Hills gets his fill as Empire win again

Albany

Joe Hills was the first of the Albany Empire to enter the postgame news conference Saturday night.

He wanted some warmup questions.

So, everyone in the room found out Hills had McDonald's for dinner Saturday night and there was probably going to be chicken wings, maybe a beer, for a late-night meal. And Sunday breakfast was going to be a, uh, healthy one of skittles, licorice and some orange juice.

But, enough about that. Hills, the premier pass catcher in the Arena Football League, did Saturday night what Hills does. The wide receiver caught three touchdown passes from Tommy Grady and the Empire rolled over the Washington Valor 48-21 at Times Union Center in front of an announced crowd of 7,847. This was Albany's third win over Washington in the last four weeks as the AFL regular season hit the halfway point.

The win extended a couple of streaks for the fledgling Empire. The first-year team has now won four straight games for the first time and are 4-2 in the four-team AFL. That streak pales in comparison to the one Hills keeps building week after week.

He has now caught a touchdown pass in 86 consecutive AFL games. His AFL career started in 2012. The old record was 79 games, which was held by Damian Harrell, who is a member of the AFL Hall of Fame and last played in the league in 2011. Hills broke that record last season.

Hills, 30, just shrugged his shoulders when asked about the milestone.

"Me scoring a touchdown every game ... it would be more to talk about if I didn't score one," he said. "Never know how long it might go."

Hills caught five passes Saturday for 99 yards and the three scores. Two of them came in the first half when the Empire were building a 28-14 halftime lead over the Valor, who are winless in six games.

Grady ended any drama of whether Hills would catch a touchdown on this night when he found the 6-foot-4, 225-pound product of Tennessee State for a 30-yard score on the Empire's first possession.

After the Valor tied it at 7-7 on a Shane Austin touchdown, the Empire took over. Hills hauled in a 17-yard touchdown pass from Grady, Terrence Moore picked off a pass and returned it 37 yards for a score and Malachi Jones caught an 8-yard pass from Grady for a 28-7 Albany lead.

Hills' final touchdown came on an 18-yard strike from Grady in the third quarter.

While Hills would rather regale the media with his dinner and breakfast menus, teammates and coaches were gushing over his accomplishments.

"That's very important," said Moore, who led the Albany defense with seven tackles and three assists. "How many games? Eighty-six? Wow. That is awesome, fantastic. But you'll never hear him talk about it. He might be flamboyant on the field, but he is a very humble individual."

Albany coach Rob Keefe said he and his staff are aware of the record that Hills keeps on adding to every week. It's not like the Empire go out of their way to make sure the record keeps growing. It's hard not for it to happen when you have the most dangerous receiver in the league.

It also helps that Grady and Hills have a history, having played together in the AFL for the Jacksonville Sharks for a couple of seasons.

"It just shows what a dominant player he actually is," Keefe said of Hills. "With all due respect to everyone else in the league, (Hills) is almost uncoverable. You can't teach height, you can't teach strength and you can't teach speed. He has all three of those things. I'm glad I just don't have to coach against him."

twilkin@timesunion.com • 518-454-5415 • @tjwilkin