Clock runs out on Soul in Jacksonville

A game that was as entertaining as any the Soul have played in this season ends in controversy, as Jacksonville benefits from a lack of officiating on the last play of the game to take the win, 74-67 over Philadelphia Saturday night.

The Soul and the Sharks were in a seesaw battle in which Philadelphia controlled the contest for over three quarters, as they owned a 60-48 lead with 13:31 remaining in the game.

Two minutes later, Jacksonville quarterback Tommy Grady found former Soul Tiger Jones for his third touchdown of the night to cut the Philadelphia lead to a one-score game with 11:09 left in the contest.

Than the wheels started spinning off for Raudabaugh and the Soul, as the league’s probable MVP threw his first interception of the night to defensive back Greg Reid, who brought the pick to the house to tie the ballgame up at 60 apiece.

Raudabaugh got the ball back on the next drive, but suffered the same fate as Reid once again picked Raudabaugh off and returning the ball to the endzone. A penalty was called on the Jacksonville return, but Derrick Ross the Boss stuck it to his old team on the next drive, scoring a touchdown to give his team their first lead of the night, 67-60 with 6:55 left in the game.

The Soul offense would bounce back on the next drive, marching the length of the field for a Adam Smith touchdown to tie the game at 67-67 with 47 seconds remaining in the game.

The Sou’s kicker, Tommy Frevert missed three extra point attempts and one field goal in the contest, and was unable to convert an onside kick attempt which put Jacksonville on Philly’s eight yard line.

Philadelphia’s defense was able to pressure Grady and the Jacksonville offense all night long, but they could not come up on the final drive of the game as the Sharks’ offense was able to orchestrate another go-ahead touchdown, this time to Derrick Ross who flaunted his touchdown celebration to his former team, putting his club on top again at 74-67 with 31 seconds remaining.

The Soul were cost effecting on their final drive and faced a fourth down with 15 seconds left at their own 21 yard line, yet seemingly kept the drive alive with a three-yard completion to Marco Thomas to the Soul 24 yard line.

Raudabaugh quickly got ahold of the game ball and tossed it the official standing at center field, and while the teams lined up for a final play as the ref bent down with the ball, he chose not to place the ball in time as the clock controversially ran out at the referee's choice, ending the game and giving the Sharks the game.

You try to keep your biases aside, but it was flat out the wrong call and cost the Soul an opportunity to tie or win the game at the end of regulation.

Obviously the official's mistake at the end of the game was not the only reason the Soul were defeated by the Sharks Saturday night. Philadelphia maintained the game through 50 minutes and coughed the game up, handing it over the Sharks who chomped on the opportunity in front of them. Raudabaugh rarely throws interceptions this season, let alone two in the final minutes of the game.
Yet, it’s also discouraging to see AFL officials end the last play of a game controversially two weeks in a row, as last week the Tampa Bay Storm appeared to call timeout on the final play of the game, yet were not granted one as they fell to the Orlando Predators. A league that is a suffering product cannot afford to be surrounded with this kind of controversy very often.

Nonetheless, the Soul still sit atop the American Conference, guaranteed to be at home as far as they make it in the American Conference playoffs, where they sit undefeated at home and would gladly welcome Jacksonville in either the Wildcard round or the Conference Championship.

This game hurts, but the Soul have to rebound and regroup. They have a bye week to think things over, realize what went wrong for them and use their mistakes to their advantage for postseason play in four weeks.

Soul go shark hunting in Jacksonville

Cue the Jaws music.

The Philadelphia Soul are taking their final trip to Florida for the 2015 season this weekend with the opportunity to dash the playoff hopes of the preseason Arena Bowl favorite Jacksonville Sharks.

The game is seemingly meaningless for the Soul in terms of the American Conference playoff picture, as the Soul have locked up the top seed in the conference with a 13-2 record, an impressive spot many once picked the Sharks to be in at this point in the season. However, the Sharks have struggled to stay .500 all season, currently sitting 7-7 and in danger of missing the playoffs all together.

