ALBANY — The Albany Empire came within striking distance of an astonishing win but fell short, losing to the West Texas Warbirds 41-38 on Saturday night.
Albany (1-3) faced steep odds. On Monday, the team suspended eight top players and former head coach Damon Ware following complaints about lack of payment and an incident on the team bus that led to kicker Michael Hall filing a police report.
Tuesday, the Empire announced Tom Menas, who led the team to National Arena League championships in 2021 and 2022, would return to coach the team. Menas was reintroduced at a press conference Wednesday and held his first practice Thursday.
Despite the obstacles, the Empire nearly pulled it off.
Down 35-32 with under a minute left, quarterback Roland Rivers threw passes to three different receivers, ending in a 23-yard pass to Keyshawn Young to give Albany a three-point lead. Young had five catches for 93 yards and two touchdowns.
It looked like Albany sealed the victory on the kickoff when Brian Foy Jr. recovered the ball in the end zone, but the score was overturned due to fan interference and the Warbirds (1-3) took over at their own 10 with 24 seconds left.
On the next play, wide receiver Jalen Childress got past Albany’s Daquan Patten, put on the gas, and quarterback Daniel Smith dropped it in his arms for a quick score. Kicker Justin Lehr missed the extra point, making it 41-38.
“Our defense was pretty vanilla because some of these kids had never even played defensive back before,” Menas said. “So when I made the call at the end of the game it was for zone coverage and they misunderstood it for press. And it’s my fault.”
But the Empire still weren’t out of it. Patten returned the ball to Albany’s 23-yard line, and the offense took over with seven seconds left. Rivers took a sack for a loss of four…
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