Soul upset by Gladiators for first time in two years

With an opportunity to extend their first place lead, the Philadelphia Soul lost to the Cleveland Gladiators Saturday night for the first time in seven meetings between the rivals.

It was an ugly and uncharacteristic game for the Soul in the 63-49 loss.

Philadelphia had only been stopped on downs once in their last two games, and matched that total on their first drive of Saturday’s game. Philly turned the ball over on downs a total of four times.

The Soul suffered costly turnovers in the final minutes of each half, with Darius Reynolds fumbling the ball in the final minute of the first half trailing by one touchdown. In the final five minutes of the game, Dan Raudabaugh threw a costly pick-six to Cleveland’s Marvin Ross to put Cleveland up by two touchdowns.

Philly’s defense had trouble tackling the entire game, letting Cleveland’s linebacker-moved-to-quarterback Arvell Nelson tear up the field, throwing for 307 yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions. The defensive line for Philly did not record a sack on Nelson and did not generate much pressure on the quarterback, which the Soul’s defense strived with in their seven wins this season.

Quentin Sims brought in 114 yards and three touchdowns for the Gladiators.

As we stated above, this was Philly’s first loss to Cleveland in seven matches and two years. The loss snapped Philly’s six-game win streak.

Cleveland has come alive as of late, with Saturday being their fourth-straight win. It was, however, their biggest and most impressive win of the season, with all due respect to the Storm, Sharks and Steele. Cleveland was motivated heading into Quicken loans arena Saturday, knowing Philly was coming to town with the best record in Arena Football and a huge win streak over them.

The Soul looked to be a bit overconfident in the game, and it showed from the first drive.

It was a painful loss, but at the end of the weekend, the Soul still have the best record in Arena Football with their tiebreakers over Orlando and Arizona. This would have been a great opportunity to extend their lead over the Predators, who lost to the scattered Sharks at home Friday night. But Philadelphia still has the opportunity to play the Predators and Rattlers, though both matches will be on the road.

The Soul will also have a chance to get revenge over the Gladiators for their upset win when Cleveland travels to Philadelphia on July 9 for the finale of the four-game series.

Fun fact, next weekend’s game for the Gladiators against the Arizona Rattlers will be their final home game of the regular season. Things appear to be turning around for the Gladiators somewhat, who sit second in the National Conference at 5-4. But things will get more challenging for the Gladiators with Arizona coming to town than hitting the road for six straight weeks.

Philly’s record took a hit down to 7-2, but again, is still the best in Arena Football.

Good teams lose to sub-par and down right bad teams quite often this league. There should be little doubt about Philly's capability to remain among the top teams of the league all year, and if you want proof of their ability to remain a contender, look no further than 2013 when a bad Gladiators team upset the Soul early in a year where Philly ended up in their second straight Arena Bowl.

And as much as Philly despises the Gladiators, it might have been better to lose this week and get humbled up before more facing a more important game next week in Jacksonville.

Have the Soul gotten too big for their Cleveland rivalry?

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When the Soul kickoff against the Cleveland Gladiators this Saturday at 7 p.m., the game will in all likelihood be just a shell of what the rivalry once was between these former East Division foes.

The trash talking will no doubt be a part of the pregame rituals, the late hits will stir a rise from the offensive team and we will probably see a few unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

But it won’t be the same as the 2008 playoff match that saw Mike Brown leaping over kicker Jason Ball for a touchdown. There won’t be a sea of “yes!” chants from the crowd that will overpower the visiting Soul, like the two road matches of 2014.

The game might even lack the intensity of last seasons 47-35 first round playoff win at the Wells Fargo Center, where there was never a doubt the Soul would come out on top.

The truth is, the Soul-Gladiators rivalry is not what it once was, and it’s not just because the Gladiators moved to the National Conference this past offseason and no longer compete with Philly for a playoff seed.

The Soul have sustained a powerhouse year after year, and the Gladiators just haven’t been able to keep up.

