0 passer rating.
Will Perez get the start in the Iron’s next game? Lewis was non-committal, telling the media that the team could win with either Perez or Price at the quarterback position.
“This is the most points we’ve scored in a game this season,” Lewis said. “Luis went in and we seemed to be rolling. He did throw a couple ill-advised passes. But we went with it. It seemed to be working.”
Iron players carried Novak off the field on their shoulders in a surreal reversal of fortune from the previous week in which Hageman notched a field goal in a 27-25 walk-off win over the Salt Lake Stallions as time expired.
“He’s one of the leaders on our team,” Lewis said of Novak. “As a 10-year NFL veteran, he’s helping our younger guys learn (how to be professionals), what it needs to look like in practice and what it needs to look like on the field on game day, what it needs to be able to compete at the next level.”
Stat attack
Overall, Birmingham stretched the San Diego defense with 53 passing plays, completing 30 for 377 yards.
The Iron ran 76 offensive plays to 57 for the hosts.
Besides the 83-yard scoring play, Perez also connected with receiver Jamal Robinson on a 41-yard bomb.
Washington had four catches for 128 yards with two touchdowns while Robinson had two catches for 78 yards.
Richardson, who now has scored 10 touchdowns this season (nine rushing, one receiving), caught four passes for 44 yards to finish the game with 90 total yards.
“Trent, you can’t say enough good things about him,” Perez told the media. “He’s a great player. He has a lot of power as you see when we get down there. We trust the O-line 100 percent to move the line, and we trust Trent 100 percent to get into the end zone.”
Bradley Sylve and Jamar Summers each had picks for the Iron (4-2) as Bercovici finished 17 of 34 for 311 yards with three TDs, two interceptions and an 86.8 passer rating.
Dontez Ford led all receivers in the game with three catches for 182 yards (second most in the league this season in a single game), including one catch for 72 yards that set up the go-ahead touchdown.
The Fleet rushed 23 times for 67 yards for a 2.9-yard average while the Iron gained 90 yards on 23 carries for a 3.9-yard average.
“When you look at our games, when we win the turnover margin, we win games,” Lewis said.
The Fleet plays its next three games on the road, including next Sunday’s game in Arizona against the Hotshots, who are now tied with San Diego with a 3-3 record in the West Division standings.
John Wolford leads the Hotshots with 1,188 passing yards.
“It was a hard one to lose,” Fleet head coach Mike Martz said after Sunday’s setback. “We had plenty of opportunities. We played hard; we just made too many errors.
“In the games we’ve lost, we’ve had self-inflicted wounds. This team (Birmingham) and San Antonio are probably the best teams we’ve played so far.
“(Making the playoffs) is going to be a little harder. It’s going to take a little longer road.”
Ford leads the Fleet with 435 receiving yards on 15 catches while Ja’Quan Gardner tops the team with 309 yards and three rushing touchdowns.
Hageman has converted on 12 of 15 field goal attempts this season. Kendall James and Damontre Moore lead the San Diego defense with 28 tackles apiece, while teammate Frank Ginda has 27 stops.
Photo Gallery by Phillip Brents
