How do you avenge your only home loss of the season? Win big in the first game of your home-and-home aggregate playoff series.

The Albany Empire scored 35 unanswered points on the strength of takeaways on defense and consistency on offense as the Empire blasted the Baltimore Brigade, 61-26, in front of 9,085 at the Times Union Center on Saturday night.

Remarkably, the game started auspiciously for the Brigade when Joe Powell returned the opening kickoff all the way for a touchdown to give the Brigade a 6-0 lead after the missed PAT. That would be first and only time the Brigade held the lead as the Empire responded with a lengthy drive that finished with a touchdown pass from Tommy Grady to Quentin Sims.

The Empire defense forced two turnovers that were converted into points. The first turnover came inside the Empire 7-yard line as JLB Terrence Moore intercepted a Shane Boyd pass that bounced off of the end zone netting. Another Grady-to-Sims touchdown pass to increase the lead to 14-6. The second turnover came when DL Rodney Fritz strip sacked Boyd on fourth down to create a short field for the Albany offense to work with. FB Mykel Benson’s three-yard run touchdown increase the lead to 15. The Brigade offense used the remaining 7:47 of the first half, but the Empire defense did not allow the Brigade to score on that final drive, but failed to score and the Empire defense pitched a shutout in the first half.

Following the break, the Empire kept their momentum going with Grady completing a 3-yard touchdown pass to Benson. But it was the Brigade’s first possession of the second half that spelled doom for the visitors; Empire DB Tevin Homer, who had been haunting Brigade WR Joe Hills all game long, picked off Boyd after Moore’s deflection and brought back the interception 32 yards for the touchdown that put the game out of reach. After the Pick Six, Boyd was replaced at quarterback by Shane Morris.

Both teams exchanged touchdowns for the remainder of the game with Hills catching two touchdown receptions and WR Maurice Morgan running in one of his own. But the Empire matched every Brigade touchdown with scores of their own as the Empire scored on every offensive possession of the game. Sims finished with 5 TDs while Malachi Jones, who was limited to three receptions in the game, scored his only touchdown towards the end of the game. Sims even contributed to a turnover, popping Powell on his last kick return of the game that caused a fumble that sailed into the arms of K Adrian Trevino. This led to Sims’ fifth touchdown reception of the game.

The next game of the two-game series will take place in Baltimore this Saturday night at 7pm.

Empire WR Quentin Sims on taking the ball away from Joe Powell for his third touchdown: “We just got there at the same time, but I had stronger hands. I was pretty proud of myself for that one.”

Empire JLB Terrence Moore on the performance of the defense in the first game: “Our defense has come a long way. Those guys in the secondary are playing really well… the chemistry and the way these guys gelled, you can see it on the field.”

Head coach Rob Keefe on why he selected the home game for the first game: “Baltimore was playing that Sunday game (the last of the regular season) away, so that factored in for more travel time and the fact they had to travel to us. That’s two days of preparation that they lost against us. By going to them, that would have given them an extra day of preparation.”

Empire QB Tommy Grady completed only 15 passes, but seven of them were for touchdowns. On the other side of the ball, Brigade QB Shane Boyd was 11-of-24 for 93 yards and two INT. After Homer’s Pick Six, Boyd was replaced by Shane Morris… Empire DL Rodney Fritz feasted on the Brigade’s offensive line all game long. Fritz was credited with three sacks, three forced fumbles, and a pass breakup. This includes his strip sack of Boyd on 4^th down of the Brigade’s second offensive possession of the game… In addition to his Pick Six, Tevin Homer also finished with four tackles and five pass breakups.

Ryan McCarthy has been an on-and-off Internet columnist and blogger since 1997. He has been an avid follower of Arena Football since 1990 when the Albany Firebirds were established. Ryan currently attends Regent University, where he is pursuing his Bachelors degree in Communications with a Journalism concentration. He anticipates graduating toward the end of 2019. You can follow Ryan on Twitter at @rwhoisryanmcc