Albany Empire have sights on Areanbowl XXXI

LAS VEGAS » The first seeded Albany Empire (9- 4) needed overtime to win game one of their home and home series against the fourth seeded Washington Valor (2-11) last Saturday, July 14.

The Empire will now host game two on Saturday, July 21 at 7:30 p.m at Times Union Center in Albany.

Albany leads the regular season series 4- 0 over the Valor and come in off of the 57-56 win from last week.

The Empire come in with the second ranked offense in the league. Averaging around 260.6 yards a game, they face off against the Valor’s top ranked defense, which averages an allowed 254.9 yards a game.

On the other side of the ball, the Empire’s defense is the worst ranked in the AFL, allowing 264.0 yards a game. They will battle it out with the Valor’s of fense, which rounds out the bottom of the league and averages 243.3 yards.

So, yes. It is a tale of of- fensive-minded vs. defensive-minded football.

Both teams, however, take up the top spots in the league’s rank for points. Albany is first with 53.8 points a game, while the Valor follow them with 40.2.

Valor quar t erback Arvell Nelson earned Offensive Player of the Week honors for his 26- 38 performance last week. He racked up 259 yards in the affair while passing for six touchdowns, and rushed for 22 yards while taking two touchdowns with his own legs.

Reggie Gray was Nelson’s main target last week as he has been all season.

Gray pul led i n 14 catches for 103 yards in the overtime loss last week and added four touchdowns to his stat line.

In comparison, Albany quarterback Tommy Grady completed 25- of- 39 passes for 340 yards and had seven touchdowns through the air.

2018 Reciever of the Year Malachi Jones pulled down eleven catches for 167 yards in route to four touchdowns on the week.

If the Empire win, they will advance to the championship game, a. k. a, the Arenabowl, where they will face the winner of the Philadelphia Soul vs. Baltimore Brigade series.