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.