Soul Accepts Coach’s Challenge
Jason Moyer
Monday April 10, 2006
Inconsistent has been the word to describe the Soul this season. They have posted large victories or embarrassing losses and have rarely played four solid quarters of football. Most of the teams’ troubles come in the second half after playing sound football in the first two quarters.
"I challenged Coach Kubiak on offense. I challenged my secondary in the second half," stated Head Coach Bret Munsey. "We got to lay it all on the line, be aggressive, and make plays."
"There’s been a lot of questions if we can play four quarters of football," continued Munsey. "We got into overtime and won a big one for us."
Philadelphia stepped up to the challenges in the second half creating four stops and was the benefactor of two fortunate bounces.
Trailing 42-35 with the Rush threatening to extend their lead, Matt D’Orazio had a pass go through his receivers hands off the side board before being intercepted by Philadelphia’s Mike Brown.
On the following drive, Matt Sauk, filling in for an injured Tony Graziani, had a fourth down pass tipped at the line of scrimmage that somehow managed to find its way to Sean Scott in the end zone.
"There’s luck throughout the game," acknowledged Sauk. "We just happened to get two of them."
Along with the luck, Philadelphia also exhibited mental toughness that the team has lacked in several games.
FB/LB Wes Ours scored two short yardage touchdowns after failing in similar situations last week and defensive specialist Eddie Moten made the game ending play after getting beat for a touchdown by Chicago’s Etu Molden with only 1:29 left in the fourth quarter.
"You got to have a short memory in this league," declared Moten. "Things happen in this league. You have to shake the bad things off and come back, step it up, and make big time plays."
Philadelphia will now look to put together a winning streak, something they have not accomplished since Weeks 1 and 2, when they travel to Nashville on Friday night.
Inside the Numbers
Sean Scott (PHI) caught eight passes for 106 yards with one touchdown and rushed four times for three yards and one touchdown.
Tony Graziani (PHI) completed 17 of 30 passes for 249 yards with two touchdowns before pulling his right hamstring early in the fourth quarter.
Matt Sauk (PHI) connected on 8 of 11 passes for 71 yards and two touchdowns while suffering one interception.
Etu Molden (CHI) led all receivers with 10 receptions for 105 yards with one touchdown.
Rush special teams accounted for 309 return yards, including a 57 yard kickoff return by Carlos Wright and a 55 yard missed field goal return by C.J. Johnson.
Attendance – 14,778
Munsey on Sauk
"You got to be a pro. I don’t care if you’re third string, second string, whatever, when the time is there you got to step up and make plays. He did it again for us."
Munsey on Moten
"What I like about Moten. He got beat on fourth down, hung in there mentally, came back and made the interception at the end of the game. That was a great play and Eddie’s been playing like that all year."
Sauk on replacing Graziani
"I’m kind of used to it now. I’ll come in if I have to and get used to the momentum of the game."
Ours on getting called upon on fourth down
"It gives me the vote of confidence that the coaches still believe in me and what I can do."
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.
