Soul march on Washington, hold Valor scoreless in second half for convincing win

Two weeks in, two wins deep for the Philadelphia Soul.

And after an offseason of so much change to the Arena Football league, the Soul have learned two things quickly into their season:

1) Nothing is going to come as easy as the critics predicted

2) The sole undefeated Soul are still the best team in the league (despite what Washington’s announcers predicted five minutes into Saturday’s match).

To be honest, it’s somewhat understandable why Washington was overhyped early on Saturday night.

After Philadelphia’s defense failed to hold the Valor’s offense on a fourth and goal during Washington’s first possession, Dan Raudabaugh threw an uncharacteristic interception moments later, which was returned for a touchdown by our good friend and reigning world champion, Tracy Belton, to put his new team up 14-0.

But what the new Washington announcing crew failed to remember is that this Soul squad has seen nearly every scenario imaginable the past six years.

Meanwhile, Raudabaugh and company added another impressive comeback to their resume against their new rival Saturday, not only holding the Valor to just one score in the second quarter, but totally shutting them down in the second half and not allowing a score in the final two frames to earn the 49-31 win.

There were many encouraging signs in the victory, as Raudabaugh shook off the early struggles to complete 23 of 36 passes for 247 yards and five touchdowns.

Philly’s defense, which was the biggest question mark on the team heading into the season, saw great step ups from James Romain’s pick six in the first half off Erik Meyer, who recently decided to return to the AFL, giving Philadelphia their first lead of the night, along with a series of turnovers and four-and-outs in the second half to cruise to convincing fashion.

Things got very chippy throughout the win with unsportsmanlike penalties, trash talking and much shoving, in what will certainly be a heavy rivalry in the coming days.

It was clear that Washington's biggest weakness was their lack of running game, which ultimately led to four-and-outs for the Valor and could be something that holds them back from competing for a title this season.

The Soul have certainly earned both wins through their first two weeks, and though they’ve had their struggles, they have also looked like the far superior team in both matchups.

There’s still two teams the Soul haven’t faced in Baltimore and Cleveland, but both teams have suffered losses to teams Philly has defeated.

So the Soul should be feeling high and mighty returning back to the Wells Fargo Center for their home opener to raise the championship banner and face the Baltimore Brigade Saturday night, in a game that should be more than a party in South Philly.