But it wasn’t always this way. Even going back two seasons ago, Cleveland had their way with Philadelphia during the most successful season in Cleveland’s franchise history. The Gladiators took the league by storm, putting together a commanding 17-1 regular season record for the league’s top seed.

It wasn’t that Cleveland was tremendously better than Philadelphia that year. Five of Cleveland’s regular season victories came in the last seconds of the game, and two of which came over the Soul on hail mary throws to steal the win over a Philadelphia team that outplayed their most hated team from Ohio.

When the teams met up in the opening round of the playoffs, Cleveland nailed their season of comebacks with a field goal as time expired to eliminate the back-to-back defending conference champion Soul, enroute their own Arena Bowl appearance (where they would get smothered at home by the Rattlers).

Since that field goal two years ago, the teams have taken dramatically different paths in the AFL.

The Soul have won six straight over the Gladiators, while finishing last season with the American Conference’s top seed and currently hold the top seed of the AFL this season.

Philadelphia has been all that Cleveland hoped to become two years ago, with impressive wins on their season over the Arizona Rattlers and once undefeated Orlando Predators with a 7-1 record at the midpoint of the season.

Two of those wins have come against the Cleveland Gladiators, a 69-41 statement win to set the tone for the season on opening night in Cleveland, and a 67-50 win in Philly back in week four.

As for the Gladiators, their 4-4 record has them second in a very underwhelming National Conference that probably isn’t going to be represented by anyone but Arizona in the Arena Bowl.

The Gladiators will show up to play this weekend and try to prove that they are worthy of playing on the same field as the best team in the league. And to their credit, they’re on a three-game win streak, with their last two victories both coming in overtime against the Portland Steele and Tampa Bay Storm (the two worst teams in the league).

But you can look at the last match between the Soul and the Gladiators to use as any indication for anything that might arise this weekend. Cleveland jumped out to a two-possession lead over the Soul after careless mistakes on defense, costly penalties and turnovers by the offense.

But Philadelphia quickly showed just how much better they are than Cleveland now. Dan Raudabaugh constructed another outstanding performance in that match, completing 26 of 31 passes for 315 yards and eight touchdowns.

Dwayne Hollis brought in a timely interception in the second half, one of the three Philly’s defense brought in all game. Hollis also earned five tackles in the win.

Raudabaugh and Hollis were the storyline in the game last month, and they have been all season long.

We say it week in and week out, but Raudabaugh is on pace for his second MVP season, and after last week’s impressive win over Orlando he has to be the favorite at this point. Hollis is leading the league in interceptions with six, looking like a solid defensive player of the year candidate.

The Soul are giving us great moments this season to enjoy. There are playmakers on Cleveland’s team, such as defensive back Joe Powell and wide receiver Colin Taylor who can try and keep things interesting. And while anything is possible in this league, Philadelphia is the overwhelmingly better team in this rivalry.

Philadelphia is in a three way race with Orlando and Arizona for homefield throughout the entire playoffs, and they probably won’t let a Cleveland Gladiators team stand in their way this weekend.

Soul win battle of first place over Orlando

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At the halfway point of the regular season, the Philadelphia Soul hold Arena Football’s best record at 7-1 after their 62-45 win over the Orlando Predators, which was never as close as the score indicates.

Orlando head coach Rob Keefe deemed Saturday’s match the “regular season championship for the first half of the season.” And that’s exactly what the matchup indicated, as the Predators headed into the match with the AFL’s top record of 7-0, while the Soul held the league’s second best record at 6-1.

Through the first half, the teams played as similar as their records were. The only drama through the first 29 minutes were missed extra points by Philly’s Tommy Freevert in the first quarter and Orlando’s Mark Lewis with one minute remaining in the half.

The final minute before halftime proved to be the biggest momentum swing of the game, when Dan Raudabaugh and the Soul offense started their final drive of the half with 52 seconds remaining. Rather than scoring quickly and attempting an onside kick, head coach Clint Dolezel elected to take his sweet time with the clock, forcing the Predators to use all three timeouts in the minute and getting the ball to the goal line.

