Saturday, March 19, 2011

Soul crushed in Chicago

CHICAGO – The Chicago Rush  spoiled Mike Hohensee’s return to the Windy City by forcing seven turnovers – four interceptions and three fumbles – en route to a 62-28 thrashing over the Philadelphia Soul (1-1) in front of 10,582 fans on Friday night at the Allstate Arena.

“This was very disappointing,” Hohensee said.  “You can’t give any team that many turnovers and expect to come out on top.  We have a lot of work to do.  It is a long season and we have a team full of competitors.  We will learn from this and get better.”

Philadelphia QB Justin Allgood finished by connecting on 12-of-22 passes for 165 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions.  QB Ryan Vena was 4-of-7 for 61 yards, one interception and two rushing touchdowns in relief duty.  Leading the receiving corps for the Soul was Donovan Morgan with nine receptions for 115 yards, while Syvelle Newton had three receptions for 60 yards and one touchdown and Dominique Thompson added two catches for 28 yards and a touchdown.

The Rush were led by Russell Offensive Player of the Game, QB Russ Michna’s 21-of-29 passing for 189 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.  His main target was WR Micah Rucker, who finished with 11 receptions for 83 yards and two touchdowns.

Philadelphia scored first when Allgood hit Newton on a 34-yard pass play.  But Chicago took control and began a run of 40 unanswered points with the help of an interception and a fumble, the Rush took a 21-7 to end the first quarter scoring.

The second quarter was much of the same as Chicago recovered a fumble and a kickoff recovery off the net to take a commanding 34-7 lead with 10:08 left in the first half.  The Soul couldn’t get on the same page as they then turned it over on downs inside the five-yard line.

The Soul finally snapped the streak when WR Dominique Thompson scored on a 16-yard reception from Allgood to narrow the score 40-14 at halftime.

Chicago started the scoring in the second half when Michna found Rucker on an 8-yard touchdown strike after a Soul turnover.  Philadelphia got a score in the third quarter when Vena, who took over in the third quarter, broke into the endzone from three yards out to end the third quarter scoring and had the Soul trailing 48-21.

The Rush closed things out in the fourth quarter by outscoring Philadelphia 14-7.  The 34-point loss was the worst in team history, topping their 53-20 loss to the Columbus Destroyers on March 18, 2006 – five years to the day.

The Soul will have a bye week and then travel to Bradley Center in Week 4 (on April 4) to face the Milwaukee Mustangs at 8 p.m. ET.

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