The Philadelphia Soul welcomed
ESPN back to Arena Football with a thrilling 60-55 win over the Iowa
Barnstormers on Sunday, April 27 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
The team's third straight win improved the Soul to 3-3,
putting them in a three-way tie for second place of the East Division with Iowa
and Pittsburgh.
Dan Raudabaugh was 26 for 35 on the day, throwing
for 283 yards, nine touchdowns and one interception.
Tiger Jones
caught the game winning touchdown in the final seconds of the game, and
finished the night with five touchdowns and 52 yards on seven receptions. V’Keon
Lacey had an impressive game, filling in the role at the third wide receiver
position and coming up with three touchdowns and 63 yards on five receptions.
Ryan McDaniel racked up 107 receiving yards on seven receptions. Derrick Ross
ran for 36 yards, but was unable to find the end zone on Sunday.
Defensive lineman TJ Langley sacked Iowa quarterback
Carson Coffman three times for 14 yards. Linebacker Brandon Perkins had one
sack for five yards in the game.
It was a rough start to
the game for Raudabaugh, who was picked off on the first play of the game on a
tipped-pass that ended up in the hands of defensive back Ter’Ran Benton. Carson
Coffman marched his Barnstormers down the field to the one yard line on the
next drive, setting up the short touchdown for fullback Derik Steiner.
The Soul defense came out flat for the majority of
the first quarter, as the teams continued to traded touchdowns throughout the
first half of the game.
Late in the second quarter, Rob Redd returned a kick
to midfield for the Soul, setting up a touchdown from Raudabaugh to receiver V’Keon
Lacey, cutting the Iowa lead down to 28-26.
On the next drive, reciver Darius Reynolds would
fumble the ball for Iowa deep into Soul territory, which was recovered by
Philadelphia’s James Romain at the three yard line with five minutes remaining
in the half. The Soul would capitalize on the turnover, finding Lacey for his
fourth touchdown of the game and putting the Soul on top for the first time in
the game, 34-28.
Head coach Clint Dolezel caught the Barnstormers
special team by surprise on the kickoff calling for an onside kick, which was
recovered by Bryan Randall for Philadelphia.
With momentum on Philly’s side, however, they
were unable to capitalize on the possession, going four and out with a
fourth-and-three incompletion to give Iowa the ball with 15 seconds remaining
in the half. A field goal from Ross Gornall cut the Soul lead to 34-31 heading
into the half.
Early
in the third quarter, TJ Langley earned his second sack of the game on Coffman,
bringing up a third-and-eleven for Iowa. The secondary would break down on the
next drive for the Soul however, letting Coffman find Darius Reynolds at the
five yard line, who was just barely able to extend the ball into the end zone
with the tip of his fingers and give his team a 38-34 lead.
The
Soul defense was unable to come through and stand tall on third and fourth
downs, and the two teams traded touchdowns throughout the third and the
majority of the fourth quarter, with the lead changing on every score.
Down 52-48 with three minutes remaining, AFL fans throughout
the Delaware Valley were holding their breath when Derrick Ross fumbled a Raudabaugh hand-off deep in Iowa territory. Ross was able to recover the fumble, bringing
up a crucial third down late in the game. Tiger Jones found a laser pass from
Raudabaugh to give the Soul a six point lead, but another missed kick from
Carlos Martinez kept the Soul lead at two points.
The Barnstormers recovered a Soul onside kick, and
continued their drive with intention to run out as much clock and Soul timeouts
as possible. Their game plan didn't go accordingly however, and Iowa was forced
to kick a field goal that gave them a 55-54 lead with 43 seconds remaining in
the game.
That was just enough time for Dan Raudabaugh and the
Soul offense to keep their rhythm going, as Raudabaugh and his receivers made it
look easy marching down the field, burning time on the game clock away. With
three seconds remaining in the contest, Raudabaugh found Tiger Jones who ran
six yards for the game winning touchdown.
It wasn't the prettiest win for the Soul, but ESPN and the Soul fans certainly got
their money’s worth in one of the most exciting games for the AFL this season.
The Soul certainly faced adversity throughout the game, and while it was
troubling to see the defense continue struggles with the secondary, penalties
and third/fourth downs, the team still found a way to get a huge win in the Eastern Division race.
Raudabaugh was able to shake off his interception on
the first play of the game, and converted for the Soul on nearly every possession,
including the final drive of the game which was the biggest one of the season
through the first six games.
The
intensity of play will only get bigger from here, as the Soul will look to
continue their win streak on Saturday, May 3 when they hit the turnpike to take
on the Power in Pittsburgh, a city the franchise has never lost in. The ‘Battle
of Pennsylvania’ is a matchup fans around the league have been looking forward
to all season.
This
young Soul team with key veterans has gotten thrown into a lot of tough
situations the first month of the season, and with the 0-3 start the team went
through to open the year, it certainly feels great to be back at .500 as we are
a third of the way through the season. This team is getting a lot of great
experience under their belts, now let’s see what they can do with it the rest
of the way.
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