Philly attempted the touchdown on third down, but was stopped by the Orlando defensive line with three seconds remaining. Jeramie Richardson ran outside the defensive line on along the boards on fourth down to find the endzone and put the Soul up 34-27 at the half.

The cat-and-mouse victory for Dolezel set the tone for the second half.

Neither offense turned the ball over in the first two quarters, but on the first play out of the locker rooms Philly’s Dwayne Hollis intercepted Orlando quarterback Randy Hippeard’s pass downfield for the game’s first turnover.

Raudabaugh would march his offense 41 yards to the Orlando goal line once again, where Richardson found his second straight touchdown putting Philly up 41-27.

Orlando’s undefeated team had seen two score deficits in their previous matches, but they hadn’t faced a hole quite as big as what they would face on the next kickoff. Freevert’s kick to the Predators bounced off the crossbar and became live on the field, where Larico Stevenson outran all other players to the ball in the endzone for yet another Soul touchdown, giving Philly a commanding 55-27 lead early in the second half.

The Soul never lost control of the remainder of the game after Stevenson’s touchdown. For the second week in a row however, Philadelphia’s special teams struggled at times to recover onside kicks, as two recoveries for the Predators brought them within a score late in the game. But Philadelphia capitalized when it mattered most, as Dan Raudabaugh was brilliant once again completing 20 of his 27 passes for four touchdowns. Jeramie Richardson punched in three touchdowns, while Darius Reynolds led all receivers with two touchdowns.

Raudabaugh won the battle that had great dividends riding for the MVP award, as Hippeard completed 26 of his 41 passes with eight touchdowns but one costly interception to Dwayne Hollis.

Winners of six in a row, the Soul have captured the top seed in the American Conference, let alone the entire league. There is still much ball to be played, but as we sit at the halfway point of the season, everyone else is looking up at this team that most considered a good team heading in, but didn’t give much credit for a championship contender. The Soul are for real, and now they get a chance to visit their top rival Cleveland Gladiators this week to show off their first place standing.

Soul face Predators for league's best record

Fresh off one of the biggest wins in franchise history, the Philadelphia Soul are rolling at a pace no one can seem to keep up.

Sitting 6-1, the Soul have the second best record in the league, after taking down the Arizona Rattlers 65-68 last weekend at home for their first win over the desert snakes for the first time, ever.

Now, after opening the season as underdogs to the Arizona Rattlers and Jacksonville Sharks in some eyes, the Soul will face their biggest opponent to date, when the undefeated Orlando Predators head to the Wells Fargo Center Saturday night for a battle to decide the league’s first place halfway through the regular season.

Orlando has been the AFL’s cream of the crop this year, playing with a flawless record which sits them first in the American Conference at 7-0, one game ahead of the Soul.

Quarterback Randy Hippeard has been the storyline for the last remaining team to lose a game, as Hippeard’s 125.4 quarterback rating is just behind Nick Davila so far. In his second season with the Predators, the 30-year-old Hippeard leads the league in passing yards with 1,920 yards, 42 touchdowns and four interceptions.

His top receiver, Greg Carr, is third in the league in receiving with 631 yards and 13 touchdowns. Brandon Thompkins is Orlando’s leading scorer with 17 touchdowns.

It’s been hard for opponents to stop the Predators offense on any down, as they lead both third down efficiencies (65 percent completion) as well as fourth efficiencies (72 percent completion).

Orlando gets production from all three phases of their team, as Brand Thompkins leads the league in kick returns with 843 yards as well as three touchdowns to the house.

The Preds defense is equipped with the league’s second top defensive back Varmah Sonie, who’s five interceptions is tied with Philly’s Dwayne Hollis (but Dwayne has two interceptions on those picks to his credit).

