Conquest Weekly
July 16, 2008 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Albany Firebirds News Release
LOUISVILLE, KY - Backup quarterback Joe DeLuise relieved injured starter Dan Cole and led the Albany Conquest to a 41-35 victory over the Louisville Fire Saturday night at Freedom Hall. The Conquest got off to a flying start as their in-form defense led the way early in the game. Albany's defense forced the Fire to a turnover on downs in just four plays on the opening possession of the game. With the early advantage QB Dan Cole quickly led the offense down the field and gave Albany the lead on a nine-yard touchdown pass to WR Jared Jones; the Fire blocked Carlos Ojeda's extra point attempt for a 6-0 score. Louisville QB Danny Southwick answered back to tie the game with a four-yard TD pass to WR Lonnell Dewalt, but Fire kicker Danny Kight's extra point hit the right upright and the score was level at 6-6. Cole logged another touchdown pass with a 25-yard hook up with WR Antwun Williams, while Southwick found WR Ricardo Lenhart from three-yard out to tie the game 12-12 at the end of the first quarter.
Louisville's defense got their first turnover on the first possession of the second quarter as DB Matt Forbes picked off a Cole pass in the end zone; his 14th interception of the season. But the Conquest defense responded by forcing Louisville to turnover the ball on downs for the second time in the game. Starting their drive at the Fire two-and-a-half yard line, Albany took two plays to set up a 1-yard TD run from Cole to take an 18-12 lead. Louisville again tied the game on a Dewalt eight-yard TD reception, but the Conquest grabbed the lead with 16 seconds remaining in the first half. Cole found Jared Jones for a 16-yard TD reception and then hit WR Chris Bocage for the two-point conversion and a 26-28 lead at the half.
Neither team scored in the third quarter as each team's defense locked down the field. On the first possession of the second half Cole suffered an injury that knocked him out of the game, bringing in backup QB Joe DeLuise. It looked like the rookie was off to a flying start, running a quarterback draw on his first snap for 22-yards all the way down to the goal line, and appeared to score, but the officials ruled him down just inside the one-yard line. That stalled the drive and both teams missed field goal attempts in the quarter.
Louisville kicker Danny Kight drilled a 33-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to 26-21 and then the Fire forced Albany to turnover the ball on downs. But LB Vernard Abrams rescued the Conquest by intercepting Southwick and returning the ball to the Louisville nine-yard line, setting up a two-yard TD pass from DeLuise to Bocage and a 32-21 lead. Louisville head coach Tommy Johnson then yanked Southwick in favor of backup QB Aaron Marshall and after each team turned over the ball on downs, the Fire closed the gap on a one-yard TD run from Demetrius Forney. Marshall's two-point conversion attempt failed and Ojeda booted a 19-yard field goal to give Albany a 35-27 lead with 36 seconds left in the game. On the next play from scrimmage Marshall connected on a 31-yard Hail Mary pass to Dewalt and then hit Dewalt again for the two-point conversion, tying the game with 25 seconds left. But Albany's backup QB drove the team down the field, and just as it looked that the Conquest would need a field goal to win the game, DeLuise scrambled for a 12-yard TD run, giving Albany the upset win, 41-35. On the final play of the game DS Clarence Curry intercepted another Marshall Hail Mary attempt for his second INT of the season.
Week 16 Preview:
Albany clung to their fragile playoff hopes with a 41-35 road victory over the Louisville Fire in Week 16. It is still an uphill climb for the Conquest, who must beat Manchester, then Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in Week 18, while needing Manchester to lose their final game against Corpus Christi and either Louisville or Quad City to lose their final two regular season games. Manchester is currently sitting in seventh place in the American Conference due to winning the tiebreaker with Louisville and Quad City. The Wolves could eliminate Albany from the post season with a win, while also putting themselves in prime position to secure a playoff berth.
With an injury to starting QB Dan Cole, the Conquest will be relying on rookie QB Joe DeLuise, who is set to make his first career af2 start, to lead Albany to victory. DeLuise has not yet taken a single snap in the first half of an af2 game; his action has been limited to late in the fourth quarter against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on June 7th and almost the entire second half against Louisville last week.
