This time when quarterback Mike Bercovici appeared in the highlight package of a new football league, it was for throwing perhaps the most dramatic pass anyone has flung in the 20 games played by the Alliance of American Football.

“An exceptional play,” Fleet coach Mike Martz was saying Tuesday after grading the football film.

Said Bercovici: “I think the biggest thing in those situations is, it’s a fine line between staying with the offense and trying to make a play.”

Martz lauded Bercovici for making the right choice.


Against a Salt Lake defense geared for the pass while it protected a one-point lead and a long field with 47 seconds left, the first option was Fleet tight end Marcus Baugh on a diagonal go route, right to left, through the defense’s middle.

Baugh thereabouts had caught a first-half pass for 35 yards. This time he commanded more attention.

Bercovici, noticing a safety lurking near Baugh, decided to target adjacent receiver Dontez Ford down the left sideline.

This first meant sidestepping left before heaving the second-and-10 pass some 50 yards.


The ball went to a perfect spot.

Ford made a terrific play, too.

When Bercovici threw, Ford was drawing even with a cornerback who had played back so he could maintain leverage on the 6-foot-1¼ receiver while also watching the quarterback.

Ford, a Pittsburgh alum, walled off the corner while finding the ball. He held the ball through a hard hit from the safety and the corner’s swipe.


The stunning 45-yard gain enabled kicker Donny Hageman to enter, and his 44-yard field goal provided the Fleet (3-2) the 27-25 victory.

On the play, from their 25, the Fleet sent out four pass-catchers against a zone-heavy defense of seven pass defenders including two deep safeties.

Playing it safe was unlikely to work.

“Sometimes,” said Bercovici of the defense, “you’ve got to throw it like they’re not even there, and that was kind of the mindset. And, give our guy a chance.”


Salt Lake had chewed up the Fleet’s ground game, and the Fleet’s pass offense, sporadic and fortunate not to suffer a few interceptions, drew boos from the crowd.

“Too many mental errors,” said Martz, adding that errant pass routes put Bercovici in a bind.

Nevertheless, Bercovici picked up his first victory since leading Arizona State past rival Arizona in November 2015.

For the Fleet, he’d not played since Martz benched him three quarters into the Feb. 9 season opener.


Of course that’s also the game in which Bercovici put the Alliance on the U.S. sports map by taking a hit so nasty that it became a media replay staple. Martz said Bercovici’s resilience calls to mind several of his former NFL quarterbacks.

Sunday at 5 p.m., the Fleet, which shares first place in the AAF Western Division with San Antonio, will play their fourth of five home games. The Birmingham Iron (3-2) will be the opponent.

Tom.Krasovic@SDUnionTribune.com; Twitter: SDUTKrasovic