With numbers these high and threats on all sides of the ball, you would think the Predators are dominating their opponents in outstanding fashion…

But luckily for Soul fans, things aren’t always as they seem.

There is no doubt the Predators have the outstanding playmakers listed above, but Orlando has escaped some close calls against some not-so-impressive opponents.

In their season opener, the Predators throttled the Tampa Bay Storm 76-25. Fast forward seven weeks later, and the Storm still haven’t won a game yet. But last week, the Storm showed the vulnerability of Orlando’s defense that falls asleep at times and cannot give the offense the opportunity to extend their lead, no matter how little their opponent may be. This was the same case for head coach Rob Keefe’s team week two, when the Preds could only defeat the league’s last winless team, the Portland Steele, by a field goal.

At the same token, the Predator offense hasn’t always been in sync, as they showed two weeks ago falling behind by a pair of scores to the Arizona Rattlers. They would rally in the game and handed the Rattlers their first loss of the season with a 77-59 win.

For the Soul, their offense looked nearly flawless last weekend against those same Predators, as their only offensive drive of the game that didn’t result in a touchdown still earned points on a field goal.

The Soul defense took down the all-mighty Rattler offense impressively last week, now they have their biggest opponent they will probably face this season. Orlando has found ways to win every single game this season, no matter what the extent of the victory was. Philly’s defense very well may be the most challenging they’ve faced this season as well.

The teams will meet again in Orlando to end the regular season on July 30, but who knows if the teams will be playing for anything by than.

This will match that will have great implications in the league’s MVP candidates in Raudabaugh vs. Hippeard. It will have great implication on the home field picture for the playoffs.

The Soul proved last week that if they can reach the Arena Bowl, they can beat the Rattlers in it. Now, they have to prove they can make it to the big game.

Raudabaugh vs. Hippeard: who's leading the MVP discussion right now?

When the Philadelphia Soul host the Orlando Predators this weekend, the match up could have more implications riding on its outcome than first place of the American conference with nine weeks remaining.

As the regular season progresses and the league’s top-tier teams such as the Soul, Predators and Arizona Rattlers begin to distance themselves from the lesser teams, it’s clear the Arena Bowl will probably come down to one of these three teams barring injuries or promotions of players to higher leagues.

But one thing that is not as cut-and-dry but will probably get chosen from the same selection pool is the leagues MVP award.

And as Saturday’s game will inch the winner closer to home field advantage in the playoffs over the team they defeat, it could also help decide whether the MVP will go to it’s reigning winner, Dan Raudbaugh, or the newcomer to the debate in Randy Hippeard, who’s quarterbacked the Orlando Predators to an impressive and so far undefeated season.

For the sake of MVP debate in mid-May, let’s examine the play of the league’s two best quarterbacks to date on the season in Raudabaugh in Hippeard.

Hippeard has thrown for more yards than any other quarterback in the league so far with 1,920. Raudabaugh is fourth in thrown yards 1,734 behind Hippeard, Nick Davila and Tommy Grady.

The Soul’s rushing game has also benefited to Raudabaugh’s advantage but has dropped his passing stats, as fullback Jermaine Richardson has lead the league in rushing most of the season with 140 yards before Derrick Ross passed him this past week by eight yards.

However, Raudabaugh has the nod over Hippeard in passing completion, completing 144 of his 211 attempts for a 68.2 completion percentage, second in the league only behind Davila. Hippeard comes in fourth with 142 completions on 217 attempts for a 65.4 completion percentage. Both guys have 42 touchdowns, while Raudabaugh has seven interceptions and Hippeard has thrown four.

These are just minor differences, bringing Raudabaugh to a 119 quarterback rating and Hippeard a 125.4 rating.

Raudabaugh has put together yet another potential Arena Bowl run for the Philadelphia franchise that has made the playoffs all four years Raudabaugh has been in Philly, back before every team qualified for the postseason. No one can truly be surprised by the Soul’s opportunity to take the league’s best record at this point in the season.