Jacksonville holds the top wild card seed, two games behind the division leading Orlando Predators (9-6), a half game ahead of the second wild card seed Cleveland Gladiators and one game ahead of the Tampa Bay Storm (6-8), who are on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.

The season series is split between Philadelphia and Jacksonville, as the Soul took the first game of the series with a 63-52 win over Jacksonville on April 12 in Philadelphia, while the Sharks got revenge one month later, handing the Soul their first loss of the season with a 55-47 win of their own on May 15 in Jacksonville.

Since their last meeting, the Soul have went 6-1 the last two months while the Sharks have 4-2 in that stretch. Jacksonville is coming off a deflating 72-48 loss to the Portland Thunder (4-10) last weekend.

By now we all know that the Sharks have a number of faces we recognize, starting with Derrick Ross, who is once again the league’s leading rusher with 473 yards and 27 touchdowns. Philadelphia is dead last in the AFL in rushing defense, allowing 32.3 yards per game, which gives Ross an opportunity to finally breakout in the season series between the two clubs. Ross only rushed for 32 yards in his first meeting with his former team, and dropped those stats to 13 yards with one touchdown in the second match.

Former Soul and franchise leader in receiving Tiger Jones is his league’s leader in receiving yards with 1,636 and 30 touchdowns. Joe Hills has earned 31 touchdowns with 1,183 yards for Jacksonville as well.

Tommy Grady is riding a 65.4 passing percentage, throwing for 3,680 yards with 74 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Jacksonville’s offense is the third highest in scoring across the league averaging 294.7 yards per game.

It’s surprising in some instances to see not only the Sharks struggling with the roster, but struggling with the offensive numbers they have put up throughout their 14 games this season.

However, the Soul have been the second best offensive squad in the league this season, only behind the San Jose SaberCats, averaging 307.6 yards per game.

Philadelphia’s passing offense is the top of the league averaging 288.1 yards per game. Dan Raudabaugh has led the AFL in passing all season, currently sitting with a 66.5 completion percentage, 4,291 passing yards and 101 touchdowns, undoubtedly the league’s MVP this season.

Marco Thomas and Ryan McDaniel show up every week and put up their stats, but the status on Lonnie Outlaw is uncertain after suffering a shoulder injury in last week’s 72-56 win over the Cleveland Gladiators. Harvey Binford stepped up and filled Outlaw’s shoes, hauling in 145 yards and four touchdowns.

The Soul have suffered their two losses of the season in the sunshine state, the first in Jacksonville and the second in Orlando to make their record 1-2 in Florida through their first three games. Philadelphia owns the all time series 4-3.

The Sharks definitely the need this game more than the Soul, as Jacksonville is trying to keep their playoff hopes alive while Philadelphia is trying to make their record look as good as they can with the hopes of hosting the Arena Bowl. Jacksonville is still a talented team despite their record, and as we’ve seen are capable of beating the Soul.

It’s time for the Soul to shoot down the Sharks Chief Brody style and put the Sharks down for good, as a win Saturday night would get the Soul a good chance of not seeing them again this season.

Soul clinch No. 1 seed, series win over rival Gladiators

If there was any doubt that the Soul deserved their 2015 East Division crown, it was put to rest Saturday afternoon with Philadelphia’s 72-56 win over the Cleveland Gladiators.

With the win, the Soul take the season series over their arch rival, only a year removed from the three-game sweep the 2014 conference champion Cleveland Gladiators had over the Soul. The tides have certainly turned as the Soul now advance to 13-2 on the season, holding the division championship and clinching home field advantage throughout the conference playoffs.  

The Gladiators meanwhile fall to 7-8, in danger of losing the final wildcard seed in the American Conference.

Soul quarterback Dan Raudabaugh continued his stellar season Saturday afternoon completing 20 of his 27 passes with 306 yards and seven touchdowns. Harvey Binford was Philly’s leading receiver with 145 yards and four touchdowns.

