Conquest Head to Cincy for Saturday Matinee
May 8, 2003 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Albany Firebirds News Release
(ALBANY, NY) â The Albany Conquest (3-1) will be playing their fifth game of 2003, this Saturday in Cincinnati, Ohio. The game is being played at 2:00pm in the afternoon, the first time Albany will play an afternoon game since July 7, 2002, when the Conquest dropped a close game in Fayetteville, NC to the Cape Fear Wildcats, 33-25.
The Conquest moved back into first place last week with their 68-49 victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers (1-4), combined with a Mohegan (3-2) loss at Rochester (1-4). The 68-point outburst was the highest point total in the team's short history. Quarterback Ryan Vena had his best performance of the season (28-for-32 (87%) for 285 yards and eight TD) and WR/LB Adriel Linyear caught a career high three touchdown receptions.
Now the Conquest will travel for their fourth road game of the season to battle the expansion Cincinnati Swarm. The Swarm (3-2) is currently in first place in the Midwest Division and have impressed the Conquest coaching staff on film. "They have a bunch of really good players", Head Coach Pete Costanza commented. "They have experienced guys who know how to play arena football, so they are an expansion team, but they aren't a group of first-year players that's for sure. Coach MacKeown has coached in the AFL and it looks like he called on some of those guys to help him win up there."
The Conquest rebounded last week from their only loss of the season, a 52-45 loss to the Mohegan Wolves. If the Conquest can win the Saturday afternoon tilt with the Swarm, they will be assured of at least a (4-2) record after starting with five out of the first six games on the road. Next week, Costanza takes the team to Rochester to take on the Brigade, the only other Northeast Division team to see any playoff action in 2002.
So far through 2003, the Conquest feature the #3 scoring offense in af2 (50.8 ppg), to go along with the #4 total defense. OS Corey Hill is again among the league leaders in receptions (38) and all-purpose yards (183.3 yds/game). Hill already accomplished something he didn't do all last season when he ran back a kickoff 51 yards for a touchdown against Mohegan. It was the first return for a touchdown in team history and has Hill ranked 9th in the league in kickoff return average (24.1 yds/return).
Tune into www.albanyconquest.com on Saturday at 2:00pm for the free webcast of the game against the Swarm. The Conquest will return home to the Pepsi Arena on Friday, May 23rd to face the Birmingham Steeldogs in a non-divisional match-up. Tickets are still available by calling 487-2222 or visit any Ticketmaster outlet. The game, being held in association with the "Michael L. Burns Labor Day Parade", has been opened up for all Capital Region labor workers to receive a discount ticket, with a portion of every ticket sold going to the parade.
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