Axs.com
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.
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