Hippeard is no stranger to playoff fever either, on the verge of leading his team to their second straight home field postseason bid in all reality. Some have pointed to Hippeard and Orlando’s accomplishments compared to the past and argue that it gives him an extra vote of confidence for the MVP award. But if we’re going to factor the past into the equation (if they can really do that?), shouldn’t Raudabaugh’s two Arena Bowl appearances and four-straight playoff appearances and reigning MVP status give him an impressive argument as well?

The Predators and Hippeard have not lost a game yet this season as they head to the city of brotherly love this weekend, compared to the one loss Raudabaugh and his Soul crew suffered to the Jacksonville Sharks at home in week two.

Both teams took down the all-mighty Arizona Rattlers within the past two weeks, and both squads seemed to take the Tampa Bay Storm for granted at times in that same time frame.

And of course, the debate in every league when comparing two viable candidates for the MVP award is deciding whether the award is for the best player in the league, or the one who is most valuable to their respected team. Would the Soul have seen equal success if Luke Collins was under center every week? Could the Predators be undefeated if Bernard Morris was still the starter in Orlando?

Philly and Orlando are the only teams to have one or less losses at this point in the season, and Raudabaugh could help hand Hippeard his first loss of the season.

So it’s obvious to see that this weekends game could have a lot of impact in determining who gets dubbed the 2016 MVP of the AFL. Of course, there is still an entire second half of football to be played, let alone a second meeting between these two teams down in Orlando later in the summer. Both players would probably gladly and honestly tell you they’d rather have their team finish atop the conference and reach the Arena Bowl then take home the MVP hardware, and both could more than likely be decided by these next nine games.

SOUL RATTLE ARIZONA FOR STATEMENT WIN

Dan Raudabaugh celebrates after his franchises first win over the Arizona Rattlers.

It’s been a long time coming.

For the first time ever, the Philadelphia Soul can say they defeated the Arizona Rattlers, after Saturday night’s 65-58 win.

It didn’t end up being as easy as Philadelphia made it seem at times, jumping out to 17-point leads twice in the game. Arizona never gave up, and fought back to cut Philly’s first triple-digit lead to three points, and cut their second deficit in the second half to a single touchdown in the final minute of the game.

In the end, the greed of the great Arizona Rattlers, who have dominated the league for nearly half a decade, might have cost them their best chance of another impressive comeback when head coach Kevin Guy elected to try an onside kick after scoring two straight touchdowns to close the first half and open the second half.

At the time, the Rattlers were taking advantage of two straight possessions, which seemed to be the only way to slow down the Soul offense all night.

Dan Raudabaugh had been hitting his receivers, such as Darius Reynolds and Shaun “S.K.” Kauleinamoku all night.

Nick Davila’s offense wasn’t quite as in sync as they were during their four-straight Arena Bowl appearances from 2011-14, two of which were championship victories for the Rattlers over the Soul.

The Rattlers made some unorthodox mistakes which stung their team early, none of which affected their rhythm worse than Markus Smith’s fumble on Arizona’s opening drive which was recovered by Philly’s Sean Daniels.

The turnover resulted in S.K.’s first score of the night.

Two drives later with Philly up 21-7, the Rattlers faced a fourth-and-goal situation in Philly’s red zone, but Joe Goosby came up big to break up a scoring pass to turn the ball over on downs for the second turnover of the night.

Philly faced a similar situation on the other end of the field a few plays later, facing a fourth-down situation in the Rattlers’ zone, but Soul head coach Clint Dolezel elected to send Tommy Frevert out for his first field goal attempt of the season. The try was successful, putting the Soul up 24-7.

Than the game turned into a special teams affair.

Both teams traded onside kicks to end the half, with Philadelphia’s defense struggling with penalties all game which led to Arizona scoring the final points of the half to cut Philly’s lead to 31-21.

With the Rattlers getting the ball to start the second half, they came out of the locker room with a quick score to cut Philly’s lead down to three-points, and all of a sudden due to little fault of the Soul’s offense, a cruising game with a once 17-point lead was suddenly deeply threatened.

