Some of the issues that plagued the Albany Firebirds during their back-to-back losses in June persisted Sunday night against the Beaumont Renegades, but not so much that it prevented Albany from getting back in the win column.
Albany (9-2) head coach Damon Ware said the team decided “late in the week” to give Kulka, who started the first four games in the season while Castronova was with the United Football League’s Houston Gamblers, his first start since May 2 against Washington.
Castronova also posted on his Instagram page earlier this weekend regarding a death in his family.
“There was zero point in playing (Castronova) in this game,” Ware said. “Josh deserves some playing time. … He’s done a phenomenal job and he’s now 5-0. You’ve got to give these guys their moments when you can.”
As they have in many games this season, the Firebirds went back-and-forth with a seemingly outmatched opponent in the first half, but began to turn the tide in the third quarter.
Up 25-24 at halftime, Albany started the third quarter with back-to-back touchdowns and retained a multiple-possession lead for the rest of the game. The Firebirds never really put Beaumont (3-7) away, as the Renegades got touchdowns on back-to-back kickoff returns by Dontrell Morrison in the fourth quarter that kept things interesting.
After allowing three kickoff return touchdowns to Malik Honeycutt in Albany’s June 27 loss to the Nashville Kats, Ware remains concerned about his team’s kick coverage unit.
“Five return touchdowns in two weeks. Obviously, I’m not a happy coach,” Ware said. “A lot to clean up — and we’ll get it cleaned up.”
Up 60-48 in the closing minutes, Albany had a chance to seal the game deep in Beaumont territory, but Agiye Hall lost a fumble trying to reach for the goal line. The Renegades drove the length of the field and had a chance to make it a one-possession game in the final seconds, but the Albany defense forced a fumble of its own that Dontae Mason recovered and returned the length of the field for a touchdown as time expired.
Kulka spread the ball around efficiently, throwing three touchdown passes to Darien Townsend, two to Tyrese Chambers, and one each to Hall and Cameron Alves.
The win sets up a rematch with Nashville this coming Saturday at MVP Arena with the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage at stake. If the Firebirds win, the top seed will come down to a tiebreaker.
With a bye in the final week of the regular season and one more to start the playoffs, the injury-riddled Firebirds can afford to empty the tank against Nashville.
“We’ll give it everything we’ve got — and, then, we get two weeks off,” Ware said. “It’s real easy for people to sit back and think that we can keep running and gunning when we’re changing so many people. … It’s tough every week to have new guys coming in. It takes time to get better, and we’ve got to be patient.”