Valor Game Preview: Roll Into Soultown
Jon Stark
Saturday April 28, 2018
After a surprise bye week, the Washington Valor (0-1) hit the road again, this time up to the city of brotherly love to play against the Philadelphia Soul (2-0) inside of Wells Fargo Center at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday April 28th. The game will broadcast live on CBS Sports Network. These two teams last met July 15th, 2017.
Taking a quick look back at the Valor's season opener on the road, we saw a team that showed little signs of rust and played a very close game against the Baltimore Brigade, one of last years playoff teams. During Washington's bye week Baltimore traveled to Philly and dropped what was a close game to the Soul. Now we see the Valor make that same trip in similar fashion to take on the Back 2 Back ArenaBowl Champs as they go for their 20th straight home win.
Washington quarterback Nick Davila threw six touchdowns and received a QB Rating of 127+ in his first game back in action since the end of the 2016 season, not too shabby. Three of those to former Arizona Rattlers teammate and wide receiver Rod Windsor, Rod also picked up 87 yards on 9 receptions against Baltimore on April 13th. Davila wasn't afraid to spread the ball around either, Josh Reese, Reggie Gray and Chris Duvalt all found the end zone as well, Davila even ran one in himself early in the 3rd quarter.
Philadelphia has started the season already looking like they are in mid-season form, the majority of their core roster from last season is still together. Soul QB Dan Raudabaugh is completing 70% of his passes and is averaging six touchdowns a game, five of those to Darius Reynolds, four to Darius Prince, did Philly even have an off-season? The Soul aren't shy on the ground either, FB Jeramie Richardson already has three rushing scores in the last two games as well. Part of winning for Washington will be controlling the ball and keep their time of possession high, giving Philadelphia less time to score. This could be tough as the Soul are averaging over 31 minutes of possession and in Washington's only game they barely scratched 27.
Jon studied Business Management at the University of Pittsburgh and is originally from Maryland. An avid DMV sports fan, he often attends Capitals, Orioles, Wizards and Redskins games. Now a Washington Valor season plan holder and columnist for ArenaFan, he`ll be at every home game covering the team. He spends his free time with friends and family and freelancing graphic design projects. You can follow Jon on Twitter @5FIFTY3
