Second Verse, Same as the First For Soul in ArenaBowl

Adam Markowitz
Saturday August 17, 2013

ORLANDO -- The Arizona Rattlers have become the first team since the 1995-1996 Tampa Bay Storm to win back-to-back ArenaBowls. Unfortunately for the Philadelphia Soul, they are becoming a mere footnote in history, as they are the first team since – ironically – the Rattlers were beaten in three consecutive ArenaBowls in 2002, 2003, and 2004.

The Soul though, should hold their heads high with the way that they finished off this game. They were the decided underdogs by 9 ½-points, and they were facing a team that they had already been beaten down by three times in the last 12 months.

Unlike two of those three previous games when Arizona really took it to the Soul, the boys from the City of Brotherly Love had every chance in the world in this one to win. Philly had the ball down six points with 53 seconds to play following a Rod Windsor fumble. After an eight-yard pass to Emery Sammons though, the drive stalled out. Dan Raudabaugh threw two straight incompletions.

On 4th and 2, the season hung in the balance for Philadelphia. The Soul called their most reliable play, a short hammer route to their best receiver, Tiger Jones, but a hit by Arkeith Brown jarred the ball loose to give it back to the Rattlers.

"When you get the ball back at the end of the game with 53 seconds left, it's arena football. We're supposed to go score. That's all there is to it… Nothing else matters. We got the ball at the end of the game with time left. It's on us. It's on me," said Jones, who caught eight passes for 73 yards and two TDs in his first ever ArenaBowl.

The Soul won't pin this game on Carlos Martinez, but the truth of the matter is that the kicking game was crucially and critically bad. Not only did Martinez get a kick blocked at the end of the first half, but he ended up missing three extra points. Worse was on the other side of the field, Garrett Lindholm made all five of his extra points and both of his field goals, the second of which put the game on ice with just 23 seconds to play.

"[The missed extra points] definitely come back to hurt. The bottom line is that we got beat by two possessions, we had a chance to win the football game and didn't get it done in several different ways on the last drive," Head Coach Clint Dolezel stated.

Philly will also look back at two opportunities that were sorely missed in the first half. Following a Nick Davila interception, Dan Raudabaugh and the offense had a chance to take their first lead of the game, but the former Miami Ohio product coughed up an interception of his own, his first of two picks on the day. The second opportunity to take the lead came at the end of the first half. Arizona was forced to settle for a field goal with 0:26 left in the second quarter, but the Soul ended up attempting a field goal just 16 seconds left after three failed plays. The kick was blocked by Anttaj Hawthorne, and it was the 10th blocked kick in ArenaBowl history according to the league's Record & Fact Book.

"We had our chances, I'll say that. We didn't make enough plays when we needed to, we had too many mental mistakes and we didn't make plays when we needed to," said Head Coach Clint Dolezel.

It was a tough day for the Soul offense, which scored the lowest amount of points in an ArenaBowl since the Columbus Destroyers scored just 33 in a losing effort in ArenaBowl XXI. Raudabaugh is now one of the five quarterbacks in ArenaBowl history to toss at least five INTs in a career. He was picked off three times in ArenaBowl XXV last year.

Raudabaugh can say that he has a heck of a lot in common with Kurt Warner, but it's nothing that he is going to want to be remembered for. Raudabaugh tied Warner's records with 31 completions and 51 pass attempts, just like Warner had in ArenaBowl XI – against none other than Arizona.

Ryan McDaniel had a record-tying performance as well. He had 137 yards and two scores as a part of his 13 receptions, which tied the Rodney Wright's record for the most receptions in an ArenaBowl. He was voted as the JLS Playmaker of the Game for his efforts.

The Soul might be the two-time American Conference champs, and they might have a 31-7 record against teams not named the Rattlers, but they are 0-4 against Arizona and clearly have work to be done if they are going to become ArenaBowl champions any time in the near future.

You can never take going to championship games for granted, but there was never denying this year that the Rattlers and the Soul were the two teams that were destined to play in the ArenaBowl. This was the first time that the ArenaBowl featured the exact same matchup in consecutive seasons, but it might not be the last. At least not if you listen to Raudabaugh.

"I would expect it to be Philly and Arizona for years to come if we can keep these teams together."