Should’ve, Could’ve, Didn’t…The Soul Story
Jason Moyer
Monday April 18, 2005
Las Vegas quarterback Clint Dolezel threw his eighth touchdown pass to Joe Douglas with one second remaining to end a frustrating game for the Soul.
"We had a solid lead in the first half. Then laid back a little bit," said Coach Fuller. "We didn’t score in the red zone a couple of times and dropped a couple of balls. When you do things like that, you’re not going to beat a team like Vegas."
Opportunity after opportunity went unanswered for the Soul as they failed to put away the Gladiators in the first half.
Twice Philadelphia had their hands on kickoffs that were fumbled or bounced off the iron and failed to gain possession. Defensive back Eddie Moten undercut two passes but was unable to latch onto them. And as Coach Fuller stated they were unable to score in the red zone two times.
"We had the game under control and just didn’t finish," reiterated Coach Fuller. "That’s something we always preach and we didn’t do that".
The momentum of the game tipped to the Gladiators at the end of the first half when Steve Smith dropped a pass in the end zone. Instead of the touchdown, Tim Seder kicked his second field goal of the game for a 27-21 half time score.
Las Vegas capitalized on their momentum by stopping Philadelphia on the first drive of the second half and took the lead on a Ricky Ross touchdown.
"Coming out and getting stopped in the second half hurt," commented Tony Graziani. "We could have had the momentum with us if we score there. We just didn’t get the job done."
Things didn’t get better for the Soul as they had to play the second half without Sean Scott due to a rib cage injury. With Scott out, Philadelphia had to shuffle their substitution patterns. Chris Brown had more playing time and Joe Todd was pressed into action on the offensive side.
"I thought they did a good job," Graziani said. "Chris Brown made a big play, Joe Todd made a good catch. Losing Sean hurt down in the red zone, but I thought those guys stepped up. Our receivers weren’t the reason we lost the game today."
Chris ‘Soul Train’ Ryan put the game in its simplest terms, "We let them in the game. They hung around and found a way to win."
Listening to coaches and players after the game, the reason that the game was lost came from should’ve and could’ve plays that just did not happen.
Inside the game:
Clint Dolezel was named Offensive Player of the Game. Dolezel completed 26 of 43 passes for 341 yards and eight touchdowns.
Cornelius Bonner won US Army Ironman of the Game honors. Bonner intercepted a Graziani pass in the end zone, made five tackles and scored on a 45-yard strike from Dolezel.
Steve Konopka was the ADT Defensive Player of the Game. Konopka sacked Graziani once on the day, but was at the quarterback’s feet most of the afternoon.
Former Soul players Ricky Ross and Marlion Jackson had big games against their former team. Ross hauled in eight passes for 92 yards and three touchdowns. Jackson totaled 50 yards on the day, including a 34-yard screen pass.
Chris Ryan ran for 21 yards and smashed into the end zone three times during the game.
Tony Graziani added three touchdown passes, giving him 71 on the season.
Steve Smith reached a milestone when he snared the 300th reception in his Arena Football League career.
Next Week:
The Soul will travel to New York to take on the Dragons next Sunday. Philadelphia looks to even the season series with New York after a 61-54 loss in Week 6. Kickoff is 1:00.
Jason Moyer is an elementary school teacher in the western New Jersey area. He is an avid follower of the Arena Football League and has been covering the Philadelphia Soul with ArenaFan.com since 2005. Jason resides in Whitehall, PA with his wife and daughter.
