The Soul travel to Pittsburgh with a chance to clinch playoff berth

"Pittsburgh is going to do what they can to keep Philly out of the postseason, because if there is one team nobody wants to face in the American Conference playoffs in August, it’s this Soul team..."                      
   
        

The Philadelphia Soul will hit the road to take on their cross-state rival Pittsburgh Power in the regular season finale, where a win will clinch the final wildcard seed for Philly in the American Conference playoffs.

A loss will not eliminate the 9-8 Soul from playoff contention, as a Tampa Bay Storm loss to the Cleveland Gladiators on Saturday will also clinch a spot for the Soul no matter what Philadelphia does in Pittsburgh.

Kickoff between the Soul and the Power will be at 5 p.m. Saturday, July 26 at the Console Energy Center, where the Power have won seven straight home games, only losing the home opener to the Cleveland Gladiators in the first week of the season. In fact, the Power have won their last eleven games,with their last loss at Cleveland in late April.

The Power have already clinched the first wildcard seed in the playoffs at 14-3, and they know they’ll be traveling to Orlando to face the Predators next weekend, so they essentially have nothing to play for standing wise.

But Pittsburgh is going to do what they can to keep Philly out of the postseason, because if there is one team nobody wants to face in the American Conference playoffs in August, it’s this Soul team that’s catching fire 

at the right time and has won the conference the last two years.

These two teams have met twice season, with Pittsburgh taking the first two matches. However, neither of the two games had both teams at full strength or weren’t surrounded by controversy.

On Saturday, May 3 the Power defeated the Soul by a single-score 65-57 at the Console Energy Center. The Power were missing key receivers in the game, while the Soul receiver Ryan McDaniel was ejected midway through the game for pushing a man off his ankle. The Soul had also just lost center Brennen Carvalho for the season the week before.

The teams rematched Saturday, June 14 in Philadelphia, where the Power won 57-56. The Soul led the game by one score coming out of halftime when a Raudabaugh pass clearly hit the chest of a Power defender and fell on the ground, which was ruled an interception by the officiating crew. The Power scored a touchdown on the next drive, than the Pittsburgh special teams recovered a kickoff in the end zone to make the horrendous call by the officials a two touchdown swing. The Soul responded and were able to take a late lead in the game, but the Power were able to kick a last-second field goal to win the game as time expired.

The Soul are 3-1 all time at the Console Energy Center, with their only loss coming in their last matchup in Pittsburgh.

The Power have been lead all season by quarterback Tommy Grady, the 2012 AFL MVP who has been 414 for 687 on the season with 4,581 yards, 108 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. Despite injury, Prechae Rodriguez has been Grady’s number one target this year, putting up 1,084 receiving yards and 28 touchdowns on 79 receptions. Shaun Kauleinamoku has been right behind Rodriguez with 1,310 yards and 17 touchdowns on 118 receptions.

Pittsburgh’s defense has played a major role in the Power’s eleven-game win streak. Defensive back Virgil Gray has nine interceptions for 243 yards and two touchdowns this year and 35 tackles. Defensive back Al Phillips has also recorded 5 interceptions for 36 yards, while defensive back Sergio Gilliam has 50 tackles.

It would be easy for a team that has nothing to play for to cash in the final game of the regular season against a team that has their entire season on the line, with the possibility of injuries to their best players and look ahead to their opponent next week in the postseason. However, this team is too talented and competitive to do such, and Pittsburgh’s going to want to keep their winning streak and momentum alive when they head into the postseason. On top of that, they don’t want to give anything easy to their biggest rival, who the Power have been little-brother to since they entered the league in 2011.

As mentioned above, they’re not going to want to face the two-time-defending American Conference champions again down the line, especially if they already lost to the Soul two weeks before, so this will not be an easy game for Philadelphia.

Despite all of what Pittsburgh has to play for, we’re still talking about this Philadelphia Soul team. They’ve faced a lot of adversity throughout the year, opening up with the worst start in franchise history. The team rebuilt a lot of their roster this past offseason, but the main core of the team that has strolled through the playoffs and ended up in the Arena Bowl the last two seasons is still in place.

Somehow, they’ve found a way to give themselves a chance at the playoffs with a win this weekend, and if they get a win in Pittsburgh against the team with league’s longest current win-streak on the road, they will feel they can beat anyone they face in the postseason in August.

The playoffs are on the line Saturday night, and when this roster has everything in the world to play for, it’s hard to bet against them. Hopefully they’ll be walking out of the Console Energy Center with a solid win Saturday night, and with plans to be walking back through those doors to do the same in two weeks.