If there’s one thing Arena Football fans have learned over the last two weeks, it’s that the Albany Empire know how to keep fans on the edge of their seats.

WR Quentin Sims had six total touchdowns and Tommy Grady threw for seven touchdowns as the Empire defeated the Atlantic City Blackjacks in a shootout, 63-61, in front of 9,417 at the Times Union Center on Saturday afternoon. Blackjacks QB Warren Smith made his first start of the season and had seven touchdowns in the loss. The win gives Albany a three-game lead entering the last quarter of the season.

Smith started in place of the injured Randy Hippeard at QB for Atlantic City and it didn’t look like the Blackjacks missed a beat as Smith found WR Antwane Grant on two long scores to keep up with the Empire in a first quarter that saw both teams combine for six touchdowns.

The Blackjacks converted an onside kick toward the end of the first half by WR Rashad Still and it was converted into points on a Smith touchdown pass to Grant. The Empire would respond with a Grady touchdown pass to Sims, which was challenged by Atlantic City, but the play stood and after a two-point conversion, the teams went into the locker room tied at 35.

The teams traded touchdowns to start the second half, but on Atlantic City’s second possession of the half, Albany’s defense made the most of an opportunity. Smith’s pass was deflected by Empire DB Tevin Homer and then intercepted by DB Cheatham Norrils. The turnover was turned into points with another Grady-to-Sims touchdown pass to give the Empire their first lead since early in the first quarter. The Blackjacks scored with another Smith-to-Grant touchdown, but K Mark Lewis’s PAT went off of the left netting.

The onside kick attempt went into the arms of Sims and rather than sit on the ball, Sims saw an opening on the right side and ran 11 yards into the end zone to increase the lead to 8 with 4:56 remaining.

The Blackjacks scored again and went for the two-point conversion to tie the score. Smith faked the handoff to FB Wes Maui’a, then faked another handoff to WR Lamark Brown, and it appeared that he was going to run the ball on a naked bootleg. However, Smith passed the ball, but there was confusion on who he was attempting to throw to: either Maui’a or OL Frederick Ruff, who elected to be an eligible receiver. The ball went into Ruff’s hands and was dropped and the Blackjacks remained down two.

The Empire increased their lead to nine with Grady finding Sims for a touchdown for the fifth time on the afternoon. The Blackjacks made things interesting at the end with Smith’s six touchdown pass of the day to Still to bring them back to two points after the PAT. However, Sims’ second onside kick recovery sealed the win for the Empire.

Sims on Albany’s three-game lead: “We hope to and expect to go 1-0 each week. It’s working out for us, but our main goal is to win a championship, we want to win in front of the fans in Albany, so we’ve got to keep it going and get that number one seed.”

Grady on the pass protection: “Those guys have been great all year. They’ve kept me clean most games. Obviously, we can’t do anything without them and they’re playing their butts off and doing a good job for us.”

Head coach Rob Keefe on the Empire’s potential with a three-game lead: “It feels good to have the cushion that we do, but we’re trying to solidify not only the number one seed, but we want to get better. We need to get better. We’re not at our top (game).

“It’s awesome to get all these wins, but… the goal is to get better, to prepare us for the playoffs.”

Notables: For the first time in three games, the Empire committed no turnovers. It was also the third game in a row that the Empire defense forced a turnover after Norrils’ interception in the 3^rd quarter… Empire RB Mykel Benson scored at least one touchdown for the fourth game in a row when he scored on a one-yard rumble in the third quarter… For the second week in a row, the Blackjacks lost a major part of their offensive personnel when WR Kendrick Ings suffered an upper body injury following a hit on a kickoff midway through the second quarter. The week prior, QB Randy Hippeard was lost to a season-ending knee injury against Philadelphia.

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