Albany Firebirds' Playbook: Off a Character Building Win
May 8, 2025 - Arena Football One (AF1)
Albany Firebirds News Release
The Albany Firebirds hosted the Salina Liberty last weekend and had an epic overtime-thrilling showdown. Now they turn their attention to the Nashville. Nashville is currently third in the league standings, while Albany will look to remain defeated.
The Overtime Thriller
The Albany Firebirds had a back and forth shootout with the Salina Liberty that ended with the Firebirds winning in overtime. Both passers had over 300 passing yards. Sam Castranova threw nine touchdown passes, five of which went to Duane Brown.
"Some games build more characters than others," head coach Damon Ware said. "They came to play and that's what we've come to expect around here. We get everybody's best games. They had a really good football team and it was good to see us battle it out and even struggle in some areas and still continue to fight all the way to the last whistle. It was good to get a win that way."
Coach Ware liked the challenge for his team and the way they responded to the adversity.
"There's different facets of the game that obviously need to raise their intensity to help win games. It was a really good character win. It was a battle down to the last second. There were several ways we could have lost that game and we battle through those adverse moments and made a stop at the end."
With the game going into overtime, Albany had to kick the ball to the Liberty in sudden death overtime. A deuce on the kickoff could have won the game. I asked Coach Ware if he was hoping to end it that way.
"Of course!" he responded with a chuckle. It would have been quite a way to end the first AF1 overtime game of the year.
Nashville Coming To Town
The Firebirds overtime game went later onto Sunday night. They now face Nashvlile on Saturday. It's not necessarily a quick turn-around. However, after a battle-tested game, it can leave guys more tired than usual.
The team took a treatment day on Monday and a recovery and light practice Tuesday before ramping up and putting in the work they need to put in.
"Nashville's another good football team so we'll need to dig deep and get some of our mistakes corrected. We're going to have to play another really good game against another good opponent.
Catch the game on Saturday, May 10th, at 7:00 PM eastern on ViceTV.
Arena Football One Stories from May 8, 2025
- Albany Firebirds' Playbook: Off a Character Building Win - Albany Firebirds
- Billings Outlaws Playbook: A New Leader - Billings Outlaws
- Oregon Lightning Playbook: Locked In - Oregon Lightning
- Nashville Kats Playbook: out for Revenge - Nashville Kats
- Salina Liberty Playbook: Bye Week - Salina Liberty
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
