Panthers top Raiders for inaugural PIFL Championship

In an emotional finale to the PIFL's first season, two second half turnovers swung momentum and scoring Albany's way as the Panthers beat the Raiders, 60-56, to win their second straight championship.

The Panthers started fast behind backup quarterback Darnell Kennedy, starting his third straight game after Cecil Lester reinjured his knee.  Kennedy threw a 27 yard touchdown to Antwontis Cutts on the second play of the game, and the Panthers led 8-0 after a Ryan Gates uno.  The Raiders answered in just two plays of their own when Antwon Young found Jason Lovett from 30 yards, but T.C. Stevens missed the extra point.  The Panthers got another touchdown before both defenses asserted themselves, and the teams exchanged missed field goals.  The Raiders seemed poised to pull within a couple of points when Hakeem Moore took a pass to the Panther four yard line.  Jordan Pavlisin ran to the one, and on third and fourth down Young tried to run into the end zone himself, only to be called down before breaking the plane on two extremely close calls, both of which may have actually been touchdowns.  After fourth down, Young was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct when he argued with the referee.

The penalty yardage gave Albany a cushion when their offense took over, and Kennedy made the most of it, completing two quick passes to get the Panthers on the board again and push their lead to 22-6.  Young regained his composure and fired a 16 yard strike to Herb Jones, but the ensuing kickoff was squibbed off the turf, and Cutts took it on the run, made a couple of cuts, and 51 yards later put the Panthers back up by 16.  Again Young and the Raiders offense were up to the challenge, and after a three play drive Jones was back in the end zone on the receiving end of a 22 yard pass.  The Panthers put together a more methodical drive and took a snap in the red zone for the first time all night, but in tight quarters the Raider defense stood tall.  Roshawn Marshall picked off Kennedy's pass in the end zone and easily outran the offensive line and Kennedy himself for a 53 yard return that pulled the Raiders within two points.  Again the Panthers drove inside the Raider 10, and after a couple of short runs inside the one minute warning -- forcing the Raiders to burn their final timeouts -- Antwone Savage caught an eight yard strike with just nine seconds left.  That was just enough time for the Raiders to assemble the field goal unit, and when Stevens nailed a 38 yard kick at the buzzer, the Panther lead had been trimmed to 36-30.

The Raiders had a chance to take the lead for the first time after receiving the second half kickoff and driving to the Panther 12 yard line.  Pavlisin caught a swing pass out of the backfield, but after turning upfield he was hit and fumbled, and Cutts scored his third touchdown via three different methods when he scooped up the loose ball and ran it back 38 yards to paydirt.  Things got even worse for the Raiders on the second play of their next drive when Young was harassed by an Albany lineman after the play had been whistled dead for a Panther penalty, and in frustration threw the ball in his tormentor's face.  That cost him his second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and with it, an automatic ejection.  James Steadman entered, having thrown just five passes the whole season, all in garbage time, and was sacked on his first play to set up third and 22.  Given time to throw, Steadman heaved the ball down the sideline where Moore made the grab and ran to the Panther one.  Steadman snuck into the end zone two plays later and the Raider defense had a chance to make a statement.  The Panthers overcame a sack to get a first down, but a second sack put them behind the sticks again.  The Raiders' secondary gave Kennedy no easy throws, and after a couple of short gains, Kennedy's tardiness in breaking the huddle cost his team consecutive delay of game penalties.  On fourth and 23 he threw incomplete, and after a six minute possession that nearly ended the third quarter, the Raiders took over down by only six points.

Steadman encountered pressure again, but was able to avoid it and gain yardage with his feet to set up first and goal.  Jones got open along the back wall, and Steadman lofted a beautiful pass where only his 6'3" teammate could jump to catch it and tie the game.  Stevens missed his second PAT, leaving the score knotted at 43 with 11:25 remaining.  The Panthers needed a spark, so they brought their starting quarterback off the bench, and the crowd and the offense responded.  Lester completed four out of five passes, including a seven yard touchdown to Savage, to put the Panthers up by seven.  Steadman tried to answer with a big play, but his long pass was intercepted by Damian Daniels inside the Panther five.  Lester took full advantage, hooking up with Cutts for a 34 yard TD to extend the margin to 14 with just 3:19 remaining.  Undaunted, Steadman drove the Raiders downfield and capped the drive with his second short rushing TD at the one minute warning.  The onside kick was batted out of bounds, and the Panthers took over at the Raider nine -- meaning that they couldn't get a first down to extend the possession -- setting up another battle of clock management.  The Raiders called their second timeout after a Derrick Wimbush run on first down, and on second down Wimbush was hit low on a perfect tackle by Pierre Lee, seemingly being stopped behind the line of scrimmage (and automatically stopping the clock), but was awarded a gain of half a yard.  After some intense argument with the officials, the Raiders called their final timeout with 35 seconds left.  Lester ran on a keeper and was tackled -- and marked -- behind the line, leaving the Raiders the slightest glimmer of hope.  Gates made a chip shot field goal to put the Panthers up 10 with 27 seconds left.  Needing a quick score and an onside kick, the Raiders seemed slightly frazzled by the Albany deep zone defense, and a short pass to Moore was caught inbounds so the clock kept ticking as the offense scrambled to line up.  Rather than spike the ball, Steadman ran a play and threw complete to Jones on the sideline, and Jones stayed inbounds, weaving through Panther defenders to score a touchdown, but the clock ran out and the Panthers escaped with the win.

Player of the Game: James Steadman, who came in cold but accounted for four touchdowns under difficult circumstances.

Offensive Stars: Herb Jones, who scored on four of his five catches; Jason Lovett led the Raider receivers with six receptions and 98 yards; Antwon Young threw for three TDs and didn't turn the ball over.

Defensive Stars: Roshawn Marshall had a huge pick-6 late in the first half; James Carter, Brandon Sutton, and Michael Woodhouse had a sack each.

Other Links:

• Times-Dispatch article and follow-up
• Albany Herald coverage
• Raiders website writeup
• PIFL wrapup

Next: Season over