ALBANY — The Empire beat the Carolina Cobras 55-41 and will play the Columbus Lions for the National Arena League championship on Saturday, Aug. 14, at the Times Union Center.
The Empire, who won the Arena Football League title two years ago — that league folded and the 2020 season was cancelled because of COVID — are now 8-1 in the abbreviated 2021 season.
On Saturday, Aug. 7, Carolina held a 14-13 lead after the first quarter of the semifinal game at the Times Union Center but the Empire outscored the Cobras 21-7 in the second quarter to take a 34 to 21 lead into the half in front of a crowd of more than 3,000.
Empire quarterback Tommy Grady threw for 229 yards and six touchdowns including three to Darius Prince (30, 32 and 13 yards) and three to Phillip Barnett (21, 9 and 8 yards.) Fullback Jeramie Richardson had a three yard touchdown run and defensive back Malik Brown returned an interception for a touchdown.
Albany played the Lions twice this season and won both games, 65-60 in week 1 and 61-43 in week 9.
The championship game is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m.
Click on a photo below to view a slideshow of the rest.
