Reporter: Jimmie Haywood
AlbanyHerald.com
Down 27-7 at halftime to the Swashbucklers, the Panthers’ defense pitches a shutout in the second half, then storms back to win, 30-27, on a last-second field goal by Wes Virgilio.
ALBANY — Score one for the new guys.
That’s what new Albany Panthers kicker Wes Virgilio’s game-winning 39-yard field goal with 3.6 seconds left did Saturday night as it capped off a wild second-half comeback and gave his team a season-opening win against the Louisiana Swashbucklers, 30-27, at the Albany Civic Center.
And if anybody told you they saw it coming, they’d be lying.
Virgilio had some serious kinks to work out after missing on his first three extra points. But in the fourth quarter — when his team need him the most — Virgilio made good on his fourth extra-point attempt to tie the game at 27-27, before nailing the decisive field goal.
“Everything was erratic and I wasn’t missing them by much,” said Virgilio, whose first three extra points bounced off the post. “But in this game, you never give up and (backup quarterback) Cecil (Lester) came (up big) and told us all that we had to (push through) adversity.”
Lester, last year’s starter, was speaking from his heart as it was him — and not 2011 starting quarterback A.J. McKenna — who led the Panthers’ second-half surge.
“It was a big win for the Albany Panthers,” said Lester, who completed 10 of 18 passes for 81 yards and three touchdowns — all in the second half — after McKenna was benched following an interception and fumble in the first half. “You have to go through stuff like this to make you stronger, and I went through (it) last year. I knew my team needed me in the second half and I stepped up.”
Things looked promising for the Panthers early on as they scored the game’s first points on 14-yard touchdown pass from Mckenna — who finished 13 of 22 for 111 yards before being pulled — to former Westover star Antwone Savage to go up 6-0 after Virgilio muffed the point-after attempt.
Virgilio would respond with an uno on the ensuing kickoff to make the score 7-0 with 12:12 left in the first. But that would be the last points the Panthers would score in the first half as the announced crowd of 5,221 fans watched the Swashbucklers put up 27 unanswered points to go into halftime with a commanding 27-7 lead.
The first two scores for the Swashbucklers both came courtesy of hookups between Ben McLaughlin and Sammy Knight that went for 42 and 20 yards, respectively, which put Louisiana on top 14-7 with 3:55 in the first quarter. The next Swashbuckler TD came gift-wrapped at the 7:23 mark of the second quarter after a McKenna fumble in the end zone that was smothered by the Swashbucklers' Kevin Campbell.
The Swashbucklers' final TD came when Kendrick Perry punched one in from three yards out with 11 seconds before intermission.
Louisiana, however, wouldn't score again.
“We faced adversity early and we could have just folded,” Panthers coach Lucious Davis said. “But I liked the way the guys fought (back).”
If “fought back” means a shutout in the second half, then Davis was right on the money.
The Panthers ended the game by scoring 23 unanswered points, which all started with a 15-yard hookup from Lester to John “Ochocinco” Harris that made the score 27-13 with 12 minutes left in the third quarter.
Virgilio, who was still in a funk at the time, would miss the extra point.
After another defensive stand by the Panthers — who were led by a team-high 10 tackles from Terrance Hawk — Lester would then hook up with Antwon Cutts for a nine-yard score later in the quarter to pull to 27-19 with 4:41 on the clock after Virgilio missed his third straight point-after attempt. But Virgilio again responded by nailing his second uno of the game on the ensuing kickoff that cut Louisiana’s lead to 27-20.
On the ensuing Swashbucklers possession, Sammy Knight looked as if he was going to scamper in for his third touchdown of the game but Panthers defensive back Corey Rue punched the ball out from behind and it was recovered by Jonathan Armstrong at the five yard line with 2:13 left in the third.
The Panthers would march down the field and score on a eight-yard dump pass to offensive lineman Aaron Wheeler that knotted the game at 27-27 with 11:53 left in the game after Vergillio finally made a PAT.
The Panther defense would then make an inspiring stand to hold the Swashbucklers out of the end zone after they had the ball — first and goal — from the one yard line and give it back to the Albany offense with exactly 1:00 left in the game, setting up a game-winning drive by Lester and eventually Virgilio’s heroics.
The Panthers’ defense was also led by Levance Richmond, who had a huge interception return to the one with 11:10 remaining in the game that swung the momentum the Panthers’ way. And the win was especially sweet for Albany after it was knocked out of the playoffs in the first round last year by Louisiana.
The Panthers will now try to ride the momentum from Saturday’s win into their next game when they travel to Carolina on Friday.
