by Walter L. Johnson II
The second time was the charm for the Albany Panthers, in their second season in the Southern Indoor Football League.
After suffering a heartbreaking loss in the opening round of last year’s SIFL playoffs, the Panthers won their first-ever playoff game at the Albany Civic Center Saturday night, as they held off the Erie (Pa.) Explosion for a 68-43 win.
The win erased bitter memories of last year’s opening round playoff loss to the Louisiana Swashbucklers, as they stunned the Panthers en route to the title game. It was a win that brought great delight to defensive back Demetrie McCray.
“Thinking about last year’s loss, we had our fans to back up (Saturday), too,” McCray said. “That’s how we came out with the energy we came out with.”
The opening kickoff helped set the tone for the big win, as kicker Geoff Boyer scored the first of his three ‘uno's’ in the contest, for a 1-0 lead.
Antwone Savage then made the first of his three touchdown catches almost three minutes of the game, following a McCray interception. His 11-yard reception from quarterback Cecil Lester gave the Panthers an 8-0 lead. He finished with six catches for 75 yards and four touchdowns.
“It was a good night,” Savage said. “We just practiced hard this week, and came out, and made some big plays in the game, and we came out on top.”
Coming in as the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference, Erie got to within one possession only twice throughout the game. Still, Albany head coach Lucious Davis felt his defensive unit was challenged at times stopping the explosive Erie offense.
“We knew (Erie) had a tough offense,” Davis said. “So, we wanted to come in, and hopefully our game plan would work out.”
With the win, the Panthers will travel to Columbus next week to take on the defending SIFL champion Lions. They held off the Trenton (N.J.) Steel, 62-60, in the other Eastern Conference semifinal game.
Columbus has won two of the three regular season meetings against Albany; with the Lions most recent win over the Panthers coming just over two weeks ago, 58-39, on June 4.
Davis stressed that consistency will be the key to victory over the Lions, especially with so much at stake.
“We just have to play consistent,” Davis said. “It seems like every time we play (Columbus), it’s for something, either we play them for the (Southern) division (title), or we’re playing for the best record, or for first place. It’s something I’m looking forward to.”
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