Soul closing in on Arena Bowl home field, magic number down to 3 with win over Tampa

Seeing each team in the league at least twice now, it’s clear the Philadelphia Soul are on a different level than the four teams under them in the standings.

Philadelphia (9-0) earned a crucial 62-41 win over Tampa (7-2) Saturday night in convincing fashion, taking a matchup between the league’s top two teams while also winning the regular season series over the Storm.

Though the teams will meet again in the season finale on August 5 in Philadelphia, the Soul have clinched the tiebreaker over the Storm, and with a two game cushion under their belts for a 2.5 game lead with just six games left in the season, it’s shaping up to look like the current undefeated Soul will probably have home field advantage all through the Arena Bowl.

Yes, now that the Soul have ran the table through ⅔ of the season, it’s okay for us to start talking about August and a potential championship game on the Chickies and Petes field at the Wells Fargo Center.

With the Soul clicking on both sides of the ball, it’s hard to see how a team will top the Soul, on their home field no less, if the team can continue playing on the level they have the past 12 months.

The offense shined Saturday, with Darius Reynolds hauling in five touchdowns, while fullback Mykel Benson plowing through the Storm defensive line to add four touchdowns.

Dan Raudabaugh shined once again, going 15 for 21 in passing with 209 yards and five touchdown throws.

The offensive squad was insync for one of their best performances of the season, against the next best team in the league.

The defense not only produced four stops in perfect timing, but Beau Bell fumble recovery and a James Romain interception rattled Randy Hippeard all night long, halting a Storm offense that couldn’t seem to find an answer for the Soul defense.

The win silenced any critics of the Soul, but more importantly put Philly’s magic number to clinch the postseason No. 1 overall seed to just THREE GAMES.

Any three game combination of a Philadelphia win or a Tampa Bay loss will give the Soul homenfield.

Philly’s next chance to inch closer will come Saturday with a trip to Cleveland as the Soul will look to sweep the four game series with the Gladiators.

A look at the numbers: Soul back on the field after bye hosting Gladiators

The second half of Philly’s schedule is set to kick off Saturday night at Chickies and Petes field in the Wells Fargo Center, with the Soul hosting their longtime rival Cleveland Gladiators.

The Soul’s record remains perfect through their first seven games, and while the team clinched their sixth consecutive playoff berth during their bye week with Baltimore and Washington losing, there’s still much on the table in their final seven games over the next nine weeks.

Tampa Bay (6-1) is just one game behind the Soul, and their only loss of the season was Philadelphia’s week two win over the Storm to start the season.

The teams are in a tight race for the top seed in the league and earn home field advantage in the postseason, all the way through the Arena Bowl. The two teams will face off next weekend in South Philly, but every game will be important to stay ahead of the Storm, starting with this weekend’s game against the Gladiators.

Cleveland (2-6) has seen their own problems all year, yet five of their six losses have been by a touchdown or less, including a 69-67 loss to Philadelphia at home on May 5.

The Gladiators’ offense is stacked with potential at every position, starting with dual threat quarterback Arvell Nelson who leads the league in rushing with 166 yards, just ahead of Philly’s Mykel Benson.

Nelson is also a hair above Raudabaugh this season under center, completing 133 of his 202 passes, though the Soul quarterback has thrown for 44 touchdowns compared to Nelson’s 36 (Cleveland’s offense is on the field more than Philly’s as well).

Quentin Sims has led both the Gladiators and the league in receiving through the first half of the year, hauling in 867 yards while coming in second with 20 touchdowns, just behind Tampa Bay’s Joe Hills.

But an important factor to remember with these stats is Cleveland has played one more game than Philly, who has already completed two bye weeks.

The Soul have the advantage of playing in front of their home crowd at the Wells Fargo Center, which will hopefully help shake off any rust from the long break.

Philly’s secondary should have a matchup advantage Saturday, as Joe Goosby and Dwayne Hollis are two of the six players in the league to haul in three interceptions, while Nelson’s six interceptions have been the second most so far this year.

The first seven games haven’t been spotless, but the Soul have been rolling on nearly all cylinders, and the biggest room for improvement has just been consistency.

If they play their ‘A’ game every week, it will be hard for any team to take them out this year.

But every opponent wants to be the ones who hand the defending world champions their first loss of the season, much less their long lasting rival from East Ohio.