ALBANY, GA -- The Albany Panthers as a team proved last night to be the best of the Southern Indoor Football League, but it was a small group of Panthers returning from 2010 that made all of it possible
“I'm so proud of the guys that came back...all of them. I told those guys at the start of the playoffs…if we're going to win a championship those guys are going to be the ones to lead us there,” Panthers head coach Lucious Davis said.
The crew of comeback cats led by Panthers quarterback Cecil Lester and defensive back Demetrie McCray suffered the disappointment of losing in the playoffs last year. Down at the break last night, they didn't want a repeat occurrence.
“We've been here before...this is nothing new. This is the championship game...we (had) thirty minutes left to play so we might as well leave everything on the line because there's no tomorrow,” McCray said.
Last night's championship victory was the fifth come from behind win of the season for the Panthers. The team outscored its playoff opponents by 60 points in the final two quarters. Coach Davis doesn't have an explanation for how it happens, but has come to accept it.
“It's been that way for 15 games...why? I have no idea. I don't like it...I never liked it all season,” Davis said. “For some reason in the second half they've been playing lights out.”
Maybe it all just fits. A group of hold-over panthers come back for another season, and the team repeatedly come back in games to earn the 2011 SIFL title. Now, all that's left is for the team to come back and do it again.
“We won it all. We're the champs...we're the last ones standing,”
“That's what we've been playing for...so we got it, now we just have to do a better job of keeping it,” Davis said.
The city of Albany is sponsoring a Panthers Championship parade Monday at 6 PM.
The parade route begins at the Flint Riverquarium, and will end with a presentation by the Albany City Commission at Veteran's Amphitheatre.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forWFXL