SaberCats Convincingly Defeat Soul 70-33 in Home Opener

Griffin Aseltine
Monday March 24, 2014

On Sunday night, the San Jose SaberCats showed the entire league that last week’s blowout win in Portland was no fluke despite playing against a franchise in its conservative, inaugural stage. Facing the Philadelphia Soul, who concluded their 2013 season as the American Conference champions, San Jose tasted sweet revenge from their 65-43 loss in last year’s contest. It expressed a form of dominance that repeated itself for the second week in a row, and proved that it is still, indeed, one of the top forces currently roaming in the AFL.

Russ Michna, who suffered from a concussion just before halftime of last week’s matchup against the Thunder, remained on the sideline throughout Sunday’s game. Nathan Stanley, who did not have any professional experience prior to this season, went 18-of-28 for 249 yards, six touchdowns, and no interceptions.

Stanley’s play looked relatively shaky in the beginning of the first quarter when San Jose trailed 7-0, as his first three passes were three consecutive incomplete attempts to Reggie Gray. A 16-yard fourth-down completion to Jason Willis, however, was enough to calm Stanley’s nerves for the rest of the night.

“He was phenomenal tonight,” 15-year head coach Darren Arbet stated after the game when asked about his rookie quarterback. “We felt comfortable playing him last week in Portland, and he played well at camp. He can really throw the football; this game was made for him.”

Stanley was well-aided by receivers Rod Harper (six receptions for 77 yards and two touchdowns), Reggie Gray (five receptions for 77 yards and three touchdowns), Jason Willis (four receptions for 56 yards), and Huey Whittaker (two receptions for 29 yards and a touchdown).

“I expect to be great every game,” Gray said when being asked about his performance. “The entire team and the coaches expect it. We’ve got two great quarterbacks, and on top of that we’ve got a good offensive coordinator.”

On the defensive side of the ball, only one fourth-down conversion was allowed all game long, a 28-yard touchdown pass from Philadelphia quarterback Dan Raudabaugh to receiver Tiger Jones. Four additional fourth-down attempts by the Soul throughout the game turned into turnovers for the SaberCats.

Speaking of turnovers, San Jose’s Jason Stewart recovered a fumble by Derrick Ross early in the second quarter. The SaberCats offense took advantage and finalized the swinging play into a 28-14 score with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Huey Whittaker.

Clevan Thomas ended up with what was probably the biggest play of the game, intercepting a pass by Raudabaugh and returning it 31 yards for a score. The only defensive touchdown of the night put the SaberCats up 56-27 in the middle of the third quarter, and was debatably the key moment where the game was essentially pulled out of Philadelphia’s reach.

“Walker told me before the snap to be ready for that,” Thomas said, referring to his defensive coordinator. “I was just there.”

Before halftime, Philadelphia made the game appear competitive and worth staying for the second half, as a two-yard touchdown pass to Jones cut its deficit to 35-27 heading into the locker room.

However, San Jose’s defense managed to shut out the Soul for nearly the entire second half, doubling its score with 35 unanswered points before Philadelphia finally tacked on six additional points in the closing minutes to make the final score 70-33.

Following Sunday night’s victory, Stanley expressed his respect toward his fellow quarterback. “I didn’t expect to get in so early. What happened to Russ was so unfortunate.”

The former Southeastern Louisiana Lion’s success turned out to be the biggest story of the night for the SaberCats. Looking untouchable all night long after a game-tying 22-yard touchdown pass to Harper in the first quarter, fans must wonder what this could mean for Michna. Once he is ready to play, it is very possible that there could be an experimental flip-flop between both quarterbacks in order to figure out what is best for the team.

Next Saturday, the SaberCats will travel to Consol Energy Arena to take on the Pittsburgh Power. Suffering a 63-53 home defeat to the Cleveland Gladiators in Week 1, as well as a head coach controversy in the front office, coming out on top over the Power may seem like an easy task. But anything can happen in the AFL.

“We’ve got to bring our momentum to Pittsburgh,” Stanley said following Sunday night’s contest. “We’ve got to keep ourselves going.”

And with how huge Sunday’s win over Philadelphia was, retaining the momentum may be all that is needed for San Jose to replicate last season’s 78-20 destruction in Pittsburgh.