Soul hope to be turbulence in Barnstormers win streak on ESPN2

    

   The AFL returns to ESPN2 this weekend for the first time in six years, and who better to kick off the league’s return to the largest stage in sports television than your Philadelphia Soul?

The Soul will look to get their record back to .500 when they kick off against the Iowa Barnstormers at 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 27 at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia. It might not be the sexiest matchup on the season to get on national television, as the 2-3 Philadelphia Soul host the 3-2 Barnstormers. The Soul will hopefully show, however, that the records don't reflect the talent of these teams.

     The Iowa Barnstormers sit at second place in the East Divisionl, and are led by former Soul head coach Mike Hohensee. Hohensee coached the Soul to a 6-12 record in 2011, their first season back from the 2008-09 AFL lockout, and eventually resigning at the conclusion of the  2011 season.

The Barnstormers are coming off a pair of home wins, the most recent a 31-12 win over the LA Kiss on Saturday, April 19. Quarterback Carson Coffman enters this week with a 96.3 quarterback rating, completing 112 of his 197 passes for 1,335 yards, 23 touchdowns and five interceptions. Marco Thomas is the biggest threat for Iowa offensively, who’s brought in 52 yards and 13 touchdowns on 43 receptions as a receiver, as well as leading the team on special teams with 157 yards on 10 kick returns. Darius Reynolds has been a decent supporting receiver for the team as well, bringing in 30 receptions for 385 yards and eight touchdowns.

         

    The biggest obstacle for the Soul this week will be the Iowa defense, which has been getting contribution from nearly everyone lining up on the defense side of the line. Defensive end Mike Lewis has five sacks on the season, all of which came last week against the Kiss. Six members of the defense have recorded interceptions through the first five games, including Tramain Thomas (4), De ‘Mon Glanton (3), Jason Simpson (2), Ter ‘Ran Benton (2) and Tyrone Clark (1). All five brought in at least one interception last weekend.

Despite coming off their best game of the season, this is a game the Soul should be able to take a strangle hold on early and dominate.
The Soul are coming off two wins as well, defeating the Jacksonville Sharks 54-41 on Saturday, April 19 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

Center Jason Holman is going to have to continue the stellar play we saw from him in the last three quarters againt the Sharks last week, and less of the struggles he faced early on in the game that forced Dan Raudabaugh to scramble around and make costly decisions that turned into interceptions.

Raudabaugh was still able to throw his 229^th touchdown as a member of the Soul, passing Tony Graziani as the all-time leader in touchdown throws in Philadelphia Soul history.

Expect to see Ryan McDaniel continue has stellar season, who’s lead Soul recievers with 525 yards and 10 touchdowns on 41 receptions. Tiger Jones is beginning to catch up to McDaniel, as he’s brought in 442 yards for 11 touchdowns on 35 receptions.

And you know fullback Derrick Ross is going to want to show ESPN and the world his touchdown celebration and why he is the greatest fullback of all time.

Philadelphia’s defense has been stepping up as of late, as defensive back Rayshaun Kizer has 28.5 tackles and two interceptions on the season. Bryan Robinson has recorded 1.5 sacks in the first five games, which is a statistic I imagine he’s going to want to raise here quickly.

     

       With all statistics aside, the Soul are the better football team in this matchup with better personnel and who’s faced tougher opponents this season. The Soul are a half-game behind the Tampa Bay Storm for the final Wildcard spot in the playoff hunt, and three games behind the 5-0 Cleveland Gladiators for first place in the East Division. These games against lesser opponents like the Iowa Barnstormers are ones they must take care of if they are going to continue their success and make sure they’re at the top of the American Conference in August.

The team will be fired up for this one, and the crowd should be just as electric for this nationally televised game Sunday at the Wells Fargo Center. It’s going to be a great atmosphere with hopefully a game just as great for the home team, so let’s go out there and show everyone that we’re the best fan base in Arena Football.