Kicker details issues with ball
Marc Orozco could hear the home crowd bellowing an elongated “deuce” each time he lined up to kick off during the Albany Firebirds’ Week 1 win.
That’s the term for when an Arena Football League kicker sends a kickoff through the uprights at the other end of the field, good for two points and pinning the opposing team at its 5-yard line to start its drive.
And, each time the crowd cheered along its hopeful instructions that night, Orozco knew he was about to let down those fans.
“It was frustrating because I love the Capital Region, and I do have that (reputation) of hitting deuces a lot,” Orozco said earlier this week. “We had a really big crowd that night, and I couldn’t hit it.”
There was a reason for that, though, and it got rectified ahead of the Firebirds’ Week 2 win against the Nashville Kats. That Week 2 game was played with different footballs than the Week 1 contest, which was played with the official AFL football. Those footballs have been described in unflattering terms, and the Firebirds said the AFL approved their purchase of higher-quality Wilson footballs to use moving forward. The 2-0 team plans to use those new footballs in its Week 3 game, which takes place at 6:30 p.m. Monday against the 1-1 Minnesota Myth at MVP Arena in Albany.
During the team’s “Flock U” Facebook Live show on Wednesday, Firebirds president Jeff Levack described the original AFL footballs as “not a professional product,” and coach/general manager Damon Ware recalled how Orozco reacted when the team first started using the footballs during training camp.
“I’ve never seen a kicker so disappointed in a ball,” Ware said. “He almost had tears in his eyes.”
Essentially, the original footballs were both slippery and didn’t travel as far as typical professional footballs. In Week 1, Firebirds quarterback Jake Medlock had one attempted pass wildly slip out of his hand as he tried to throw, and Orozco said he knew he was unable to boot a kickoff as far as the uprights and surrounding netting.
“I did have a few hecklers, like ‘Man, what is going on with you? You stink,’ ” said a laughing Orozco, who still managed to make a game-winning field goal in Albany’s 62-59 Week 1 victory.
Week 2 was much different. Orozco said it was immediately apparent in warmups how there was a “huge difference” in how the new balls traveled. Orozco connected for a two-point deuce that night and was able to use the nets on another kickoff to help the Firebirds secure a one-point rouge, which is when the return team is tackled in the end zone.
Orozco first played in Albany in 2022, and said he had a similar experience that season in the National Arena League with the league
sanctioned ball not being up to standards. This year, Orozco said the AFL footballs were made from “a little cheaper materials,” but that the footballs the Firebirds will use the rest of the season represent a significant — and necessary — upgrade.
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“I just want to be able to kick and be successful,” Orozco said. “I’m at a level where I know how good I can be, so when the football is what is getting in the way of that, it’s a little frustrating.”
AFL update
The AFL released Friday its reconfigured Week 3 schedule, and only 10 teams will play.
Of the league’s original 16 teams, one not playing in Week 3 — the Iowa Rampage — announced prior to Week 2 action that it was folding. On Friday, the Philadelphia Soul confirmed with a social-media post that it will not finish the 2024 season after an 0-2 start.
There has been significant speculation that two of the other teams not playing in Week 3 — the Georgia Force and Louisiana Voodoo — are unlikely to play again this season, but the AFL has not confirmed the status of those teams. However, Justin Arth, a Force player, posted Thursday on social media that the Georgia team “has officially folded.”
The West Texas Desert Hawks were not slated to play in Week 3 amid a legal dispute involving the franchise and the National Arena League, but that changed Friday afternoon. Now, the Desert Hawks will play in Week 3 against the Washington Wolfpack.
With that change, the Oregon Blackbears — who were supposed to play the Wolfpack — joined the Orlando Predators as teams expected to play in Week 4 that have Week 3 byes.
Since the start of the season in late April, there have been reports regarding players on some teams not receiving payments and safety concerns involving some AFL fields, among other issues related to the league.
The AFL has not responded to repeated requests for comment or information from the Times Union during the past several weeks.
Firebirds players this week said their franchise’s ownership group of Andy Guelcher, Mike Kwarta and Rich Szesnat have been “very transparent” with the team as the AFL’S problems have persisted, and the players’ focus has been on “block (ing) out the outside noise” as they prepare for their third game.
“We know we’re OK here,” Orozco said.
Coaching change
The Firebirds’ Week 3 opponent will reportedly have a new head coach for Monday’s game.
Rebound Off the Net, an outlet that covers the AFL, reported Friday that Rickey Foggie resigned as the Myth’s head coach.
There was no immediate word on who will coach the Myth — a team owned by Diana Hutton, the wife of AFL commissioner Lee Hutton — when the team plays Monday in Albany.