Raudabaugh makes history as Soul dance in the Jungle

               

    Dan Raudabaugh’s record-setting performance led the Philadelphia Soul to a 69-56 win over the Orlando Predators on Thursday, April 4 at CFE Arena in Orlando, Fla.

Raudabaugh had an amazing game Thursday night, completing 20 of 22 passes good enough for 254 yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions. Raudabaugh’s performance earned him the greatest single-game completion percentage in the 27 year history of Arena Football.

Tiger Jones finished the night with 91 receiving yards and two touchdowns, while Ryan McDaniel finished with 113 receiving yards, two receiving touchdowns and one rushing touchdown.  Derrick Ross was limited to 17 rushing yards and 10 receiving, while racking up a pair of touchdowns.

On the opening drive of the game, the Soul were committing the same defensive mistakes that cost them in their first three games, committing penalties on fourth down and incompletions, giving Orlando perfect opportunities to jump on them early. However, the Soul defense would stand tall and force the Predators to turn the ball over on downs to start the game.

Raudabaugh wasted no time getting the Soul offense moving, finding Tiger Jones for the first score of the game.The teams would exchange scores and end the first quarter at a 14-14 tie. Philadelphia would open the second quarter scoring three straight touchdowns, and would head into the half with a 41-28 lead.

The Soul opened the third quarter the way their offense started the game with a Tiger Jones touchdown, this time of forty yards to extend their lead to 48-28.                                                                 

   In the final minutes of the third quarter, the Predators scored a quick touchdown to cut the Philadelphia lead to two scores, and appeared to recover on onside kick before getting flagged for an offside kicking team, giving possession to the Soul.

The Orlando defense kept up with the Soul offense through the short field, and nearly forced a fourth down situation for Philadelphia in the redzone, but an interference call in the back of the end zone gave Philly the ball at the one yard line and a first down.

Derrick Ross had trouble reaching the endzone as Orlando stood tall on the goal line, but found his way through the scrimmage on third down to deflate the Predators defense and quiet the Orlando crowd.

         

        The Soul defense continued the team’s momentum through the next drive, forcing a turnover on downs with 10 minutes remaining in the game and giving the Soul the ball once again. Raudabaugh would find Ryan McDaniel in the endzone for his second touchdown of the game, giving the Soul a 69-42 lead which sent the Orlando faithful filing for the exits.

            

    With five minutes remaining, a scrum broke out between the Orlando offense and Philadelphia defense when Predators receiver Greg Car and Soul defensive back James Romain traded punches, earning each an ejection.

           

     The Predators made a late push in the final minutes of the game to cut it to a two score defecate, but it was too little too late for Orlando as the Soul escaped the jungle with a 69-56 victory to end the three game losing streak. The Soul now sit at 1-3 to start the season.

               

    

            This was not a perfect game for the Soul, but they clearly showed that they were the better team in this contest from the first drive of the game until the final snap. This was the best performance on the year by Philadelphia’s defense, which probably had some to do with head coach Clint Dolezel calling the defensive plays on the field for the first time this season. The defense forced numerous turnovers on downs throughout the game, while Joe Goosby intercepted a pass from Predators quarterback Jason Boltus in the second quarter to give the offense the ball and carry momentum.

The real story of the night was Dan Raudabaugh, who sat in dead last in the league in quarterback rating through the first three games of the season, but turned around to break AFL quarterback records and carry his team to a big road victory over Orlando, avoiding an 0-4 start that would surely bring panic to the team and proving why he is a great leader.

The team can finally head home next weekend for the home opener to drop the 2013 American Conference Champions banner from the raptors in front of the team they beat in the conference championship game last season, the Jacksonville Sharks. The Sharks have suddenly become an interesting opponent due to their quarterback situation, which we will take a look at later in the week when we preview the game. But for now, it appears that the Soul have found their game again, and it’s great to see the Soul back on the winning side of things, and hopefully they will be able to carry the firepower over to their next Florida opponent next Friday.