Albany Edges Pirates 56-52
June 26, 2009 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Albany Firebirds News Release
ALBANY, NY - Firebirds Safety Kenny Williams broke-up a potential go-ahead pass in the endzone with 42.2 seconds left in the game and Albany took over on downs to secure a 56-52 victory in front of 4,372 fans Friday night at the Times Union Center.
The Firebirds took their sixth decision in the club's last eight games to improve to 6-7 on the season and to maintain its advantage over Manchester for second place in the East Division. Peoria fell to 3-9 on the year and are now 2-3 under new head coach and former Firebirds bench-boss Mike Hohensee
Albany led by as many as fourteen points in the first quarter, but Peoria closed the gap to 35-34 heading into the second half. Firebirds defensive back Malik Jackson intercepted Peoria's Luke Drone on the opening drive of the third quarter for the first defensive stop of the game and the turnover set up an Alvin Ray Jackson touchdown that made it 42-34. Peoria's Brian Allbrooks hauled in the game's next two scores to give the Pirates their first lead of the night at 46-42 heading into the fourth quarter.
Firebirds quarterback Stephen Wasil threw fourth-quarter touchdowns to Anthony Rodriguez and Jackson for each receiver's third score of the night. Drone answered Wasil's first strike with a passing touchdown to Dante Ridgeway, but his final drive of the game came up short as Williams swatted down a would-be touchdown in the final minute of action.
Both sides seemed to score at will in the first thirty minutes of action, with neither defense recording a first-half stop. Early in the second quarter the Pirates pulled to within seven points on a passing strike to Brad Kunz, but Firebirds receiver Adam Bednarik answered with a tough-catch in the back of the endzone to make it 35-21 Albany. Peoria's Dante Ridgeway caught the final two touchdowns of the first half to bring his team to within one point; the Pirates kept Wasil off the field late in the half by recovering a kickoff that took a long bounce off of the end-line Iron.
On the opening drive of the game SUNY Albany product Jon Leible scored his fourth touchdown of the year and the Firebirds quickly doubled their lead with an onsides kick recovery that led to Jackson's first touchdown. Pirates wide-out Darren Paige and Albany's Rodriguez split the contest's next four scores for a 28-14 Firebirds lead after one quarter.
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