Philadelphia Soul keep playoff hopes alive with a 42-20 victory

In a must win game today for the Philadelphia Soul to keep their playoff hopes alive, they defeated the San Jose Sabercats 42-20.

It was a hard fought game for the Soul as they had to lean on Derrick Ross and the defense. In Arena Football, offense rarely comes from the fullback. It comes from your wide receivers as it is a passing league.

The Soul defied that logic in their final home game of the regular season by the offense being based around Derrick Ross. Ross, on the day had 14 carries for 63 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Then in the passing game, he had two receptions for 46 receiving yards including a 32 yard catch and run in which he demolished the Sabercats’ defense. “I ran through everybody, you just see the whole demeanor just change” Ross said. That demeanor did change for the Soul as they would score 21 points in the second half and the defense got turnovers and held San Jose’s offense to seven points.

Soul quarterback Dan Raudabaugh also had a solid game with 240 passing yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Raudabaugh also sung the praises of Ross. “That’s what he does, he’s a bowling ball. He’s the boss for a reason.” Head coach Clint Dolezel also was amazed by Ross’ run saying, “That run after the screen was unreal.”

But as I mentioned, it wasn’t just the offense, the defense was phenomenal as they held San Jose to only 20 points. Earlier in the season, when these two teams met up, San Jose’s offense put 70 points on the Soul’s defense. Today was different as the Soul got pressure on Sabercats quarterback Nathan Stanley and forced him to throw three interceptions.

Defensive back Rayshaun Kizer had two of those interceptions as Dolezel mentioned after the game that the DBs including Kizer have been playing great ball.

The Soul, 9-8 on the season, head into their last game of the season against their cross state rivals, the Pittsburgh Power. The Soul know what is at stake and what Tampa Bay is doing as well since they play tomorrow.

For the Soul, it’s simple, they control their own destiny and their leader Dan Raudabaugh summed it up best saying, “I’ll take our guys up against anybody, anytime, any place.” They will need that mindset next week against Pittsburgh.