albany conquest finish season 6-10

[jetsrule128]

Conquest hand Wilkes-Barre/Scranton second defeat, 56-42

Albany Conquest wide receiver Bakari Brown

[ShadowJet35]

Hold up, they might fire coach costanza?

[jetsrule128]

yep

[jetsrule128]

ALBANY -- The Albany Conquest failed to live up to head coach Pete Costanza's playoff guarantee

Now, Costanza said, he hopes he'll get a chance to lead Albany to the postseason next year.

Eliminated from contention last week, the Conquest (5-9) play host to the Manchester Wolves (8-6) Saturday night in the first of two home games to close the season.

Albany will miss the playoffs for the third straight year under Costanza and the fourth consecutive season overall.

Costanza said he has received no indication from Conquest president S. Garen Szablewski on whether he'll be brought back for another year. He said Szablewski only encouraged him to "go out and win the next two games and get to 7-9 and we'll talk about it from there."

The Conquest won division titles in their first two seasons, under Ron Selesky in 2002 and Costanza in 2003 in his first stint as coach. Costanza left to become an assistant with the Arena Football League's Columbus Destroyers in 2004 before returning for 2005.

"I would like to be back," Costanza said. "Obviously, if for whatever reason I can't find a way to get it done, I'm putting myself in a corner. But I think we can get it done. It's been some tough years, absolutely. But we can get it done, and there's no reason we can't restore the glory to what we were back in '02 and '03."

Costanza vowed the Conquest would make the playoffs after they beat Green Bay on April 21.

But Albany has lost seven of 10, including six straight road defeats.

Asked if he regretted the playoff guarantee, Costanza responded, "I don't regret making it because with the young team we had and the steps we were making, I thought for sure we were going to continue to get better and make the playoffs. What I regret is not finding a way to help us get over the hump in those close games."

Conquest receiver Antwun Williams said the team still has motivation in the final two games.

"Two wins," Williams said. "No one likes going out on a loss."

Bakari Brown, who has 140 receptions, is 21 shy of tying the af2 single-season record set twice by former Conquest player Corey Hill in 2002 and 2003.

Albany rookie quarterback Ryan Hart, with 81 TD passes, seems to have a lock on breaking Ryan Vena's 2003 club mark of 85.