Down seven points with less than a minute left, the Albany Empire came up short, losing to the Carolina Cobras 56-49 at Greensboro Coliseum Complex on Sunday.
The Empire (1-2) started the final drive at midfield and got to the Carolina 9-yard line with 15 seconds left, but quarterback Sam Castronova threw four incomplete passes, the last of which was batted down by a defender to seal Albany’s fate.
“(Carolina) did a great job of pass rushing us this game. They came to play, and we should expect that as a two-time champion,” coach Damon Ware said.
Ware and wide receiver Darius Prince, the target of most of those passes, wanted a pass interference call on the second-down pass but didn’t get a flag.
“If you’re going to call them one way, just call them the other,” Ware said, referencing a defensive pass interference call on Albany’s Dwayne Hollis in the first half. “That’s all I ask, is just be consistent.”
Albany fell behind in the third quarter despite starting it with an 8-yard touchdown catch by Prince. Carolina receiver Lance Evans caught a 20-yard pass from quarterback Malik Henry and kicker TC Stevens hit his first deuce of the game to put the Cobras (2-1) up 3, then Adam Smith picked off Castronova, the Albany quarterback’s first interception of the season. Kevin Voyles ripped off a 48-yard touchdown run, followed by another Stevens deuce to make it 47-35.
Castronova and Prince connected again to cut the deficit to five, and the Albany defense came up with a stop as linebacker Nick Haag batted down a pass and Sean Daniels sacked Henry.
But the offense was unable to turn it into points, going four-and-out after a holding penalty that made it 1st-and-20 and three incomplete passes from Castronova.
“We ended up with way more holding calls than we’ve ever gotten before,” Ware…
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