The Tennessee Valley Vipers outscored the Florida Firecats in the fourth quarter 27-0 and cruised to a 54-29 victory before 5,502 fans Saturday night at the Von Braun Center.

The Vipers improved to 9-3 on the arenafootball2 season and continue to lead the American Conference South Division. Tennessee Valley also remained a perfect 6-0 at home and will try to extend that streak next Saturday night when Tulsa visits the VBC for a 7:30 kickoff.

Florida had led 29-27 heading to the fourth quarter before the Vipers put 27 unanswered points on the board, starting with Kevin Eakin’s 12-yard pass to Michael Johnson. A 2-yard run by Lance Ancar and Nick Hayes’ extra point made it a 40-29 game with 9:56 to play.

Then Tennessee Valley put the Firecats away on Eric Scott’s 26-yard fumble return for a score at 6:57 and later added a 9-yard strike from Eakin to Johnson to close things out.

Eakin threw for 286 yards and six touchdowns, while Johnson had 11 receptions for 121 yards and two scores and Jeremy Grier 11 for 96 and three scores.

Chris Wallace completed 22 of 38 passes for 237 yards and two touchdowns for Florida (5-7) and Chris McKinney had 12 receptions for 120 yards and two scores.

Wallace’s pass to Magic Benton and an extra point from Mike Adams gave Florida a 7-6 lead with 6:12 to go in the opening quarter. Wallace’s 19-yard pass to McKinney and Adam’s 28-yard field goal made it 16-14 Firecats late in the second and a pair of 1-yard run by Brandon Isaiah gave Florida the 29-27 edge at the end of the third quarter.

Scoring             1          2          3          4          F

Florida             6          10        13        0          29

Tenn. Valley     14        6          7          27        54

JLS Ironman:  Travis Blanchard (TNV)

Russell Offensive: Jeremy Grier (TNV)

Aaron’s Defensive: Demetrius Derico (TNV)

Big Catch: Jeremy Grier (TNV) 3:08 4th

Nifty Hit: 11:24 third, George Lewis