But cutting the lead to less than one touchdown wasn’t good enough for the Rattlers coach, who called the onside kick to try and steal a third straight possession.

The try was unsuccessful, as Philly’s Sean Daniels picked the ball up at the 13-yard line and returned it to the house to put the Soul back up by 10 points.

Guy’s decision for the onside haunted him on the next kick as well, as Anthony Amos was completely crushed on the kickoff on a hit from Goosby forcing a fumble on the return which was recovered by the Soul’s Phil Belton in Arizona territory.

Raudabaugh found Ryan McDaniel in the end zone moments later, and suddenly a wave of Rattler momentum was dashed by the greediness of Guy’s desire for one more possession early in the second half with Philly up 45-28.

With a higher yet similar score later in the game, the Rattlers tried a second run at stealing the game in Philly as they had done in all six meetings the franchises the teams have had throughout history.

Arizona scored three of the final five touchdowns in the game to cut Philly’s late lead to a single touchdown once again.

The game came down to a final onside kick, which was knocked out of bounds by a Soul defender to give Philly the ball.

The Soul struggled with calls from the officials all night long, with unsportsmanlike conduct infractions handed down and minor penalties putting the Soul in the bonus. And just when it seemed Arizona might have the chance to force a fourth-down to get the ball and tie the game or take the lead, it was the Soul have benefited from the biggest call of the game, when Arizona’s defensive back Alan Davis was penalized for a pass interference in the end zone to allow the Soul to run out the clock.

Raudbaugh finished the game completing 14 of his 21 passes for 223 yards, six touchdowns and zero interceptions, his best performance ever against the Rattlers.

Reynolds brought in 126 yards and three touchdowns.

The win was Philadelphia’s first ever over this Arizona Rattlers team that has been the biggest obstacle holding the Soul back from an Arena Bowl championship.

But now the Soul have proven they are legit contenders for the big ring this season.

The Rattlers had major injuries heading into the game, but no team is completely healthy at this point in the season.

If these two teams meet once again in the Arena Bowl, the Soul now have the 6-1 record lead over the 5-2 Arizona Rattlers, and also hold the tiebreaker. The teams will face each other again in Arizona next month before the playoffs, but the Soul have already shown their capability of beating the team many thought they couldn’t, especially if the possible Arena Bowl matchup would be held in our own Wells Fargo Center.

It was an impressive win for the Soul. It was a statement win. It kept Philadelphia just one game out of first place for the American conference, and they’ve shown they deserve to have the second best record in the league.

Now all they have to do is face the undefeated Orlando Predators next Saturday night in South Philly for first place in the league.

Will Philadelphia (finally) beat Arizona for the first time ever?

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It’s still week seven for the Philadelphia Soul, but Saturday night’s game against the Arizona Rattlers feels like it has much more riding on it than a regular season game in mid-May.

In fact, it feels much heavier than a game with two 5-1 teams facing off in a possible Arena Bowl preview.

When the Soul host the Arizona Rattlers Saturday night, they can show the league and themselves that if they do face the Rattlers in the Arena Bowl for the third time in five seasons, they can actually beat them.

Let’s make one thing clear: The Soul have never, ever, ever, ever, ever beaten the Arizona Rattlers.

Since Arizona entered the league in 1992 and Philadelphia joined in 2004, the teams have met up six times, all between 2011-14. Nick Davila has been Arizona’s leader at quarterback in all six matches, and Dan Raudabaugh’s era has been apart of the last five.

We’ve seen blowouts, and we’ve seen Philadelphia slip leads in games they should have won in this series. There have been four regular season matchups, and we know there have been two Arena Bowl showdowns. But the one consistent trend is Arizona has always walked off the field victorious.

When the Rattlers won their last game against the Soul opening night 2014, Guy told the media “I’m tired of playing them, I’m tired of playing them.”

