ArenaBowl adds some Soul

By Michael Rushton

Philadelphia, PA (The Phanatic Magazine) - ArenaBowl XXII in New Orleans will have a nice dose of Soul this year. Backed by Matt D’Orazio’s eight touchdown passes and a solid effort by the Eddie Moten-led defense, Philadelphia handed the Cleveland Gladiators a 70-35 defeat in the National Conference Championship Game to earn its first-ever trip to the Arena Football League’s title game.

The Soul will now battle either Grand Rapids or San Jose on July 27 at New Orleans Arena.

D’Orazio, who took over under center this year for the oft-injured Tony Graziani and put together a spectacular regular season that netted him Player of the Year honors by the Arena Football Writers Association, threw for 184 yards without an interception in guiding the Soul to the win.

All three of the Soul receivers were actively involved in the scoring. Larry Brackins and Brent Holmes hauled in three touchdown passes each, while Offensive Player of the Year Chris Jackson caught two in the victory for the top-seeded Soul. On the defensive side, Moten served as Philadelphia’s spark plug, posting 10 solo tackles to go along with two interceptions.

“Every phase, we played well,” said Soul head coach Bret Munsey. “I just felt like our guys all week prepared themselves to win a championship game and that’s what we did. We came out and our defense played well, special teams and the offense were stopped one time, so we got everybody playing at a high level and we got one more. One more.”

The Soul pass rush also kept Cleveland quarterback Raymond Philyaw off balance all game, as the Gladiator signal caller completed just 25-of-49 passes, and was off the mark on a number of passes throughout the game.

It was a nice turnaround for the Soul, who won a sloppy game versus New York last week to get to the championship game. The 70 points by the Soul was a postseason franchise record.

The Soul defense came out clicking to start the game, halting the Gladiators on a 4th-and-1 play near midfield. A pair of touchdown passes by D’Orazio to Brackins and Holmes, respectively, helped the Soul build a 14-7 edge in the first quarter.

“The defense, it’s the old cliché that defense wins championships and it’s no different in any sport, in this one for sure,” D’Orazio said. “Defense came out and set the tone and those guys were playing with emotion and offensively we were just keeping up with them”

Coming off last week’s controversial win over New York that saw Brackins haul in a last-second TD that was upheld by video replay, the challenge flag was not so kind to the Soul in the first quarter. Jackson making a stumbling catch on a pass from D’Orazio late in the frame, however, the play was ruled incomplete and Munsey decided to throw the challenge flag after the arena replay was shown. The call was upheld, though, but the Soul still managed to take the lead on Holmes’ TD catch as time expired in the first.

D’Orazio credited the offensive line with helping him spread the ball out.

“They played their butts off and a couple of them are dinged up and they just kind of grinned and bared it and they played awesome,” said D’Orazio, who won a championship with Chicago in 2006. “If you give Chris Jackson, Larry Brackins and Brent Holmes anytime at all, they are going to get open.”

Momentum then shifted the Soul’s way in the second after Moten nabbed a Philyaw pass attempt deep in Cleveland territory. That led to D’Orazio’s five-yard touchdown pass to Jackson for a 21-7 edge. A defensive hold later, the Soul took over on the Cleveland four after a turnover on downs, and Wes Ours’ two-yard run made it a 21-point game.

“I think it was a complete team effort out there,” Jackson said. “The defense started out very hot so it was easy for us to keep the momentum going. Matt played well. He hit us when we were open.”

Said Munsey of Moten, “Eddie has come up big the last three or four weeks, he’s got his swagger back. Like I said, your franchise guys have to play big in big-time games, playoff games, and he’s starting to do that and he can cover as well as anybody when he’s got his swagger.”

The Gladiators scored with just over five minutes until the half to cut their deficit in half, but Philadelphia responded when Jackson broke away from the defense in the end zone for a nine-yard score following an onsides attempt by Cleveland.

Philadelphia almost had the Gladiators pinned down again on their next drive, but Philyaw just broke away from the rush and completed a 38-yard catch-and-run to Robert Redd, setting up Marlion Jackson’s four-yard TD run with just over two minutes left.

Cleveland then went for another onside try, but failed again to recover. However, the Soul couldn’t score, leaving the door open for the Gladiators. The defense was again up to the task, keeping Cleveland out of the end zone while maintaining the club’s 35-21 lead after Jason Ball’s 35-yard field goal try sailed wide left.

The clubs traded TD passes to start the third before a highlight return by Mike Brown. Brown took a kickoff deep in the Soul end zone and darted up the right side before jumping clean over Ball en route to a 57-yard return and a 49-28 edge.

“He’s Mr. Excitement,” Munsey said of Brown. “He brings energy to this football team, he brings energy to the crowd and that’s why you love Mike Brown as a teammate (and) as a player.”

The Gladiators answered with Redd’s 22-yard reception that saw him slice and dart through the Soul secondary to again make it a 14-point game with under five minutes to go in the third frame, but the Soul posted the last score of the quarter thanks to Brackins’ 18-yard touchdown catch, his third of the game.

Cleveland turned the ball over on downs early in the fourth, and the Soul continued to pull away thanks to Holmes’ 16-yard TD catch, making it a 63-35 edge. Holmes added another TD catch late in the quarter to account for the final score.

Soul Food: Glassboro, New Jersey native and starting Cleveland linebacker Sakeen Wright injured is knee during warmups and was inactive for the Gladiators…The Gladiators defeated the Soul in Week 10 in Cleveland, handing the Soul their first loss of the season. Philly avenged that setback with a home victory over the Gladiators in Week 16...Philadelphia has never lost at home in the playoffs, posting a 3-0 mark all-time in South Philly…Ours left the game due to injury, but Munsey said he doesn’t think it will keep him out of the ArenaBowl.