Ridin' The Storm Out
29 Mar 2008
The Philadelphia Soul climbed to their first ever 5-0 start by defeating the winningest head coach in Arena Football history. Bret Munsey's Soul weathered Tim Marcum's Tampa Bay Storm 51-59.
In a game a lot closer than it should have been the Soul scored first and fast. Offensive Player of the Game Larry Brackins took a short sideline pass from Matt D'Orazio 37 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the opening possession..
The rest of the half was back and forth. The Soul having no answer for Storm WR/LB Lawrence Samuels and the Storm unable to contend with Brackins and Chris Jackson. The usually solid at home Connor Hughes missed a field goal and a couple of extra points to make the game interesting. Hughes did nail a 32 yarder to end the half that put the Soul up by 2 (23-25).
The Storm scored to start the third and the Soul came right back with a D'Orazio to Brackins TD pass. On the following Storm drive Soul DL George Gause forced a Storm QB Brett Dietz fumble that was recovered by Soul DB Eddie Moten. One play later a Chris Jackson TD put the Soul up 30-39.
The two teams would again trade scores for the remainder of the half. The Storm even tried an on-side kick with over seven minutes remaining after pulling within 3 points of the lead. A heads up play by Chris Jackson, knocking the ball into the stands after a bounce, ensured the Soul would gain possession. A 14 yard Darius Watts score and blocked point after attempt put the Soul up 44-52. The Storm answered with Samuels third score. A 22 yard catch in the end zone to make it 51-52 with 3:12 to play.
The Soul responded with Chris Jackson's third TD catch. A short 3 yard pass that gave CJ 76 yards for the night and put him over 12,000 career receiving yards (12,054).
On the way to victory Mike Brown added another 123 return yards on seven kick returns earning him another Ironman of the Game nod. Soul LB Anthony Dunn earned Defensive Player of the Game honors with 2 sacks and a forced fumble.
Up next is another of the AFL's best coaches when Danny White and the Utah Soul..errr Blaze visit Philadelphia.
