The Soul rock’d and roll’d all night in Los Angeles Monday night, and partied every play in their 56-33 win over the Kiss.
Dan Raudabaugh had another spectacular night with 250 passing yards and six touchdowns, three of which went to Darius Reynolds and the other three fell into the hands of Shaun Kauleinamoku.
Jeremy Richardson continued his quest as the league’s leading rusher, adding 20 yards and a touchdown to his season totals.
But the driving force of Monday night’s win was the Philadelphia defense that held L.A. to just five touchdowns in the game, maintaining Kiss quarterback Nathan Stanley to four passing scores and one rushing touchdown with two interceptions.
After trading scores throughout the first quarter, the Soul held a 21-14 lead to open the second frame when Philadelphia’s Tracy Belton generated the game's first turnover with an 18-yard pick six to widen Philly’s lead to 28-14.
On the next kickoff, L.A.’s defensive lineman Jamil Merrell sought revenge on Belton for his interception, delivering a helmet-to-helmet hit tapped off with his shoulder to knock Belton to the ground on a seemingly dirty hit, needing assistance off the field.
The play triggered a physicality element to the game that lasted through the last drive of the match. On the following drive, James Romain would layout L.A.’s DJ Stephens to the gray turf which would also require help to the locker room.
Philadelphia’s lead increased as the game progressed, and so did the number of injuries to each team.
Former Soul great, receiver Donovan Morgan, left the game in the third quarter after a violent head-first hit into the boards of the endzone attempting to block a Dwayne Hollis interception.
Hollis still completed the play, bringing the ball near midfield, while Morgan laid at the goal line with his former assistant coach from his Soul days Clint Dolezel and former teammates surrounding with some brotherly love and support.
A few plays later, other Soul legend Rayshaun Kizer would have to leave the game after a massive hit from Ryan McDaniel in the endzone on a kickoff. The Soul held a 21-point lead at the time, and the play was ruled to be kick-catch interference.
Kizer would not return to the field after his injury, but Morgan would come back from the tunnel to score a pair of touchdowns to complete his three-score night to try and keep his team in contention.
Philadelphia’s turnover problems improved Monday, but were not as clean as the stat sheet showed.
In the final minutes of the first half, Raudbaugh scrambled to avoid a sack just outside of his own endzone and managed to dump the ball out less than a yard outside of the endzone to avoid a safety. The ball bounced in the hands of a lineman and appeared to be ran into the endzone for an easy touchdown, but the officials would rule and confirm on a challenge that Raudbaugh had illegally grounded the ball outside of the endzone to commit one of the prettiest penalties of his career and avoid disaster.
Richardson also gave the Soul a scare in the finals seconds of the third quarter, as Philadelphia was in the redzone pounding on the doorstep of a four-touchdown lead when a handoff from Raudbaugh to Richardson was fumbled by the fullback and scooped up by L.A.’s Merrell and ran 30-yards to Philadelphia’s 10-yard line.
Despite the opportunities L.A. had to get themselves back into the game, the Soul defense did a great job stopping one of the league's best fourth-down offenses repeatedly Monday night.
James Romain had the perfect tip to breakup a key pass all night long, and Hollis stepped up big in the right moments. Hollis was assisted off the field as he limped to the locker room after the Soul’s last stop on downs, but it didn’t appear too severious.
Philadelphia’s win brought them to 4-1 on the season, one game behind the conference's first place and undefeated Orlando Predators, and two games behind the 2-3 Jacksonville Sharks.
The Soul will have six days off before their next match, which falls on Monday Night Football once again hosting the Tampa Bay Storm.
However, after containing a dangerous receiving core in L.A., the Storm will enter Philadelphia as the AFL’s last remaining winless squad.
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