Dan Raudabaugh leads the Soul to its third win in a row. Photo by Rich Barbob/contrastphotography.com

SOUL HANG ON TO DEFEAT BARNSTORMERS, 60-55

Philadelphia Improves Gets to .500, Collect First Division Victory

The Soul (3-3) appear to be on the same role they crafted after a slow start last year as the home team hung onto a 60-55 victory over the Iowa Barnstormers (3-3) at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday afternoon in front of 10,062 fans, bringing the team up to a .500 record.

A solid offensive performance by signal caller Dan Raudabaugh gave the Soul enough energy to finish the game strong.

“That was a classic Arena Football game,” said Soul head coach Clint Dolezel. “It was a little closer than I would have liked, but what was important is that we got the win. We still need to continue to get better. We are not satisfied with where we are and will have a tough one next week in Pittsburgh.”

Anthony Jones and Ryan McDaniel led Philadelphia receivers with seven receptions. Jones had a total of 52 yards and five receiving touchdowns. Ryan McDaniel added 152 yards for the Soul. J Lewis Small AFL Playmaker of the Game, V’Keon Lacey added five receptions for 65 yards and three touchdowns. Derrick Ross led the ground game with 44 yards on 10 carries.

Raudabaugh finished the night by completing 26-of-35 passes for 283 yards and nine touchdowns and an interception.

Defensively, T.J.Langley, added six total tackles and two and a half sacks. Rayshaun Kizer had seven total tackles and a fumble recovery to help lead the defensive secondary. Second-year standout, James Romain, played a solid defensive game with six total tackles and a fumble recovery which sums up the main part of Sunday’s defense.

Iowa’s Carson Coffman finished by completing 21-of-31 passes for 306 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. Marco Thomas, had eight receptions for 158 yards and two touchdowns, while Darius Reynolds finished with seven catches for 79 yards and two touchdowns.

Iowa started the game off strong by scoring the first touchdown with a one-yard run by Steiner. The Soul quickly answered back with a six-yard completion from Raudabaugh to Jones, but were unable to gain the extra point. With 7:19 left, a 34-yard pass from Coffman to Thomas was completed, giving Iowa their second touchdown.

Lacey’s eight-yard touchdown, which earned “Catch of the Game”, brought the fans to their feet and made the game 14-13. A little over a minute later, Thomas caught a 41-yard reception and scoring his second touchdown. With only nine seconds left, Raudabaugh’s nine-yard completion to Tribue made the game 21-20 going into the second quarter.

Coffman’s 18-yard completion to Lester put Iowa on top 28-20. About halfway through the second quarter, the Soul responded with back-to-back touchdowns by Lacey, finally giving them the lead. Iowa finished the half with Gornall’s 25 yard field goal, making the half time score 34-31.

Once again, Iowa scored the first touchdown of the quarter with a 12-yard pass to Reynolds from Coffman. The Soul regained the lead after Jone’s one yard touchdown reception with 4:31 left to play. Iowa’s Coffman ran the ball in from a yard out to finish the third and put the Barnstormers back up 45-41.

Raudabaugh’s 14-yard completion to Jones allowed the Soul to score the first touchdown of the fourth quarter. With 5:11 remaining, Reynolds’ 10-yard reception putt Iowa back on top, 52-48. Jones gave the Soul a 54-52 lead after his nine-yard reception. With only 43 seconds left in the game, Iowa scored a field goal and went back up 55-54. Philadelphia clinch the win with an exciting six-yard touchdown completion from Raudabaugh to Jones. Jones scored a game high five touchdowns and the Soul win with a 60-55 final score.

The Arena League strategy is to hold off scoring the winning points even if it means killing plays legally. Clearly this is a much better strategy rule-wide than taking a knee as is common in the outdoor game.

Late in the fourth quarter and Iowa trailing by two points. Barnstormers fullback Derik Steiner said his coaches want to kill as much time as they could and told him not to score when he was handed the ball inside the 10-yard line.

“There was one-minute left and in the Arena League you want to milk as much clock as you can,” Steiner said. “You don’t exactly want to score right away and give the other team time to score again. So it was a play where they (coaches) said ‘Don’t score’ for a couple of plays. So it limits whoever gets the ball. You still want to get positive yardage, keep the clock running, but you don’t want to get too much.”

Steiner was tackled at the five-yard line by Teddy Jennings.

The strategy backfired on the next play when Iowa’s throw into the end zone was incomplete and the Barnstormers had to settle for a field goal and a one-point lead.

With 43 seconds still left, The Soul marched down the field and scored with three seconds left in the game to win it.

Soul offensive lineman Adam Smith said he knew what Iowa was trying to do with Steiner, and said the Soul would – and did – do the same on their drive. Try not to score until there is only five or less seconds to go.

“Exactly,” Smith said. “Coach says you want to score last in every half. We try to get down there and use the clock…we’ve got to get in the end zone there at the end.”

So the Soul intentionally did not score, gambling they would compete a scoring pass at the buzzer?

“Absolutely,” Smith said. “They were trying to do the same thing. They were trying to run out as much clock as they could. They want to leave as little clock left on the scoreboard as possible.”

The Barnstormers gambled and came up short, the Soul bet on Raudabaugh and he rolled a seven.

The Soul will face the Pittsburgh Power for Week 8 on Saturday, May 3 at 7 p.m at the CONSOL Energy Center. The game can be seen on The Comcast Network.

Russell Athletic Offensive Player: Philadelphia’s Dan Raudabaugh

Riddell Defensive Player: Philadelphia’s T.J. Langley

J Lewis Small AFL Playmaker: Philadelphia’s V’Keon Lacey

Cutter’s Catch of the Game: Philadelphia’s V’Keon Lacey eight yard touchdown reception

Spalding Highlight of the Game: Iowa’s Darius Reynolds 12-yard diving reception

ABOUT PHILADELPHIA SOUL

The Back-to-Back American Conference Champion Philadelphia Soul are presented by Parx Casino. They capped their eighth Arena Football League season by capturing their second straight American Conference championship. For 2014 season tickets, contact the Soul sales department at (215) 253-4900 ext. 3, or request contact from a representative by filling out the form on www.philadelphiasoul.com. Follow the Soul on Facebook at facebook.com/soul and Twitter at twitter.com/soulfootball.com