Firebirds pound Red Dogs(Full Story) Firebirds pound Red Dogs
By BILL BUELL
Gazette SportswriterALBANY - On the field, the Albany Firebirds are looking very much like a playoff team after Saturday night's 70-49 win over the New Jersey Red Dogs at Pepsi Arena. On paper, however, the picture isn't so rosy.
The Albany Firebirds are in a three-way battle for the eighth and final playoff spot, and while their schedule certainly isn't a favorable one, head coach Mike Dailey is hoping two more road wins to close out the regular season will be enough to get his club into the postseason.
"We have to go out and play hard the next two games," said Dailey, after watching his team score touchdowns on all 10 of its possessions against the Red Dogs. "That's what we have to focus on. I can't control [what the other teams do]."
Saturday night, the Firebirds were able to control quite a bit of what the Red Dogs offense was trying to do, getting two key defensive stops in the first half to take control of the game.
Firebirds quarterback Mike Pawlawski, meanwhile, was unstoppable, throwing for 309 yards and seven touchdowns to help his team climb back to the .500 mark at 6-6.
"It was an all-out effort tonight," said Pawlawski, the league's top-rated quarterback. "Everybody gave 100 percent. We didn't get tight. We just played the game, and when we play like we can, we're pretty tough to beat. This team has a lot of talent."
Pawlawski used much of that talent against the Red Dogs, throwing four touchdown passes to his favorite target, Eddie Brown, but he also spread around the wealth. Even lineman Mark Valvo and Steve Shine were on the receiving end of Pawlawski passes.
"It's always neat to get the ball to the big boys," said Pawlawski, who hit Valvo for an 11-yard strike and Shine for a three-yard touchdown. "We have those plays we can use. It's just a matter of field position and how the game is going."
According to Dailey, using just about everybody was part of the game plan. "We felt like we wanted to spread it around tonight," said Dailey. "We wanted to use our fullbacks and our tight ends, and we thought that would keep them off balance. Things worked great."
Albany took the opening kickoff and went 45 yards in four plays, scoring a touchdown when Pawlawski hit Brown on a 30-yard pass.
New Jersey, which is now tied for first place in the Eastern Division with the Nashville Kats at 8-4 after losing its third straight, came right back to tie the game at 7-7 on Craig Taylor's five-yard run.
On the Firebirds' first play following the kickoff, Pawlawski lofted a perfect strike to David McLeod, who caught the ball near the goal line for a 43-yard touchdown.
When New Jersey was forced to settle for Steve Videtich's 45-yard field goal on its next possession, the Firebirds had the advantage, and they didn't come close to losing it the rest of the game.
An 18-yard pass to Greg Hopkins set up a seven-yard touchdown run by Tony Stinnett to give the Firebirds a 21-10 lead with 1:05 left in the first period.
Midway through the second quarter, Albany came up with another defensive stop, and followed it up with an eight-play, 38-yard drive that ate up much of the clock and gave the Firebirds a 35-17 advantage with 1:33 left in the half. This time it was Colonie High graduate Chuck Dukes getting the score on a 10-yard run.
Ahead, 42-27, at the half, Albany's defense came up big again in the second half, continuing to pressure New Jersey quarterback Rickey Foggie. With the Red Dogs trailing, 49-35, Shine and Jerome Brown sacked Foggie in the end zone with 4:20 left in the third period.
That gave Albany a 51-35 advantage, and when they scored on a 13-yard pass from Pawlawski to Eddie Brown on the next possession, the Firebirds were well in control, ahead, 57-35, with just 18 seconds left in the period.
The Firebirds are one of three teams with 6-6 records. While the Milwaukee Mustangs close out with the 2-10 Portland Forest Dragon and the 2-10 New York CityHawks, Albany plays at 10-2 Arizona and 9-3 Iowa.
