Empire Bring Another Championship to Albany
August 15, 2021 - National Arena League (NAL) News Release
ALBANY - The Albany Empire completed an improbable first season in the National Arena League on Saturday night by winning a championship, wearing down the Columbus Lions 79-62 at Times Union Center.
It marked the cities straight championship after winning the Arena Bowl title in 2019, COVID-19 wiped out the 2020 season before the Empire laid claim to their newest accomplishment as 2021 NAL Champions. "The season has been a blessing," coach Tom Menas said. "It's done. We're on to 2022 to win another championship now. We're going to start assembling a team Monday morning."
Menas, an 11th-hour hire as coach in mid-April, made the bold prediction that they would be NAL champions this season and his players backed him up.
2021 NAL MVP Malachi Jones who finished the night with five touchdown receptions had this to say about his head coach "No Way to describe it, COVID took a lot out on everybody. I know myself included, it was hard to deal with. To bring something like this back to the city, it brings a sense of excitement. This one feels even better because we went through so much as a country, as a world. I love the city of Albany. I'm so glad we were able to recreate this feeling from 2019."
Quarterback Tommy Grady, who said afterward that he probably had played his last game, led a near perfect offense, completing 26 of 39 passes for 331 yards and nine touchdowns in the Empires 79-62 victory.
National Arena League Stories from August 15, 2021
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