ALBANY — The Empire are 5-1 after a win in the finals seconds over the Jersey Flight by a score of 55 to 48 on Saturday, July 17 at the Times Union Center.
Albany was down a point after the first period, 14-13, and down eight at the half, 28-20, and still down eight at the end of three, 34-26.
The Empire found themselves down 40-36 with 11:07 left in the game but a 30 yard touchdown from Tommy Grady to Malachi Jones with just under 10 minutes left cut the deficit in half. And then lineman CC Brooks picked up a fumble and ran it back 20 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 40.
The Empire took the lead 47-40 with 3:27 left but the Fight came back about a minute later with a 30 yard touchdown strike from Warren Smith to Tyron Laughinghouse and a two-point conversion to take a 48-47 point lead.
With 10-seconds left Grady capped off a 1:39 minute drive over five plays by hitting Darius Prince for a touchdown and then hitting Jones for the two point conversion to give the Empire a seven point lead.
Grady threw for 171 yards and six touchdowns and was picked off once. Smith threw for seven TDs.
Jones caught seven passes for 87 yards and two touchdowns while Prince caught eight passes for 61 yards and three touchdowns and Phillipp Barnett had a touchdown.
Patrick Macon led the defense with three sacks.
The Empire will next play at home on Saturday, July 31, against the Sharks.
Click on a photo below to view a slideshow of the rest