And it was the last time they played. It’s been two years since the teams have seen each other, and while the rosters have both seen considerable changes since than, it’s still Soul-Rattlers, and Philly still needs to get their first win against them.

Something has to give eventually, right?

Let’s look at the first of two regular season matchups between these teams for this season.

Philadelphia will be welcoming the Rattlers to the city of brotherly for just the second time ever, and both teams are seeking their sixth win while trying to avoid their second loss.

Arizona’s 5-1 record leads the National Conference, despite suffering their first loss of the season last weekend in Orlando when the undefeated Predators  dismantled the Rattlers, 77-59.

Arizona will take their second straight trip to the east coast this weekend, but have been forced to make both trips without one of their driving defensive forces in Kerry Reed.

Reed, a linebacker who helped lead Arizona to three-straight Arena Bowl titles from 2012-14, left week five’s game against the Portland Steel with an “upper body injury” that ended his season.

But in their first loss of the season last week, Arizona’s injury woes only got worse, with safety Arkeith Brown, defensive lineman Dimetrio Tyson and kicker Kenny Spencer all leaving due to injuries.

Their defense still has potential threats to Philly’s offense, as Dimetrio Tyson and Luis Vasquez are the league’s leaders in sacks.

Arizona’s offense is just as dangerous as any other year, as Davila is the league’s third leading quarterback with a 71.8 passing completion percentage, 39 touchdowns and three interceptions. Rod Winsor is the league’s second leading receiver with 21 touchdowns and 764 yards.

For Philadelphia, the Soul are coming off a 47-17 win over the Tampa Bay Storm that could have been much more of a blowout had Philadelphia not shown signs of possibly looking forward to this week's matchup. Raudabaugh’s stats took some hits with some early mistakes, with his completion percentage now at 69.1 percent with 36 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Darius Reynolds and Shaun Kauleinamoku are two of the the league’s top receivers, combining for 25 touchdowns and nearly 1,000 yards.

On the Soul defense, Dwayne Hollis has hauled in five interceptions while his teammate Tracy Belton has grabbed four of his own.

Saturday’s game will be tough for both teams heading in.

Arizona has to fly across the country for the second week, but they had two extra days to prepare than Philly as the Soul are coming off a short week after playing the Monday night game.

Philadelphia has injuries to their roster as well, but Arizona definitely is walking in with more of a limp than the Soul.

This game also means a lot more to the Soul than it does to the Rattlers. The teams will meet up again June 17, but it will be in Arizona. If Philadelphia loses this Saturday’s game, they will have another opportunity to beat the Rattlers before the postseason, but it would be on the road against the team they’ve never beaten, and Arizona could return many of their injured players by than.

A win would keep Philadelphia just a game behind 7-0 Orlando, and would give them a better record and the tiebreaker over Arizona for home field in the Arena Bowl for now.

The Rattlers will be favored in almost every single game they play in as long as Davila is their quarterback and Guy is the head coach, but this is a golden opportunity for the Soul to wreak some havoc against a team that’s dashed their hopes and dreams so many times in recent memory. The game could come down to a last-possession match or even a special teams kick, and although Arizona has clinched games against Philadelphia in those fashions, the Soul will have the upper hands in both those departments this time around.

Soul cruise after late start for Monday night win over Tampa

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Despite a slow start in a matchup dubbed a potential trap game, the Philadelphia Soul weathered the Tampa Bay Storm for a 47-17 win to help their cause toward an American Conference championship.

It’s hard to believe now, but the Storm actually held a two-possession lead right out the jump of Philadelphia’s second-straight Monday night matchup.

Tampa’s Mike Washington returned the game's opening kickoff 37 yards into Soul territory, but the Storm offense showed the struggles and incapabilities they’ve faced all season, going unable to pick up an offensive first down. Kicker Craig Peterson converted just his second field goal completion of the season, this one good for 21-yards to give the storm an early 3-0.

