Soul edge past Destroyers and into the playoffs

By Michael Rushton
Phanatic Magazine

Philadelphia, PA - First you get the turnover, then you get the touchdown, then you make the playoffs. While the Sopranos may have faded to black across the river, the Philadelphia Soul are alive and kicking.

Tony Graziani’s three-yard touchdown pass to Charles Pauley with seven seconds left, followed by Larry Brackins’ reception on the two-point try lifted the Soul over the Columbus Destroyers, 56-53, and into the playoffs.

The victory pushed Philadelphia into the postseason despite a sub .500 record at 7-8 and halted a two-game losing streak.

Of course, none of it would have been possible without a timely second chance by the Soul defense.

After Brackins’ fourth touchdown catch pulled the Soul to within 53-48 with 10:51 left, defensive back Eddie Moten came up with an interception as Columbus tried to eat away at the clock. However, Moten fumbled the ball away on the return, giving possession back to the Destroyers at their own 19 with under five and half minutes left to go.

The Soul defense tried again to come up with a big stop, and did just that when it forced a 4th-and-4 with under two and half minutes to go. However, with over 17,000 fans on their feet cheering on the Soul, Mike Brown was called for a face masking penalty to again give Columbus new life.

Brown posted the ultimate redemption though, has he picked off Destroyers quarterback and Pennsylvania native Matt Nagy to give the Soul the ball at their own eight with 52 seconds left.

“Everything that we’ve gone through with the injuries and the lack of plays these last two weeks, to bad calls or bad breaks, I mean, Eddie gets the pick and he fumbles and everybody’s like, ‘oh my gosh, here we go again.’ You got to give the defense a lot of credit, Mike Brown came up with the big play, and that’s a season-turning play right there,” said Graziani.

Penalties continued to be a factor, as it looked as if Graziani had moved the Soul deep into Columbus territory, only to see the pass play negated on a holding call, backing Philadelphia up to its own 17 with 33 ticks remaining.

Graziani needed two plays to move the Soul across the 25-yard line, with his pass to Jerrian James moving Philly to the 14. The Soul signal caller then attempted to hit Brackins, but the pass was incomplete. However, a holding call on Columbus put the Soul inside the 10 with 16 seconds left.

Graziani, who finished with seven touchdown passes in addition to 280 yards passing, looked Brackins’ way two more times unsuccessfully, but his second attempt resulted in a defensive pass interference call, spotting the ball at the four with 11 seconds to go, setting up Pauley’s go-ahead score.

“We went through so many different ups and downs in that football game and still hung in there and found a way to win and get in the playoffs,” said Soul head coach Bret Munsey.

The Destroyers finished themselves off as they took an illegal blocking penalty on the en suing kick, and took over at their own four with four seconds left. That forced Peter Martinez to attempt a 59-yard field goal that was well short.

Brackins ended with eight catches for 113 yards in addition to his four scores, and continues to make progress in his rookie season in the AFL.

“I’ve been nagged by a couple of injuries, you know,” said Brackins. “I’ve finally just put it all together…and showed you all what I can do.

“The game is a lot faster in the AFL then the NFL,” added Brackins, a former draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “I just had to adjust to a smaller field, it just took a while, but once I got it, I got it. It’s on. You’re going to see this every week from me.”

Faced with a short week, the Soul will next try to grab a home playoff game when the close out their regular season in Philly on Thursday against Orlando.

“We’ve got to tighten up, we got to get better,” Munsey said. “But it’s a whole lot easier to get (the team) to buy into what we are teaching here in these next couple of weeks because we’re in the playoffs.”

The Soul missed an opportunity to seize control in the second quarter, leading to the late heroics. Tied at 14-14 courtesy of a pair of first quarter touchdown passes by Graziani to Brackins, Idris Price punched the ball in from one-yard out to put the soul up seven just 1:02 into the second frame.

“I’ll tell you what, that guy made some plays today,” Graziani said of Brackins. “We’ve been looking for that out of him all year and he is starting to learn the game and is being patient.”

Philadelphia’s defense then forced a fourth down after Price deflected Nagy’s pass attempt on the play, and Martinez’s en suing 48-yard field goal try was off. Moten returned the miss deep into Destroyers territory, but a block in the back penalty negated the return and put Philadelphia at its own eight-yard line.

The Soul failed to up their lead after the missed kick and turned the ball over on downs. That set Columbus up at the 19, and after the Soul extended the drive multiple times with penalties, B.J. Barre rushed into the end zone from five yards out, cutting Philly’s lead to 21-20 after a missed kick.

The two clubs then traded touchdowns with under one minute left, however, a bad snap on the Soul’s TD allowed the Destroyers to tie the game at 27-27 on a two-yard touchdown pass by Nagy to David Saunders.

The Soul then fell behind quickly in the third, as Nagy threw a pair of touchdown passes sandwiched around a Philadelphia turnover on downs. The point after try was blocked on Columbus’ second score, as the Destroyers jumped ahead 40-27.

Nagy also threw seven touchdown passes in the loss, which dropped the Destroyers to 6-9 as they continue to battle for a playoff spot. Saunders ended with three touchdown catches in the loss.