Albany Firebirds rested, ready to go for playoff semifinal

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Playoff football makes its long-awaited return to MVP Arena this weekend, as the Albany Firebirds sit two wins away from an ArenaBowl championship. For this group...gameday can't come soon enough.

The 'Birds are chomping at the bit for Saturday's semifinal matchup with the third-seeded Salina Liberty. It's been nearly three weeks since the team last saw game action.

After its final regular season tilt was turned into a bye week, Albany earned an opening-round bye in the playoffs as well. No practice was held last week. The focus was on players getting healthy, and head coach Damon Ware said the entire 24-man roster is now at 90%, or better.

There's that old idiom, "if you rest, you rust." But if you ask these players, they needed that rest. And they appear to have quickly shaken off any rust in preparation for Saturday's matchup.

"I think it was great. A lot of us went home to see our family members, clean out our minds, get our bodies healthy," said offensive lineman Shawn Lockett. "We've been hittin' the ground since March...with no break. So, having those two weeks off, the fundamentals we've got to brush up on; jet lag, or whatever the case may be. But I think we've had a great week of practice. Very focused; very locked in, and just very intentional."

"We handled our business during the bye week," added quarterback Jake Medlock. "You could tell [with] the week of practice that we've had. First day, I mean, we got after it. It was a playoff game-type of practice. We've just got to stay the course and trust each other; have each other's back the whole way."

Opening kickoff between the Firebirds and Liberty Saturday at MVP Arena is set for 2:30 p.m.