Philadelphia Soul Nation

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Snake bit again, Soul can’t close out the Rattlers

           

        They have to beat them eventually. And Saturday night looked like the night that the Soul would finally beat the Arizona Rattlers for the first time in franchise history. But once again, some magic from Nick Davila and another Dan Raudabaugh interception gave Arizona another down to the wire victory, this time coming in overtime.

The Soul got a great start to the game and season, recovering a Davila fumble just outside of the Rattlers end zone on the first play of the game. Derrick Ross mowed his way to the Soul’s first touchdown of the season the very next play, before kicker Carlos Martinez missed the extra point, as he did numerous times in last year’s Arena Bowl. The team’s exchanged the lead back and forth throughout the first half, and Arizona took a 28-27 lead into the locker room at the half.

          

           Raudabaugh connected with Ryan McDaniel for 29 yard reception late in the third quarter, setting up another Ross touchdown to give the Soul a 41-35 lead heading into the fourth. Arizona would respond with a touchdown of their own off a Davila touchdown, but a missed extra point kick kept the score tied at 41-41.

      

          The Soul were unable to capitalize off the Arizona special teams mistake, going four and out and giving the ball back to Arizona. Just under eight minutes into the fourth, Tysson Poots gave Arizona the lead once again at 48-41 with the team’s second straight touchdown.

Philly continued to feed the ball to Ross, who tied the game up and gave momentum back to Philadelphia. The defense was able to stand tall and force a turnover on downs, giving the Soul offense the ball back in the final minute of the game. Ross would score easily with 23 seconds left, giving the Soul a 55-48 lead. With eight seconds remaining in regulation, Davila found Poots once more to tie the game up at 55 apiece. The Soul received the ball on the kickoff, and elected to have Martinez try a 55 field goal attempt, which bounced off the right cross bar and sent the game into overtime.

Philadelphia won the coin toss in overtime, and elected to kick the ball away to Arizona. Davila took advantage of the opportunity, connecting with Poots for a fourth touchdown, giving the Rattlers the overtime lead.

The Soul received the ball deep in their own endzone off the kickoff, and were hoping to march down the field to either tie the game or go for a two-point conversion to win the game. However, Raudabaugh threw his first interception of the game and the season to Kerry Reed, ending the match and dropping the Soul to 0-6 all-time against the Arizona Rattlers.  

          

         Raudabaugh actually looked pretty sharp in the season opener, connecting on 22 of his 35 passes in the game, good enough for 266 passing yards and two touchdowns. It was the first game against the Rattlers in his Philadelphia career where Raudabaugh hadn’t thrown an interception in regulation.

Ross touched the ball 12 times in the game, rushing for 46 yards and six touchdowns, tying the AFL record for rushing touchdowns in a game.

Tiger Jones gathered in nine receptions for 101 yards, and scored his first touchdown of the season. Ryan McDaniel also had five receptions for 69 yards and also scored a touchdown.

            

         On Arizona’s side, Davila went 25 of 41 on the night in passing, throwing for 338 yards and seven touchdowns in the game. Wide receiver Maurice Purify had 111 yards on 11 receptions and scored one touchdown. Tysson Poots had 10 receptions earning 191 yards and four touchdowns. Poots received the offensive player of the game honors.

  While this game may have been the closest match these two teams have played each other thus far, it’s just as tough a pill to swallow as any of the others. The Soul had the Rattlers where they wanted them a number of times in the end of the game, but were unable to finish them off once and for all.

 Maybe Philadelphia's final offensive play in regulation should have called for Ross to take a knee at the one yard, which would have allowed the team to burn some clock time or an Arizona timeout and get closer to the end of regulation before scoring.

Maybe Kizer should have kept up with Poots in the end zone on the touchdown play that sent the game into overtime.

Maybe the team should have elected to receive in the ball in overtime (though I understand the argument for electing to kick the ball away).

And while it is hard to attack a kicker who nearly nailed a 55-yard field goal to win the game as time expired, maybe Martinez should have converted his first extra-point attempt of the season, which may have forced the Rattlers to go for two on their final touchdown in the fourth. And of course, Raudabaugh should not have thrown the interception to end the game.

The game's loss did not fall on the shoulders of any one individual. There were many players who could have easily inched the Soul closer to victory in the game, but fell short to the snakes from the desert once again.

That being said, the Soul showed us Saturday night that they can compete with the league’s two-time defending world champion and run with the best. Looking around the league, there are not many teams that appear to be playing on the same level as the Soul and the Rattlers, let alone in the American conference. It would have been nice to show the league and themselves that they can beat these guys once and for all, but maybe this loss will make the champagne taste a little better in late August. Ross seems to think the victory is coming.

 For now, as Ross pointed out, the Soul are 0-1 to start the season. They will travel to San Jose on Sunday to play the SaberCats, another tough opponent that is one of the few in the league to be considered an Arena Bowl contender this season.