Soul Ousts Austin 52-35
First Soul playoff appearance... First Soul playoff victory.
The first post season win for Tony Graziani in his six year AFL career. Graziani displayed remarkable resiliency while throwing for over 300 yards with 4 TDs and no interceptions. Graziani suffered a concussion in the first quarter but continued on despite getting hammered by the Austin defense the entire game.
The Soul jumped out to a 14 point lead in the first quarter just as they did the last time these two teams met. This time the Soul would not surrender the lead enroute to a 52-35 victory over the #4 seed. For 2 hours and 39 minutes, from Wes Ours' one yard score just over four minutes into the first quarter to the Todd France 26 yd field goal with just over two and half minutes left to play, the Soul dominated the Wranglers.
Sean Scott was held without a catch but had one of his better defensive efforts. His 7 yard INT return for a touchdown at the end of the third quarter put Philly up 14 for the second time in the game. Scott's INT and a 4th down tackle for a loss would garner him Defensive Player of the Game honors. On the ensuing Austin possession the Soul defense had one of their seven stops. This one characterized by Eddie Moten actually being in position to make a tackle for a loss on an Austin screen sttempt.
After the turnover on downs rookie JJ McKelvey (absent from the first meeting) hauled in a 42 yard TD loft from Graziani to put the game out of reach.
A Dwayne Missouri sack resulted in an Ernest Allen fumble recovery that killed any hope the Wranglers had after an excellent 35 yard kick return by Sedrick Robinson. With 1:41 left to play Philly fed Austin a heavy dose of Chad Dukes. Dukes would rush 5 times for 21 of his 29 yards in that drive alone. Mike Brown took the handoff for the final play of the game picking up 3 yards and running out the clock. Brown finsihed with 8 catches for 109 yards and a score and was one of two Soul recievers to surpass the 100 yard mark receiving. The other, Rob Milanese, had 8 catches for 107 yards and a pair of scores.
Referee Dave Lambros; Umpire Rick Podraza; Linesman Bill Ward; Line Judge Dana McKenzie; and Back Judge Joe Duncan were on hand to prove the officials gene pool is a lot shallower than anyone could have guessed.
