Second Half Crushes Soul
Jason Moyer
Sunday February 26, 2006
Philadelphia controlled much of the first half as they created three defensive stops and scored on four of their five possessions to take a 28-21 halftime lead.
"We came out and played that first half like a championship team," stated Soul Coach Bret Munsey. "The second half we didn’t execute, we didn’t get stops, and we threw a couple of picks. Bottom line is when you’re playing Colorado, a great football team; you can’t turn the ball over."
The turning point of the game occurred on Philadelphia’s first offensive play of the third quarter. Colorado’s Delvin Hughley intercepted a Tony Graziani pass intended for Rob Milanese.
"I don’t think I’ve ever had a worse read in my career in arena football," reflected Tony Graziani. "38 points is ridiculous for this offense. There were no dropped balls. That was on me today."
The Soul came out of the locker room with some momentum thanks to an interception by Kevin Gaines on the last play of the first half.
"We had everything going our way," observed Coach Munsey. "We had the crowd, people were flying around and both sides of the ball were playing well. We kind of let off of the throat a little bit in the second half."
When asked how his team would handle the loss Coach Munsey replied, "I’m sure they’re gonna be disappointed. Tony Graziani’s gonna be disappointed. We’ve got to find a way to play four quarters."
Philadelphia could have made a statement around the league with a victory. For two quarters, they proved that they could play with the best. Now as Coach Munsey stated, they need to put together a complete game against the upper echelon teams.
Inside the numbers
Tony Graziani (PHI) completed 20 of 35 passes for 198 yards with three touchdowns and two costly interceptions.
Marcus Knight (PHI) hauled in nine catches for 75 yards and one touchdown.
Chad Dukes (PHI) rushed six times for 31 yards.
John Dutton (COL) finished 27 for 44 for 261 yards and six touchdowns with one interception.
Damian Harrell (COL) led all receivers with 11 catches for 122 yards and four touchdowns.
Attendance: 16,617
Next Week
Philadelphia heads to Las Vegas next Sunday to open a four game road trip. Kickoff is set for 7:00 with television coverage provided by OLN.
"It’s gonna be a long four weeks," declared Coach Munsey. "It’s always hard to win on the road. There’s no panic here. We’ve got a great group of guys. We’ll play hard and we’ll bounce back."
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.
