Luck isn't for Losers

By John McMullen

Philadelphia, PA (The Phanatic Magazine) - Football coaches are never shy to spin a cliche.

"Luck is for Losers," is one of their staples, meaning preparation and perseverance are the key to success.

But, luck certainly never hurt anybody.

Take the Philadelphia Soul.

Philly's arena football team was about to bow out of the playoffs in an ignominious fashion. Despite an assortment of injuries to their marquee player -- quarterback Tony Graziani -- the Soul coasted through the regular season, compiling a 13-3 record and home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

The road to New Orleans and ArenaBowl XXII went directly through the City of Brotherly Love and the lightly-regarded New York Dragons were about to leave Philly on I-95 South.

With time running down and the Dragons trailing 43-41, New York went for an onsides kick but All-Arena receiver Chris Jackson secured the ball, giving the Soul great field position.

The Dragons defense responded, however. Philly quarterback Matt D'Orazio was flushed out of the pocket and Antonio Ficklin swiped at the ball, forcing a fumble that New York recovered.

Dragons QB Aaron Garcia quickly connected on back-to-back passes to put the ball on the Soul three with less two minutes to go. A one-yard run by Keron Henry took the clock down to the one-minute warning.

Coming out of the timeout, Garcia was out of the game and Henry took a direct snap from center for the TD to put New York in front, 48-43, with just 57 seconds on the clock an eternity in the AFL.

It was do-or-die time for the Soul. First, D'Orazio found Larry Brackins sitting down in a soft spot for an 11-yard gain, but the team, which had two timeouts remaining, and head coach Bret Munsey were being too nonchalant with the clock.

After D'Orazio hit Jackson for a 14-yard gain, he went for the end zone and Brent Holmes. The receiver was bumped off his pattern, however, and the whistles were silent. An incensed Holmes was called for unsportsmanlike conduct putting the ball back on the Soul 22 with just 7.1 seconds left.

With the season in the balance, D'Orazio found a streaking Brackins on a dig pattern in the middle of the field. The 6-foot-4 receiver looked like he was going to come up short but stretched out for the end zone as the gun sounded.

The officials raised their arms, indicating touchdown, and the 16,000-plus at the Wachovia Center erupted thinking the Soul had saved their season.

One problem, the replay still had to be looked out and after seeing it, Dragons' employees in the press box were overjoyed thinking the play would be overturned.

Instead, referee Bill Athan upheld the call, sending the Soul to the National Conference title game for the first time in their history.

"Both the line judge and the back judge told me they had the runner (Brackins) scoring, breaking the plane in possession of the football," Athan said. "(I) went to the replay monitor, told the replay official what the call on the field was and they gave me four, I believe four shots, four angles. There was no evidence that showed me that (Brackins) had not scored and I could not reverse what was called on the field."

Since Brackins was easily a yard short of the end zone, that was a nice way of Athan saying, 'I really don't have the testicular fortitude to overturn this call in Philadelphia.'

The league soon followed suit saying the referee was correct in upholding the ruling on the field because he found that instant replay was inconclusive.

Yep, for once Philadelphia's reputation actually helped one of its teams.

And since the Soul are the one's playing for a berth in the ArenaBowl this Saturday, it proved once and for all that luck isn't necessarily for losers.