| Eric Tabor Media Relations Director Albany Panthers ALBANY, GA (June 20, 2012) – The 2011 League Champion Albany Panthers (10-2) will be hoping for a case of third win against the Columbus Lions (6-6) after falling short during one of the last three attempts, while the Lions have designs on ending their one year exile from a league championship game.  Having each experienced a league championship victory in the past two seasons, both sides will be desperate to ensure this is the year they will triumph. And it is fitting that two clubs who have developed such a fierce rivalry in just three years will settle their feud (for a year at least) on the world-famous Phoebe Field at the Albany James H. Gray Civic Center with the winners taking the ultimate prize: promotion to the Professional Indoor Football League Championship Game. “At the beginning of the season, we said that we have an order in which we need to achieve our goals,” said Panther General Manager Will Carter. “Make the playoffs, secure home-field advantage, win our home playoff games, and win the championship. It looks like we accomplished half of those goals. But, the task now will be to remain focused and complete the mission.” In all honestly, every-one predicted this play-off matchup at the end of February. But the Lions were in a truly desperate state after losing three of their last four outings under Columbus head coach Jason Gibson’s management. Meanwhile, the Panthers were in the process of clocking up a mammoth ten win season with the two losses by a total of three points. Albany was rocketing towards the play-offs in untouchable form. There were no prizes for guessing where the smart money was being placed regarding the contenders of the PIFL. The Albany Panthers vs. Columbus Lions will air on WGEX-FM 97.3 and www.albanypanthers.net beginning at 7:15 PM ET, with Eric Tabor (play-by-play) calling all the heart-pounding action. |
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