The Nashville Kats won the AF1 Arena Crown championship with a 59-53 victory over the Albany Firebirds in front of a sellout crowd of 4,066 at F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville, Tennessee.
The game ended with Roderick Perry stopping Albany quarterback Sam Castranova short of the goal line on a fourth down sneak from the 1.
Nashville led 23-2 after the first quarter, with Tyler Kulka accounting for all three touchdowns, two passes to Jordan Gandy around a 7-yard bootleg. B.K. Smith caught a 30-yard touchdown in the second, and Kyle Kaplan added a 37-yard field goal for a 33-22 halftime lead.
Albany turned two Nashville turnovers into points in the third, with Travion Mosby recovering a Gandy fumble and Castranova throwing a 10-yard touchdown to Darien Townsend, then Markus Smith intercepting Kulka in the end zone. The Firebirds held Nashville scoreless in the quarter and led 36-33.
Kulka threw four of his seven touchdown passes in the fourth, retaking the lead with a 25-yard touchdown to Malik Honeycutt with 55 seconds left. Kaplan missed the extra point, and Albany recovered the ensuing onside kick at the 10 before the final stop.
Kulka finished 25-of-32 for 348 yards. Castranova was 25-of-44 for 305 yards and six touchdowns. Honeycutt, Kendyl Williams, and Gandy each caught two touchdowns, with Williams gaining 114 receiving yards. Perry had four tackles, three for loss, two pass breakups, and two blocked extra points.
Major General David Gardener, commanding general of the 101st Airborne at Fort Campbell, served as Kats Kaptain before the game.
