Dan Raudabaugh finished the night completing 16-of-28 passes for 190 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. Photo by Pete Lerro / contrastphotography.com

Soul Advance to American Conference Championship

After a sluggish first quarter, the Soul dominated the Cleveland Gladiators for two quarters on defense coming up with four interceptions, one for a touchdown, another setting up a score to help Philadelphia (16-3) advance to the American Conference Championship with a 47-35 victory over the Gladiators (8-11) in front of 8,424 fans on the Rothman Field at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday night.

“We definitely wanted to contain (quarterback) Shane Austin,” Soul defensive end Teddy Jennings said after the game. “He’s a good dude and a good athlete. They’ve got a good offensive line. But it’s all fundamentals and technique up front, play solid defense and in all three phases of the game: special teams, offense and defense…we did that tonight but we have to finish out a little better.”

What Jennings referred to was how the Soul repeated a trend it has had happen a few times this season, taking their collective foot off the gas pedal.

In outdoor football, a team has time to get back on track, in Arena Football, a team can score 14 points in the blink of an eye…literally.

Gladiators backup quarterback Chris Deiker stepped in for Cleveland completing 9-11 passes for 78 yards and two touchdowns with about three minutes left in the game. If the Gladiators made its two-point conversion on Deiker’s second TD pass, it’s a 10-point game with 1:15 left to go.

Jennings was not buying the Gladiators comeback could be a good thing, a wakeup call to stay focused.

“I don’t think it’s ever good, especially right now,” Jennings said. “We’ve been doing that a couple times this year. We need to play a 60-minute game. And when we do that we’re really going to put teams away. We won today by what 12 points? We should have won by all 50.”

But Saturday night’s win was still good to get back in the mix for another Arena Bowl.

“We stayed with what was working and took advantage of what they were doing,” Soul Head Coach Clint Dolezel said. “Not being in the American Conference Championship last year makes it sweeter and we will come out confident against either team.”

Shaun Kauleinamoku led the Soul receivers with eight catches for 108 yards and three touchdowns. Ryan McDaniel had four receptions for 24 yards, while Marco Thomas had two receptions for 36 yards and one touchdown. Tommy Taggart added 26 rushing yards on eight carries and one rushing touchdown for the Soul.

Dan Raudabaugh finished the night completing 16-of-28 passes for 190 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. Cleveland’s Shane Austin completed 15-of-32 passes for 161 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions. Chris Deiker stepped in for Cleveland completing 9-11 passes for 78 yards and two touchdowns.

Collin Taylor led the Gladiators’ receiving core with 13 receptions for 137 yards and three touchdowns, while Dominick Goodman added seven catches for 49 yards and two touchdowns.

LaRico Stevenson led the defense with 8.0 total tackles and 2.0 interceptions for 15 yards, while Riddell Defensive Player Dwayne Hollis had 4.5 total tackles and 2.0 interceptions for 45 yards and one touchdown. Beau Bell added 2.0 sacks.

After winning the toss, the Soul deferred and kicked off to the Gladiators to start the game. Collin Taylor scored the first touchdown of the game when Shane Austin hit him with a 23-yard touchdown pass. When the Soul gained possession, Tommy Taggart had a powerful 13-yard rush to bring the Soul closer to the end zone.

Soul head coach Clint Dolezel addresses team before their playoff game against Cleveland. The Soul won, 47-35.
Photo by Pete Lerro / contrastphotography.com

Raudabaugh hit Shaun Kauleinamoku with a 15-yard touchdown pass, but missed the extra point, to make the score 7-6. With 2:37 left in the first quarter, Austin hit Taylor again to advance Cleveland’s lead to 14-6. Philadelphia answered when Raudabaugh found Kauleinamoku on a 37-yard touchdown pass to make the score 14-13. The soul ended the first quarter strong when Frevert’s onside kick was successfully recovered by Joe Goosby.

Philadelphia opened the second quarter off with Frevert’s 24-yard field goal, giving the Soul their first lead of the game. LaRico Stevenson made the first interception of the game halfway into the quarter, leading to a 1-yard touchdown run by Taggart. On Cleveland’s next possession, Dwayne Hollis came up with a big interception. With only nine seconds left, Raudabaugh hit Kauleinamoku with a 4-yard touchdown pass, making the score 30-14 to end the half.

Thomas scored his first touchdown of game with a little under two minutes into the third quarter to put the Soul up 37-14. Stevenson came up with a big defensive stop in the end zone, giving him his second interception of the game.

Austin connected with Taylor with a 22-yard touchdown pass, making the score 37-21 going into the fourth.

Frevert’s second field goal of the game was good, to give the Soul a 40-21 lead in the beginning of the fourth. Hollis made another interception, running in for a 31-yard touchdown.

Beau Bell and Bryan Robinson made a big sack to keep giving the Soul momentum. With 4:04 left, Cleveland capitalized in the end zone when Dieker found Goodman with a 4-yard touchdown pass. Goodman’s 3-yard touchdown reception with less than two minutes left made the final score of the game 47-35.

Next week, the No. 1-seeded Soul will host the American Conference Championship against Jacksonville at 5 p.m. at Wells Fargo Center on Sunday, August 23. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

Note: Play-by-play descriptions provided by Philadelphia Soul Media relations.

Russell Athletic Offensive Player: Philadelphia’s Dan Raudabaigh
Riddell Defensive Player: Philadelphia’s Dwayne Hollis
J Lewis Small AFL Playmaker: Philadelphia’s Shaun Kauleinamoku
Cutter’s Catch of the Game: Philadelphia’s Shaun Kauleinamoku’s first quarter 37-yard touchdown catch.
Spalding Highlight of the Game: Philadelphia’s Joe Goosby’s first quarter onside kick recovery.

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