The Nashville Kats won their ninth game in a row to lock up the No. 1 seed for the Arena Football One playoffs, closing the regular season 11-1. Saturday’s 57-54 win at Albany swept the season series with the Firebirds, who finished 9-3 to take the No. 2 seed.
Nashville raced to a 27-8 first-quarter lead and was up 41-28 at halftime. Albany erased the gap with a 13-0 third quarter to tie it at 41-41, but the Kats pulled away in the fourth, outscoring the Firebirds 16-13.
Saturday’s game featured brothers at quarterback, Nashville’s Tyler Kulka against Albany’s Joshua Kulka. Tyler completed 22 of 32 passes for 232 yards with six touchdowns and one interception. Joshua went 18 of 41 for 311 yards, also with six touchdown passes and one pick. Jordan Gandy caught three of Tyler Kulka’s touchdowns, and Omari Alexander led the Nashville defense with eight tackles and an interception.
Both teams earned byes into the semifinal round and will host games on Aug. 1-2, with dates and times expected this week. The rest of the AF1 playoffs open July 25-26, and the Arena Crown championship game is set for Aug. 8 at the site of the higher remaining seed.