On Philadelphia’s first offensive drive moments later, Dan Raudabaugh threw an uncharacteristic interception in the endzone to Tampa’s James Harrell, who returned his gift 40-yards to the Soul red zone.

Phillip Barnette contributed to his Storm team’s stunning start with a diving catch over the boards to extend Tampa’s lead to 10-0 with 7:31 remaining in the first frame.

A lengthy drive brought the Soul knocking on the doorstep of Tampa’s end zone once again on the next drive, and this time Raudabaugh took a more conservative approach handing the ball off to Jeramie Richardson, the league's leading rusher, who punched in a three-yard touchdown to get the Soul on the board.

Tommy Frevert couldn’t complete the score however, hitting the right upright on the extra point attempt to kick Tampa ontop 10-6.

Tampa had the opportunity to go back up by two scores, marching down to the Soul’s red zone and challenging the Soul defensive line on a fourth-and-goal rush from James Gordon.

Philly’s line proved to be the tougher end in the battle, bringing down all 275 pounds of Gordon short of the goal line and giving the Soul the ball back.

The turnover proved to be a dramatic turn in momentum in favor of the Soul, who went on to score 26 unanswered points.

Moments after the turnover, Raudabaugh found Ryan McDaniel in the corner of the endzone for a wide open touchdown, five yards away from any defender. However, Frevert soured the mood once again with another missed PAT, keeping Philadelphia’s lead to 12-10.

Tampa constructed a drive lasting over nine minutes the next time they touched the ball, and when trying to finding a receiver in the endzone on fourth down, Philly’s Dwayne Hollis hauled in his fifth interception of the season, sprinting 40-yards around defenders for his second touchdown of the year. Freevert even converted his first extra point of the game, putting the Soul on top two scores, 19-10 with 1:44 remaining in the first half.

Hollis’ heroics were not done before heading into the locker room, as Freevert made up for his missed extra points with a successful onside kick that was recovered by Hollis.

A few passes to Darius Reynolds, McDaniel and Shaun Kauleinamoku helped the Soul milk the clock and burn the Storm’s in the final minute, but it was Jake Metz at tight end who ran a seam route and earned an open touchdown as the horn sounded to end the first half. Philadelphia took a 26-10 lead into the locker room, and they never looked back.

It was not a perfect game for the Soul by any means. The second half started out just as disastrous as the first, with both teams turning the ball over on downs and Raudabaugh fumbling a pass that resulted in a Storm touchdown.

But Philadelphia’s firepower on both sides of the ball proved to be too much for the winless Storm.

Hollis brought in his interception, while James Romain brought in his second interception of the season for his first touchdown.

After the Soul made that key stop on Gordon in the second quarter, the Soul went on to score 47 of the final 54 points.

Raudabaugh finished the game completing 24 of his 37 passes, throwing for 186 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. Kauleinamoku caught two touchdowns with 58 yards.

Jonathan Bane threw for 119 yards and two touchdowns, and completed just 13 of his 34 passes for the Storm.

The Soul will need a better performance to start both halves their next few weeks, as the boys will be separated from the men with matchups against the Arizona Rattlers, Orlando Predators, Cleveland Gladiators and Jacksonville Sharks over the next month.

The win advanced the Soul to 5-1, keeping them in second place in the American conference, one game behind the 6-0 Orlando Predators and two games ahead of the 2-3 Jacksonville Sharks. Philly has the chance to distance themselves from both of those teams in the next few weeks.

Philadelphia might have been looking ahead on their schedule a bit when they entered the Wells Fargo Center Monday night. But there’s no reason for them to repeat that action this weekend, when they face an Arizona Rattlers team they have never beaten in franchise history.

There’s a difference between the last-place team in the American conference, and Nick Davila’s Arizona Rattlers. It will be a quick turnaround, as the Soul have less than five days off before one of their biggest games of the year. Philly can’t afford to have the same flat starts they had Monday, and they know all of that. We’ll find out how they stack up against one of the league’s premier teams soon enough.