Soul Drop Regular Season Finale in Albany

Saturday July 20, 2019

The Philadelphia Soul (7-5) dropped the regular season finale 72-27 to the Albany Empire (10-2) on Saturday night at the Times Union Center. In a game that saw both teams’ backup quarterbacks play the entire second half, Albany took a 10-point lead into the half and rolled from there.With the loss and Washington’s win over Columbus earlier in the day, Philadelphia will be the three seed heading into the playoffs. The Soul will take on the Valor on July 28th at 3:30 pm at Capital One Arena in the first game of the series before returning home on August 4th at 4 pm.

Turnovers doomed the Soul, who fumbled on their opening possession, setting up Albany’s first touchdown of the night. After going up 14-7 at the end of the first quarter, Empire defensive lineman Rodney Fritz hit Soul quarterback Dan Raudabaugh as he threw, forcing a fumble that resulted in a safety. Albany then went 36 yards in just two plays on its next possession, as quarterback Tommy Grady found DJ Stephens to put the Empire up 23-7. In his only half of work, Grady finished with 196 yards and four touchdowns.

With the Empire leading 30-20 at the half, both teams went to their backup quarterbacks to start the third quarter. Helped by four turnovers by Soul quarterback Patrick O’Brien (three interceptions and a fumble), Albany scored 42 straight points. The Soul avoided a second-half shut out when O’Brien found Jordan Williams with just 27 seconds remaining. Williams finished with a career-high 8 catches, 99 yards, and two scores.

The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for Philadelphia and dropped the team to 7-5 on the season.

The Soul will head to D.C. next weekend to take on the Valor at 3:30 pm on July 28th in the first leg of the postseason series. Washington won both previous meetings this season.