Week 17 Schedule:
(All games are broadcast LIVE on af2TV free streaming video at www.albanyconquest.com)
Friday, July 18 - 7:00 pm - Times Union Center - Albany, NY
vs. Manchester Wolves (7-7) - Streak: Won 2
Second Place, East Division, American Conference
This is the 22nd all-time meeting between Albany and Manchester and it is their fourth and final meeting of the 2008 season. The Wolves have a 13-8 lead in the all-time series, and lead the 2008 series 2-1; they have also won the last two meetings, including a 50-33 win on June 27, 2008. Manchester is bringing a two-game winning streak into the Times Union Center and they will be riding high after a 53-27 demolition of the Mahoning Valley Thunder in Week 16. Leading Passer: James Pinkney (#7) - 10 GP, 187-for-293, 2,440 yards, 50 TDs, 10 INTs, 115.3 QB rating. Leading Rusher: James Pinkney (#7) - 10 GP, 56 carries for 204 yards, 13 TDs, 3.6 yards per carry. Leading Receivers: Bradley Chavez (#1) - 14 GP, 80 catches for 1,031 yards, 24 TDs, 12.9 yards per catch & Emery Sammons (#5) - 13 GP, 73 catches for 1,015 yards, 19 TDs, 13.9 yards per catch. Leading Tackler: Dahn Singfield (#21) - 12 GP, 47.0 tackles (43 solo, 8 assisted), 10 Pass Break-Ups. Conquest Player of the Week: (Week 16)
Joe DeLuise - QB #15 1 Passing TD, 1 Rushing TD, 1st Career af2 Victory
QB Joe DeLuise was the hero of Albany's Week 16 win at Louisville as the backup quarterback came off the bench to relieve an injured Dan Cole and led the Conquest to a 41-35 victory. Playing in his largest amount of single-game action of the 2008 season, Bangor, PA native completed 8-of-10 passes for 64 yards and one touchdown, while also rushing ten times for 47 yards and one rushing TD; a 12-yard run with three seconds left in regulation that proved to be the game-winning score. With the injury to Cole expected to keep him out of the lineup this week, DeLuise will get a chance to start his first af2 game on July 18th against Manchester.
Conquest Arrows:
- PASSER GOES TO GROUND - QB Joe DeLuise did some damage with his legs last week against Louisville. Albany's backup set season-highs for rushing attempts (10) and rushing yards (47), the most by any Conquest player in a single-game this year. Perhaps more impressive was the fact that DeLuise accomplished the feats in just under one half of football.
- SO LONG INJURY - WR Chris Bocage did not show any lingering effects of his injury that forced him to miss four straight games. Albany's rookie receiver caught a team-high nine passes for 62 yards, one touchdown and one two-point conversion and showed his explosive play-making ability. The only thing Bocage did not do was return kickoffs; which was efficiently handled by WR Jared Jones, who averaged 25.2 yards in five returns.
- SACK MEN - Albany's defense had a season-high four sacks against Louisville; DE Michael Lewis had 1.5 sacks, DE Ed Greene and LB Brenton Brady each had one sack and LB Vernard Abrams added a half-sack. Lewis leads the team with 6.0 sacks, while Greene has 4.0 sacks in his last five games.
- APPROACHING THE CENTURY - WR Antwun Williams had seven receptions against Louisville and brought himself within 12 catches of reaching the 100 reception mark for the second straight year. WR Corey Hill is the only Albany player to record consecutive 100+ catch seasons, setting the franchise record with 161 receptions in 2002 and equaling his record in 2003.
- TRIPLE THREAT - The Conquest secondary will have their hands full against the Manchester receivers. The Wolves catching crew boast three wide outs with 1,000+ receiving yards this season; Bradley Chavez (80 catches, 1,031 yards), Emery Sammons (73 catches, 1,015 yards) and Steven Savoy (70 catches, 1,003 yards). The trio has combined for 64 touchdown receptions and together they are averaging a whopping 13.7 yards per catch.
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