Soul steal VooDoo's magic with a 61-28 win

Sunday August 2, 2015

 Soul Stay Undefeated in Last Regular Season Home Game

PHILADELPHIA (August 2, 2015) – The Philadelphia Soul (14-3) remain undefeated at home with the return of strong players in their 61-28 win over the New Orleans VooDoo (3-13) in front of 10,018 fans on the Rothman field at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday night.

“Having a player like Beau Bell healthy again is huge for us,” said Soul head coach Clint Dolezel. “Pressure from two good guys in the middle and on the edge is the name of this game. We are always striving for perfection. It’s easy to sit back and wait for playoffs, but we will give it our all to finish out the last week of the regular season strong.”

Marco Thomas led the Soul receivers with nine catches for 62 yards and four touchdowns. Ryan McDaniel had five receptions for 41 yards and one touchdown, while Shaun Kauleinamoku had three receptions for 18 yards. Tommy Taggart added 27 rushing yards on 11 carries and three rushing touchdowns for the Soul. Taggart also added another touchdown off a pass from Raudabaugh.

Raudabaugh finished the night completing 19-of-28 passes for 144 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. Bryan Randall stepped in and completed 3-of-3 passes for 31 yards and no interceptions. New Orlean’s Adam Kennedy completed 14-of-30 passes for 120 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions.

Chris DuValt led the VooDoo receivers with seven receptions for 60 yards and two touchdowns, while Roger Jackson added five catches for 37 yards and a touchdown.

Kent Richardson led the defense with 5.0 total tackles, while Beau Bell had 3.0 total tackles and 2.0 sacks for eight yards.

After winning the toss, the Soul deferred and kicked off to the VooDoo to start the game. Tommy Taggart scored the first touchdown of the game within the first two minutes giving the Soul an early lead. The Soul defense had the pressure turned up the whole quarter, stopping the VooDoo consistently. Marco Thomas caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Raudabaugh to put the Soul up 14-0 at the end of the first.

The VooDoo started the second quarter without any points, but that quickly changed when Kennedy completed a pass to DuValt for a VooDoo touchdown. However, the Soul quickly reciprocated when Taggart made a one-yard rush for another Soul touchdown. With 4:43 left in the first half, the Soul was in the lead 20-7. With 1:43 left in the first half, Taggart made his second rushing touchdown of the game, which strengthened the Soul’s lead 27-14. Dwayne Hollis came up with the first interception of the game to end the second half.

Philadelphia opened the third quarter scoring when Raudabaugh hit Thomas on a 3-yard touchdown and pushed the lead to 34-14 with 8:55 left in the third. Chris DuValt answered back for the VooDoo with a 20-yard touchdown reception to put them back on the board. Raudabaugh found Thomas for his third touchdown of the game with four minutes left to make the score 40-21 at the end of the third quarter.

Only three minutes into the last quarter, Taggart made his fourth touchdown of the game, which increased the deficit 47-21. With 7:33 left in the game, Raudabaugh completed a pass to McDaniel for six yards and another Soul touchdown. The Soul appeared to be unstoppable in the last quarter, when Randall completed a pass to Thomas for their third touchdown of the quarter. The Soul ended the game with a 61-28 win, and ended the regular season undefeated at home.

Next week, the Soul will travel to Cleveland to face the Gladiators in their last regular season game on Saturday, August 8. Kick off is at 7 p.m.

Russell Athletic Offensive Player: Philadelphia’s Tommy Taggart
Riddell Defensive Player: Philadelphia’s Beau Bell
J Lewis Small AFL Playmaker: Philadelphia’s Marco Thomas
Cutter’s Catch of the Game: Philadelphia’s Marco Thomas’ third quarter touchdown.
Spalding Highlight of the Game: Philadelphia’s Dwayne Hollis’ second quarter interception.

ABOUT PHILADELPHIA SOUL

The Philadelphia Soul are celebrating their 10th Anniversary Season. Single-game and Group tickets for the Soul’s final home and playoff game are on sale now. For tickets, contact the Soul sales department at (215) 253-4900 ext. 3, or request contact from a representative by filling out the form on www.philadelphiasoul.com. Follow the Soul on Facebook at facebook.com/soul and Twitter at twitter.com/soulfootball.