Dan Raudabaugh has thrown 5 interceptions in his two Arena Bowl appearances.

The Soul almost pulled of a shocking finish at ArenaBowl XXVI in Orlando at the Amway Center but failed to take advantage of a late Arizona turnover to drop the championship game, 48-39.

Soul (14-7) defensive lineman Ko Quave forced a Rattlers fumble with 53 seconds left but failed to even record a first down, turning the ball over to Arizona with 37 seconds left.

Mistakes were the difference between winning and losing a title and the Soul made too many to overcome.

The Soul threw away six precious points as kicker Carlos Martinez missed three extra point and had a field goal blocked.

Soul Quarterback Dan Raudabaugh threw four touchdown passes but was picked off twice.

The Rattlers can now start talking dynasty after their victory over the Philadelphia on Saturday before 12,039 for their second consecutive ArenaBowl championship.

Arkeith Brown broke up a fourth-and-2 pass play intended for Tiger Jones with 37 seconds left.

The defensive stop came after the Soul forced Rod Windsor to fumble at the Philadelphia 1 with 53 seconds to play.

After the Soul burned all of their time outs, Garrett Lindholm sealed it with a 25-yard field goal.

For the Soul Ryan McDaniel Tiger Jones and Derrik Ross each scored two touchdowns.

The Rattlers (18-3), who tied a franchise record for wins in a season, have won four championships since they began play in 1992. This was their eight championship game appearance and third in a row.

The Rattlers lost the 2011 ArenaBowl on the final play to Jacksonville.

Nick Davila and Maurice Purify continued their domination of the Soul on Saturday, combining for two first-half touchdowns.

Davila, who found Purify for seven touchdowns in last year’s ArenaBowl win over the Soul, hit Purify for scores of 8 and 47 yards in the first half.

Kerry Reed and Rod Windsor also chipped in with touchdown catches and the defense came up big when the Rattlers needed them most.

Virgil Gray and Jeremy Kellem each intercepted Raudabaugh passes in the end zone to turn back Soul scoring threats.

With six seconds left in the first half, defensive lineman Anttaj Hawthorne blocked a Martinez field-goal try out of the Soul’s end zone.

The Rattlers had a chance to take a double-digit halftime lead but Windor’s touchdown was taken off the board after the Soul head coach Clint Dolezel challenged the call, believing Windsor was stopped a yard short of the end zone.

The officials reviewed the play and over-turned the touchdown.

The Rattlers (18-3), who tied a franchise record for wins in a season, have won four championships since they began playing in 1992. This was their third consecutive trip to the championship and eighth overall.

That the Soul made to Orlando was quite an accomplishment, although you probably didn’t hear much of that in the Soul locker room after the game.

Philadelphia was just 5-5 after their first ten games but rallied to finish the regular season 18-6. They went on to defeat Orlando at home in the first round of the playoffs then won the American Conference on road against Jacksonville to land their second consecutive spot in the title game.

“We never lost trust in our system, our guys and our coaches and what we were doing,” Raudabaugh told Footballstories earlier in the week. We had faith it was going to work out. Our coach and the front office put together the right group of guys…we kind of came together and said we were going make this thing happen.”

The Soul did but just not quite enough once again.
Elements of this story were taken from azcentral.com
Email Al Thompson at the.magazine2@footballstories.com

 
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