The Atlantic City Blackjacks got off to a quick start in front of their home crowd on Saturday night to grab a 48-41 win over the Baltimore Brigade.
Setting the tone, Blackjacks Quarterback Randy Hippeard found Antwane Grant on the first play of the game for a 34-yard completion and quickly ended the drive with a LaMark Brown touchdown a few plays later.
The following three drives had three interceptions take place. Baltimore quarterback Shane Boyd was picked off by Kiante Northington on the Brigade’s first play of their drive. Hippeard would have his pass deflected which was intercepted by Nias Martin. Then Northington intercepted Boyd once more in the Blackjacks end zone.
Hippeard took his offense down the field and connected with rookie Rashad Still for his first career touchdown. The Blackjacks would take a 13-0 lead into the second quarter.
Rory Nixon would run the ball in for the Brigade’s first points of the game. Hippeard responded and found Brown across the middle who fumbled the ball but was recovered by Kendrick Ings in the end zone for a touchdown.
The Brigade countered with a touchdown to Joe Hills and cut the lead to one score. With the clock running down, the Brigade defense forced the Blackjacks to turn the ball over on downs. Boyd led the offense down the field quickly, but the clock would expire with them falling three yards short of the end zone. The Blackjacks took a 20-13 lead into halftime.
With Baltimore receiving the kick to start the second half, the Blackjacks defense came out strong and sacked Boyd, which resulted in a rumble recovered by Donte Rumph at midfield. Atlantic City would capitalize on the turnover with Grant rushing into the end zone on fourth down for a touchdown.
To close out the third quarter, Boyd would connect with Brandon Collins for a touchdown, but kicker TC Stevens failed to connect on the extra point. The Blackjacks took the 27-19 lead into the fourth quarter looking to counter the Brigade touchdown.
The first play of the fourth was intercepted by the Brigade but the defender was called for pass interference. Hippeard would take advantage of the second chance by handing it off to Brown who rumbled into the end zone for a touchdown.
Boyd quickly responded with a 45-yard touchdown to Brandon Collins. It didn’t end there, Hippeard was picked off by Martin once more and he took it into the end zone. The Brigade would try for an onside kick but touched the ball before it crossed the 10-yard line.
The Blackjacks only had to go five yards and Hippeard would find Ings in the corner of the end zone for the touchdown. With time running out the Brigade had to move fast. They moved a little too fast and threw four straight incompletions and the Blackjacks took over on downs on the Brigade five-yard line.
Brown found his way into the end zone for another touchdown and tempers would flare. Three players would get ejected from the game. After a fourth quarter push from the Brigade, the Blackjacks would shut that down to win the game, improving to 2-2 on the season.
The Blackjacks will host the 4-0 Albany Empire on May 25 at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall at 7 p.m.
