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.
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