CSNPhilly.com
Friday could be the biggest regular season game in Philadelphia Soul history to date, when the Soul travel to the desert trying to sweep the Arizona Rattlers and clinch the tiebreaker for Arena Bowl home field.
That might be a bold statement, looking back at the 11 seasons the Soul have been in the AFL. And Philly has definitely been in some amazing regular season matchups during that time.
During the 2008 season, Philadelphia was in a heated battle with the Dallas Desperados for the top seed in the conference, and it was believed that the two matchups between the teams could decide who would come out on top.
Both the Soul lost both games, and still finished one game ahead of the Desperados.
In 2014, the Soul traveled to Pittsburgh in the final week of the regular season for a win-and-in game for the Soul, and Pittsburgh demolished Philly (in the final regular season game the Power would ever see).
Even five weeks ago, the Soul hosted the Rattlers hoping to beat them for the first time ever, with a haunting history of losing all six matches against them.
And when the Soul walked off the field with the 65-58 victory, it was definitely a crucial win for Philly’s season and franchise.
While the win proved to everyone, most especially themselves, that the Soul are capable of defeating the Rattlers in an Arena Bowl this season, this game could be just as important.
The Soul are leading the American conference at 9-2, just one game ahead of the National conference leading Arizona Rattlers in the league standings as the snakes are 8-3 on the season.
A Philadelphia win would give the Soul complete control over the tiebreaker between the teams if they finish with the same record when the season is all said and done. They will be virtually three games above the Rattlers with four games remaining for each team.
If Arizona wins, things get interesting. The next tiebreaker after head-to-head matchups is overall points scored in the matchup, which Philly is leading by seven points after last month’s win.
However, an Arizona win by more than one touchdown would give the Rattlers the postseason tiebreaker.
That makes you wish the Soul would have been able to recover a few of those onside kicks in their last matchup and kept the score more lopsided.
Nonetheless, the Soul have a great opportunity to beat the Rattlers once again, a team they’ve had the number of for at least this season.
But Arizona thinks they’re back to the championship form we’ve grown accustomed to seeing the last five seasons.
They’ve taken two lower-tiered teams to the woodshed over the last two weeks, defeating the Cleveland Gladiators 77-62 on the road and the (winless) Portland Steele 76-49 at home last week.
It is worth noting however that the Rattlers were humiliated by the Tampa Bay Storm-who only had one win heading into the matchup-just three weeks ago.
Arizona has attempted to turn back the clock for the postseason run, adding their former great safety Jeremy Kellem to the roster last week. He recorded seven tackles and two breakups in the win over the the Steele.
There is no question about Philly’s capability of winning a big game like this, even with their 0-2 history inside the snakepit. The Soul defense needs to generate turnovers just as they did in the first matchup when they forced three fumbles and one turnover on downs over the mighty Nick Davila’s offense.
Philly’s secondary has been atop the best of the league this season, and although they did not bring in a pick on Davila last month, Dwayne Hollis very well could extend his six interceptions, which is the league’s second best. If Davila doesn’t want to tempt his odds with Hollis, Tracy Belton, James Romain and LaRico Stevenson will have adrenaline pumping through their veins to take control of the game.
On offense, Dan Raudabaugh continues to look like the league’s MVP for a second straight season, and Jermaine Richardson has been a huge ground threat for the Soul at fullback.
The only weaknesses the Soul have truly shown this season have been an inability to start off strong at times, and also overlooking their opponents to bigger games.
But there are no bigger games than this from here on out. Philadelphia ends the season in Orlando, which could decide home field for the American conference playoffs, but the Soul look like the better of those two teams if the game even has any meaning at that point. Arizona also plays Orlando one more time this season, but that game too will be in the snakepit.
This game very well could be the difference between hitting the road for a second trip to Arizona in the Arena Bowl, or hosting the championship game at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
So buckle up and get your snake bows ready, because Friday's going to be one hell of a ride.
Souls excellent this year its their time and their year to grab that ring......keep up the great teamwork we're half way there.....CHAMPS ON 3!!!!!
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