One stop foils 'Birds, Nashville holds on, 57-47(Full Story) One stop foils 'Birds, Nashville holds on, 57-47
By MIKE MacADAM
Gazette SportswriterALBANY - You can look at all the touchdowns that pile up in an arena football game, but defensive stops, like service breaks in tennis, usually win games. The Nashville Kats came up with a stop in the second half Saturday night at Pepsi Arena, and the Albany Firebirds did not, so Nashville won, 57-47.
The Kats, leading 29-27, made their stand on the first series of the third quarter, and the Firebirds spent the rest of the game trying to catch up. They never did.
"The number of possessions you have is so important," said Nashville quarterback Andy Kelly, who threw for eight touchdowns and was named game MVP. "We had to have a stop at some point, and we were glad to have it early in the half. They got an extra possession with the onside kick [in the first quarter], but you could scratch that out when we stopped them in the third quarter."
Albany, trying to scrape together a playoff berth, fell to 5-6, and Nashville moved into a tie for the Eastern Division lead with New Jersey at 8-3.
Two former Albany Firebirds, Darryl Hammond and Fran Papasadero, came up with big plays in the fourth quarter.
Hammond scored what proved to be the winning points when he caught a six-yard pass from Kelly to give Nashville a 50-41 lead with 5:05 left to play, and Papasadero clinched it with a one-yard catch set up by Lonnie Turner's long kickoff return with 30.1 seconds left.
Defensive stops in arena football are so rare that coaches make decisions based on the assumption that there's a strong possibility their defense won't be able to hold the other team, as Firebirds coach Mike Dailey did Saturday.
Quarterback Mike Pawlawski, who finished 27-for-46 for 366 yards and seven TDs, hit Greg Hopkins for a five-yard score with a minute left to pull the Firebirds within 50-47. Dailey opted to try for a two-point conversion instead of kicking for one to set a possible game-winning field goal.
"This is different than the outdoor game," Dailey said. "If we score two, and they score a touchdown, we're down eight and can tie it with a touchdown and a two-point conversion. If they don't score, we can still tie it with a field goal."
Well, the Firebirds made the scenario moot by blowing the two-point conversion, and to compound matters, they let Lonnie Turner return the ensuing kickoff 43 yards to the Albany eight yard line.
The Firebirds' 13th penalty of the night gave Nashville a first down at the four, and Papasadero scored on a one-yard pass all alone on the right side of the end zone. Albany ran out the clock trying to score.
"That kickoff return was huge, but I didn't feel comfortable even with five or six seconds left," Kelly said. "Anybody who watches this game knows how quickly you can score."
"They didn't give up, and the Albany Firebirds never give up, either, but when we needed a stop in the fourth quarter, we didn't get one," said Albany FB/LB Chad Dukes.
"We just have to regroup and play again next week," Dailey said. "This figured to be a possession game, and we played it to win."
The Firebirds surprised the Kats with an onside kick after scoring on their first possession of the game and used it to take a 14-8 lead.
The first half was low-scoring until the teams combined for three touchdowns in the final minute of the second quarter.
The Firebirds hurt themselves with eight penalties and a fumble by Larry Jones, who intercepted a pass, but gave it back when he tried to flip it to a teammate for extra return yardage.
The Firebirds wasted an opportunity to extend a 21-15 lead when Eddie Brown's 20-yard touchdown catch was nullified by a motion penalty. The drive ended when newly acquired Chris Drennan missed a 38-yard field goal.
Greg Hopkins caught two of his three touchdown passes in the first quarter, the second set up by the onside kick. After Nashville answered with a touchdown to start the second quarter, Pawlawski found Eddie Brown wide open for a 42-yard touchdown to give Albany a 21-15 lead at 12:31, and that's where the score stood until the flurry at the end of the half.
Nashville went ahead, 22-21, with 51.4 seconds left on a 23-yard pass from Kelly to Cory Fleming.
Albany drove down to the Kats' 19-yardline, and Pawlawski floated a pass down the right sideline to Dukes, who ran under it and dove fully extended to make a fingertip grab in the end zone. After Albany failed on a two-point attempt, Nashville scored when Lonnie Turner made a diving catch in the left corner of the end zone.
