ORLANDO, Fla. – The Orlando Predators fell to the Jacksonville Sharks in Saturday night's divisional round playoff game, losing 55-33.
The Sharks (11-8) advanced to the American Conference Championship game and ended the Predators' (12-7) season.
"We started slow. That's something you can't do in the playoffs," head coach Rob Keefe said. "To get out again, into a terrible hole against a good team in Jacksonville, we just couldn't make that up. I don't think it's a coincidence that the only two times we didn't score were against Jacksonville. Statistics don't lie. We struggled against Jacksonville because they are a very physical defense. They imposed their will on us in the first quarter."
Two second-quarter turnovers hurt the Predators. Down 14-7, the team recovered a Jacksonville fumble. The Preds were driving looking to tie the game, but a bad handoff between Randy Hippeard and fullback Joe Simons became an Orlando turnover.
The team said what could have been a 14-14 tie in the second quarter became a 35-14 lead for the Sharks at intermission. The Predators scored on the opening possession of the third quarter.
"We had a good third quarter," Keefe said. "The momentum was swinging back in our favor. We were able to close it to eight at the end of the third quarter."
But the Sharks staved off Orlando's attempt at a rally. The team said Jacksonville's Joe Hills hauled in his third touchdown of the night to open the fourth quarter and push Jacksonville back on top 42-27.
"Again, the wheels fell off and all the momentum swung back to them," said Keefe.
Keefe said he was disappointed for the fans Saturday night, but said it was a successful season as a whole.
"It stunk for the fans there (at the end)," he said. "But hopefully they had an enjoyable season. I wanted to give them two more games, obviously. We won the South Division back-to-back for the first time in a very long time. But the goals are higher now. Hopefully, the fans enjoyed themselves."