“We went to the locker room saying that it’s halftime,” Soul quarterback Dan Raudabaugh said of the team’s postgame mentality. “We’re going to come back out and treat it like its zero to zero and keep our foot on the pedal. We need to come out with that hungry dog attitude again. I’m proud of our guys, we put ourselves in a position to accomplish our next goal,” Raudabaugh said.  

 

Darius Reynolds excelled in his return to receiver with a three-touchdown performance. Reynolds was an unexpected surprise for the Valor defense, a typically aggressive secondary had to account for Reynolds by softening their coverages. 

 

“He’s the biggest, strongest, fastest guy out there - you’ve got to account for him. He’s been in our system for a long time and we’ve always had a good rapport. He was a big contributor tonight, it’s not just his athletic ability it’s his mental ability too, he’s a smart football player,” Raudabaugh said.

 

“It felt great,” Darius Reynolds said. “I’ve been waiting for that moment to happen but I’ve been patient with it. To do it the first game of the playoffs and still be successful at it and have the same rhythm with Dan, it felt good to be back,” Reynolds said. 

 

With Reynolds moving to offense the Soul signed linebacker Tyrell Robinson, a rookie out of Oregon University to make his AFL debut in the postseason. Robinson had five tackles and played well on special teams, a strong debut in a big game.

 

“That’s my guy, young Robinson definitely stepped in and made some plays tonight,” Soul defensive back James Romain said. “Jack is a position for vets, not a lot of rookies come in and have a good game their first time they step on the field. He did what he had to do today; Robinson has a bright future. Very athletic, smart, fast, he can jump out of the gym. I’m excited for his future and what type of success he has in the AFL,” Romain said.

 

Romain was the star of the night defensively with three interceptions - a career high. Romain ended the regular season atop the AFL leaderboards with eight interceptions, putting his career total at forty. He’s the Soul’s franchise leader in interceptions, and he and Joe Powell are the clear candidates for this seasons Defensive Player of the Year award.  

 

“We want to keep playing, next week let’s keep that rolling,” Romain said. “Rings and the trophy, that’s my mindset when we get in the playoffs. We’re going to get these wins and rings, and we’re going to be celebrating after the games,”

 

“Me putting my foot down and going straight to the ball and going hard helps the young guys follow, they take the lead like a pack of wolves. Everybody’s 1/8th counts, everybody’s got to do their job,” Romain said.

 

Returning to Philadelphia with a thirty-six-point lead will be a unique situation for the Soul (and Albany who leads by thirty-five over the Baltimore Brigade.) Naturally there is much less pressure but both teams will need to find a healthy balance of protecting their starters while still playing a postseason football game. 

 

“I want to forget about the lead,” Reynolds said. “Going into this game we knew Washington had beat us both times and we felt like that shouldn’t have happened. We want to win both games, with or without the points we want to win,” Reynolds said.

 

Harrison Brown is a college student who has been covering Arena Football since he was 12 years old and has been with ArenaFan since 2014. Harrison was a captain of the varsity football team during his senior year of high school and went on to play one season of Division III football in Massachusetts. Harrison has worked for two indoor football teams, in 2018 he was the Director of Player Personnel for the Jersey Flight and in 2016 he was the Color Commentator for the Philadelphia Yellow Jackets. You can follow Harrison on twitter @HarryBrownRusso.