Albany Firebirds headed to Championship game
The path to a championship is always filled with ups and downs, this season has been no different for the Albany Firebirds. It wasn't an undefeated season like last year, but the result could still remain the same. Head coach Damon Ware has his team back where they belong, in the Arena Football One championship game.
After dropping two of their final three games in the regular season, the Firebirds had two weeks of rest before hosting the Minnesota Monsters at MVP arena over the weekend. Albany pushed ahead for a hard fought 69-56 victory in the semifinals.
The Firebirds are set to face off against the Nashville Kats on the road next Saturday at 4 PM. This will be the Firebirds third straight championship appearance. They lost two years ago in the Arena Football League title game, and went on to win the inaugural AF1 championship at MVP arena last year.
Sam Castranova showed little rust after having multiple weeks off, completing 20 of his 27 passes for 304 yards and 9 touchdowns. The Firebirds only had one possession in the entire game in which they did not score.
The semi final matchup also was the debut for new kicker Bailey Hale, who just took his bar exam when the Firebirds reached out. Hale spent some of the recent Indoor Football league season kicking for the Tulsa Oilers. Hale made 7 of his 9 extra points and even added three deuces onto his debut.
The Firebirds will certainly need that special teams edge when facing Nashville, as their kicker knocked in multiple deuces in both of their wins against Albany in the regular season.
