DAYTONA BEACH, FL – New ThunderBirds QB Matt Bohnet played brilliantly in his first game with the team as he passed for 169 yards and one touchdown as the ThunderBirds gave up a fourth quarter lead and fell to the Tennessee Valley Vipers 48-32. Bohnet also ran for a score. The ThunderBirds lead the game at the half 22-21 and also lead after three quarters 29-28 but they were outscored 20-3 in the final quarter. The loss disappointed the crowd of  1,098 who showed up to watch the ThunderBirds third game under new Head Coach Gary Compton.   Vipers QB Brent Dearmon passed for 183 yards and 4 touchdowns while Vipers WR Alonzo Nix caught nine passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns for the Vipers (2-3), who seemed to pick up some steam in the second half and capitalized on some defensive miscues by the ThunderBirds.  Daytona Beach WR Mike McCullum caught 7 passes for 77 yards and also scored on a 14 yard touchdown run for the ThunderBirds (0-5).  The revamped ThunderBirds defense was lead by Quavel Thompson, the ADT Defensive Player of the game and Adrian Wilson who moved from his traditional Defensive End spot to the Nose Tackle spot. Thompson had four tackles and an interception that he returned for a touchdown while Adrian Wilson recorded a sack and put pressure on the Vipers quarterbacks all day. After the game it was obvious that Coach Compton was understandably frustrated by the loss. “We must play for sixty minutes, not forty-nine minutes,” Compton said in reference to the fact that the ThunderBirds were leading the game with eleven minutes to play. “We disappeared in the fourth quarter and had a lot of blown coverages so we need to watch the film and get that corrected.” There was some optimism as well by Coach Compton after the game. “We made some progress today and we are not going to give up. A lot of our guys have never been in this situation before and we have a lot of guys new to arena football and they will get better and we will get better.” The ThunderBirds will be on the road next weekend when they travel to Manchester, NH to take on the Manchester Wolves on Sunday, May 4 at 3:00 pm. The game will be broadcast on WROD – 1340 AM. For more information on the Daytona Beach ThunderBirds go to www.DBThunderBirds.com.