Tennessee Valley Dissolves Conquest Lead For 61-49 Road Win
May 3, 2008 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Albany Firebirds News Release
ALBANY, NY - The Tennessee Valley Vipers scored 44 points in the second half, erasing a 17-point Albany Conquest halftime lead, on their way to a 61-49 win on Saturday night at the Times Union Center.
The Vipers trailed 35-17 at half time and after trading touchdowns early in the third quarter Albany still had a 42-25 advantage. Tennessee Valley then scored 36 straight points by way of four touchdown passes from QB Kevin Eakin, a TD run from Travis Blanchard and a defensive sack on QB Dan Cole for a safety, building a 61-42 Vipers lead with 5:35 left in the fourth quarter. Albany cut the lead to 12 points on a Dan Cole 1-yard run with 1:38 left, but the Tennessee Valley defense kept the Conquest from mounting a dramatic comeback.
It was a completely different story in the first half as the Conquest stormed out of the gate to take an early lead. WR Chris Bocage scored all three Albany touchdowns in the first quarter, including a scintillating 53-yard kickoff return for a touchdown with 7:52 remaining in the opening quarter. Albany's defense caused all kinds of havoc in the first half, twice stopping the Vipers on downs and Conquest DB Brandon Taylor intercepted a Brent Dearmon pass, which led to another score. Cole linked up with WR Vernard Abrams for a 7-yard touchdown pass to give Albany their biggest lead of the game, 35-12 with 4:29 left in the second quarter. But two spectacular touchdown catches by WR Maurice Brown on either side of halftime completely changed the momentum of the game.
Vipers QB Kevin Eakin came off the bench to lead the come back, completing 12-of-15 passes for 173 yards and five touchdowns, while starting QB Brent Dearmon was 7-of-16 for 102 yards, with one touchdown and one interception in the game. Conquest QB Dan Cole completed 18-of-29 passes for 187 yards and 4 touchdowns. Vipers WR Maurice Brown had a game-high ten receptions for 147 yards and five touchdowns and led Tennessee Valley with 142 all-purpose yards. Conquest WR Vernard Abrams had a team-high eight catches for 83 yards and 1 touchdown, while WR Chris Bocage put up a game-high 252 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns (2 receiving, 1 rushing & 1 kick return).
The Conquest will have to endure the short week as they travel to Florida for their first even game against the expansion Daytona Beach Thunderbirds on Thursday, May 8th at 7:00 pm. Albany's next home game will come in Week 9 as they host the Manchester Wolves on Friday, May 23rd at 7:00 pm at the Times Union Center.
Partial season ticket packages and individual game tickets are now on sale for the remainder of the 2008 Albany Conquest regular season. For more information please contact the Conquest at (518) 487-2244 or online at www.albanyconquest.com.
• Discuss this story on the arenafootball2 message board...
arenafootball2 Stories from May 3, 2008
- Lightning Burned, 77-14 - Stockton Lightning
- Copperheads Storm Past Twisters - Texas Copperheads
- Late field goal lifts Shock - Spokane Shock
- Firecats Remain Perfect With Tough Fought Win Over Peoria - Florida Firecats
- Dusters defeat the Dawgz 58-21 - Amarillo Venom
- Steamwheelers Comeback Falls Short as Fire Hold On for 55-53 Victory - Quad City Steamwheelers
- Reigning af2 champions victorious - Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings
- Tennessee Valley Dissolves Conquest Lead For 61-49 Road Win - Albany Firebirds
- Blizzard Dominates Barnstormers - Green Bay Blizzard
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.