For Cleveland, quarterback Shane Austin was not as perfect as he was against Philly last season, going 19 for 39 in passing yet still throwing for 228 yards and six touchdowns with two interceptions. Receiver Amarri Jackson brought in 125 yards and three touchdowns for Cleveland.

Philly started the game off strong forcing Shane Austin to fumble the ball on the first snap of the game, which would lead to a Tommy Taggart touchdown.

Cleveland would respond quickly, marching down the field and tying the game 7-7 with a Jer Richardson one-yard touchdown.

On the Soul’s next drive, Lonnie Outlaw would score a costly 16-yard touchdown that would dislocate his shoulder, forcing him to leave the game while the Soul lead 14-7.

Late in the second quarter leading 21-14, the Soul appeared to stop the Gladiators on downs to regain possession, but a pass interference call advanced Cleveland to a first down. The drive would still result in a Cleveland turnover, as Lereco Stevenson intercepted a pass that was tipped by TJ Cobb with 5:33 remaining in the first half, Cleveland’s second turnover of the half to give Philly the ball.

Ryan McDaniel would punch in an eight-yard touchdown off the turnover to extend the Soul lead to two scores, 28-14 with 3:49 remaining in the half.

The Gladiators would respond three minutes later with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Austin to Amarri Jackson, but the drive ended up being a momentum builder for the Soul as the extra point attempt was blocked and returned by Joe Goosby for a two-point conversion for Philadelphia, who led 30-20.

The Soul would get the ball back with 30 seconds left before the half, and compiled a 23-second drive that resulted in a Harvey Binford touchdown to give the Soul a 37-20 lead heading into the locker room.

The Soul made a statement on the first snap of the second half, with Raudabaugh throwing a 36-yard bomb to a wide open Binford that extended Philadelphia’s lead to 44-20.

While Raudabaugh is on pace to earn the 2015 AFL MVP, he had a rare mistake with eight minutes remaining the third quarter, throwing an interception to the Cleveland backup Chris Dieker, filling in for safety. Cleveland marched down for a second straight score to cut the Philly lead to 44-34.

Philly would add on a touchdown and stop Cleveland on a fourth-down quarterback-sneak at the 14 yard line to regain the ball on the first possession of the fourth quarter, leading 51-34. Raudabaugh found Marco Thomas the very next play to go up 58-34.

Shane Austin’s struggles continued the next possession with a fourth down sack at the 20 yard line with 9:55 remaining in the game.

The Soul did not look back from there as Raudabaugh got to take a seat and let backup Bryan Randall see some playing time with five minutes remaining in the game leading 65-34.

Cleveland would make things interesting in the final minute of the game, scoring nine points in the final 30 seconds to cut the lead to 72-56 but would get no closer.

The Soul dominated the Gladiators in every facet of the game, as the offense, defense and special teams dominated the defending conference champions on nearly every snap. Saturday afternoon was refreshing to see the Soul show up to work after the bye week and take their hated rival to the house and damage their playoff hopes, while also adding momentum to their own.

The concerning light is that the Soul have lost a second receiver to injury, as Outlaw joins TK on the injury list and there has not been a timetable released on either yet. However, the Soul receiving core did not miss a beat when Outlaw went down early this afternoon as Harvey Binford proved why he belongs on one of the top rosters in the AFL.

Philadelphia has three more opportunities to show the league why they’re worthy of an Arena Bowl title before the playoffs begin next month, which begins next Saturday with a trip down to see our old friends in Jacksonville with the season series on the line against the Sharks.

Outlaw leaves Cleveland game with injury

While the Soul are taking on the Cleveland Gladiators on CBS Sports Network, Lonnie Outlaw has left the game with a dislocated shoulder. Bad news for the team that is already missing another wide receiver Shaun Kauleinamoku to injury as well.

No news has been released from the Soul, but depending on the severity of the injury, Outlaw could miss anywhere from two weeks to the rest of the season.

More following the game.