Soul hope to distance themselves from the Storm in Tampa Bay

                                                    courtesy of csnphilly.com 

The Soul begin the most crucial part of their season tonight as they face the Tampa Bay Storm for the third time this season at 5 p.m. in Tampa.

The two teams are battling for the second and final wildcard spot in the American Conference playoff push. The Soul (6-5) sit one game in front of the Storm (5-6) in the standings, but after the teams split the previous two meetings this season, a victory in tonight’s game will give the winner the season tie-breaker.

These teams met up in Tampa Bay in the first game of the series on Friday, April 4 when the Storm defeated the Soul 63-49. Philadelphia had two of their near-obvious touchdowns from Tiger Jones and Ryan McDaniel taken off the board after controversial decisions by the officiating crew on the evening.
After the victory however, the Storm suffered a five game losing streak, with the final loss a 62-34 loss to the Soul on Saturday, May 17 in Philadelphia. Since then, the Storm have put together two victories, defeating the Jacksonville Sharks 56-35 on Saturday, May 24 and a 62-48 road win in New Orleans Friday, May 30. Tampa is still alive and well in the South Division title race, sitting only a game behind the first place 6-5 Orlando Predators.

The division title is seemingly out of reach for the Soul, who are 3.5 games behind the first place Cleveland Gladiators (9-1) with only seven games remaining in the regular season. The Pittsburgh Power  (8-3) are in second place of the division and hold the first wildcard seed, two games ahead of Philadelphia. While the Soul still have time to cover ground on their cross-state rivals, with two of their last seven against the Power, it’s clear that the fourth seed in the conference playoffs will be their best chance at making the postseason.

The Soul are hoping to ride a 76-40 victory over the San Antonio Talons last Sunday at the Wells Fargo Center, which was a contest that was not nearly as competitive as the scoreboard showed in the end. The Soul scored the first 35 points in the contest on Sunday, and Dan Raudabaugh was substituted for safety before the fourth quarter.

Philadelphia is hoping that receiver Ryan McDaniel will return to the lineup after missing the last few weeks due to a leg injury. McDaniel was leading all receivers on the squad on offense before going down, putting up 17 touchdowns and 906 yards on 69 receptions. Emery Sammons has come in and played well in his absence the last few weeks, catching three touchdowns with 196 yards on 11 receptions. Tiger Jones has still been Tiger Jones, adding 24 touchdowns with 941 yards on 68 catches on his year. Their leader Dan Raudabaugh is adding up great numbers to season as well, going 216 for 318 for 2,676 yards with 56 touchdowns and 9 interceptions for a 121.5 quarterback rating.

The Storm’s quarterback Randy Hippeard is just a tear under Raudabaugh, as he’s 208 for 355 so far for 2,690 yards, 59 touchdowns and 14 interceptions with a 105.6 quarterback rating. Tampa Bay has a pretty good wide receiver trio of their own this season, with Amarri Jackson, Joe Hills and Justin Hilton all have double digit touchdowns and stand as a viable threat down the field.

These two teams have played pretty nasty against each other through the first two matches, and the Tampa Bay personnel has not had their class in check at time either when the Storm’s radio announcing crew Jack Harris and Darek Sharp referred to Tiger Jones as a sphincter in the first meeting. There is a lot of fuel on the fire between these two ball clubs, so expect to see the intensity through the roof tonight.

The real story for the Soul tonight should be trying to find their game on the road. Philadelphia is a perfect 5-0 in their home confines of the Wells Fargo Center, but are an underwhelming 1-6 on the road this season including a loss in Tampa. That defeat did come on the Soul’s rough three game road stretch to start the season, and despite the loss, the Soul looked to be the better team many times throughout the game.

If the Soul are going to make the playoffs and show the league that they are still a team to be reckoned with, they are going to have to start beating teams that they could potentially face in the playoffs, and show that they can win on the road. The rest of their schedule gives them more than enough opportunity, facing the Gladiators and Power who are in front of them in the division race, the Barnstormers who are tied with them for the fourth seed (Philly holds the tie breaker), the San Jose SaberCats and the first place Orlando Predators.

This may be the easiest opponent the Soul will face from here on out, and you cannot fall out of that final seed now with their tough schedule coming up. The players know this, and with everything to prove, hopefully they will continue to dominate the Storm and bury them two games behind themselves for the wildcard run.