ALBANY, NY-A two-pronged running attack and a little trickery helped the New York Dragons blow out their in-state rivals, the Albany Firebirds, 31-3 in a Week 5 AFL game.
The game started out slowly with both teams having to punt. The first break came when New York's Tyrell Tadwell placed a perfect coffin corner kick to Albany's 1-yard line. After the Firebirds went three-and-out, Hans Magnolia fielded a Flint Percell punt at the Albany 44, and returned it 13 yards to the 31. Four plays later, Burt Hamrick kicked a 42-yard field goal with 3:02 remaining in the first to put the Dragons up 3-0. The Firebirds attempted to answer on their next drive, but Sinbad Gargaro had a pass intercepted by Omar Wheeley at the Dragons' 27-yard line.
Following the interception, the Dragons used a ball-control offense to drive 73 yards on 13 plays. The coup de grace came when Melvin Betts threw a halfback option pass to quarterback Faron Emerson for a 14-yard touchdown pass. The extra point put the Dragons up 10-0 with 10:57 to go in the second quarter. The Firebirds appeared to be moving towards a score, but Scooter Colby fumbled at the Dragons' 33 and Granby DeBose recovered for New York. The Dragons then embarked on a 9-play, 67-yard drive, ending it with FB George Larron barreling in from the 2 to make it 17-0 with 3:37 to go in the half. Albany finally managed to hold onto the ball for a 12-play, 74-yard drive, but had to settle for a 21-yard field goal by Dom Wenning with 23 seconds left in the half to make it 17-3 in favor of New York at intermission.
The second half began with New York asserting themselves again with an 11-play, 71-yard drive that ended with HB Freddy Ashercraft streaking in for a 16-yard touchdown run to put New York up 24-3 with 10:08 remaining in the third. The Firebirds were pretty much forced to abandon their running game at that point, but couldn't really establish another scoring threat.
As the fourth quarter began, the Dragons moved the ball 75 yards on 9 plays. Emerson put an end to the drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Barry Starr with 12:20 remaining in the game to go up 31-3. The remainder of the game was uneventful as the Dragons basically went into clock-eating mode and Albany could not make any noise into scoring territory.
New York (3-2) gained 377 yards of total offense. The Dragons produced 191 rushing yards on 43 carries. Ashercraft led the team with 91 yards on 18 carries and a TD. Larron gained 76 yards on 17 carries and a TD. Emerson was 16-for-21 passing for 190 yards and a TD. He was sacked twice, losing 18 yards, and caught a 14-yard touchdown pass himself. Starr caught 4 passes for 57 yards and a TD. The Dragons visit the Milwaukee Mustangs next week.
Albany (3-2) gained 211 yards of total offense. The Firebirds rushing attack was nonexistent, gaining 9 yards on 12 carries. Abdul Fowler "led" the Firebirds with 6 yards on 2 carries. Gargaro was 21-for-35 passing for 209 yards and 1 INT. He was sacked five times, losing 21 yards. Calvin Pitts was Albany's leading receiver with 6 catches for 82 yards. Next week, the Firebirds travel to Iowa to play the Barnstormers.
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