A chance to take a stranglehold on the league slipped out of the Soul’s grasp Friday night in their 80-63 loss to the Arizona Rattlers.
Now, the Philadelphia team that sat in first place the past six weeks finds themselves in third place at 9-3, trailing the 9-3 Arizona Rattlers who hold the season tiebreaker over the Soul, and also the Orlando Predators who advanced to 10-2 with their win over the Sharks on Saturday.
More importantly, if the Soul end up facing the Rattlers in the Arena Bowl come August, they’ll be hitting the road back to Arizona, and we’ve come to learn the past month that this team can get tripped up when they leave the Wells Fargo Center and the surrounding Philadelphia area.
But the fall from grace wasn’t a drop from the get go Friday night, and for a while it looked as if the Soul were putting together a successful game plan that had them on the verge of sweeping the former three-straight Arena Bowl champions.
Philly had never won in Arizona, but they looked determined to get their first win from the opening kick when Chris Duvalt brought the kick to the house 54 yards to put the Soul up 7-0 before either Dan Raudabaugh or Nick Davila could take a snap.
The Soul defense was shutting down Arizona’s top receivers Maurice Purify and Rod Windsor early on, and a missed Arizona extra point attempt gave Philly a one-point cushion as the teams traded touchdowns.
With Philadelphia’s offense clicking on all cylinders and both teams keeping the score tight, the Soul looked as if they were one play away from the game getting blown open.
And then it happened.
With his two top receivers making no noise, Davila threw a 35 yard score to Chase Deadder to pull Arizona within a point as the Soul led 28-27 with 8:58 remaining in the first half.
On the very next kick, Alex Zendejas booted the kick of Philly’s crossbar, and in a scramble for possession Arizona’s Dan Buckner scooped up the ball and ran it in for a touchdown, giving Arizona their first lead of the night at 34-28.
Looking to put themselves back ontop, the Soul offense seemed a bit shaken on their next possession, as Raudabaugh had only missed his target once before the special teams touchdown but threw two incompletions immediately following the score.
His third pass found its way right into the hands of Arizona’s Jeremy Kellem deep in Soul territory, and a series of blocks led Kellem into the endzone to extend the Rattlers’ lead to 41-28.
Now trying to pull within a touchdown of the momentum stealing Rattlers, Raudabaugh made yet another uncharacteristic mistake with his second straight interception on his very next throw, this time by Arkeith Brown who also returned his turnover to the house for a touchdown.
Suddenly, the first place Soul who had control of the league and seemingly the game early on were down by three touchdowns before halftime.
In the final seconds of the first half, the Soul had a chance to pull the game within 12 points and create some momentum heading into the locker room, but a Raudabaugh pass to Jermaine Richardson behind the sticks went nowhere and the Rattlers took a 53-35 lead into halftime.
Philadelphia’s defense did not generate a stop in the first half to help a struggling offense, yet they had their opportunity to start the second half. Arizona was backed into their fourth down of the game at the Soul 17 yard line, but Davila killed any hope of a momentum swing with a touchdown pass to Purify.
It was only the first drive of the second half, but the game was out of reach for the Soul as they trailed by four touchdowns.
Philly’s defense showed up when the game was out of reach, with Tracy Belton and Dwayne Hollis interceptions off Davila in the fourth quarter. But their opportunities had expired and the turnovers proved to be too late, as the Rattlers closed out their win.
The game was by far the biggest and most concerning loss the Soul have had all season. After beating every team in the league their first 11 weeks, including the franchise's first ever win over the Rattlers last month, the Soul were proving to be the Arena Bowl favorites when they headed to the desert.
Now, they’re a second place team in the American Conference, needing some help to try and obtain the league’s top seed.
The Soul defeated the Predators as well last month, so if the Soul can pull within a tie of Orlando than Philadelphia would pass the Preds. The Soul will also conclude the regular season with a trip to Orlando in week 18.
It’s not all doom-and-gloom for the Soul hosting the Arena Bowl if they get to participate in the championship game, as the Rattlers still have to host the Predators and Sharks who both beat the Rattlers earlier this season in their own arenas.
But we’ve learned that it’s much different playing in Arizona, and most people had Philadelphia ranked above those two teams and it didn’t turn out so well in their trip.
The Soul still can't top off the Rattlers for a year, and they still can't win in Arizona.
Hopefully they'll get a crack at finishing off at least one of those in August.
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