Avengers fall off the Soul train, 47-33
by Tim Peterson
February 5, 2006 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Los Angeles Avengers
(Philadelphia)- Matt Sauk, in relief of the injured Tony Graziani, fired three touchdown passes and threw for 147 yards to lead the Philadelphia Soul to a 47-33 victory over the Los Angeles Avengers Sunday at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. Graziani, who left the Avengers two years ago to sign with Philadelphia, dislocated his index finger on the Soul's first possession and didn't return. But Sauk stepped in and didn't miss a beat.
He hit Mike Brown on an 18 yard touchdown pass mid way though the first quarter for a 7-0 lead. Later in the period, Mike Gaines broke off a 30 yard touchdown run to put the Soul up 14-0.
Bran Mann connected with Kevin Ingram for a 30 yard scoring strike with 3:35 left in the first to slice the lead to 14-7.
But a three yard TD pass from Sauk to Chad Dukes and two Todd France field goals gave Philadelphia a 27-13 lead at the break.
Mann hooked up with Ingram again early in the third for a 26 yard touchdown to cut the lead to 27-20. However the Soul broke the game wide open later in the period. First Sauk hit Markus Knight for a 14 yard score. Then the defense made an impact. Mann was sacked in his own end zone and Ernest Allen fell on it for an insurmountable 40-20 lead.
The Avengers were playing catch up the entire game and eventually it caught up with them. A three yard TD toss from Mann to Kareem Kelly and another 29 yarder to Ingram made in interesting but Philly salted it away in the end.
Mann completed 24 of 43 for 270 yards and four touchdowns including three to Ingram. Ingram caught eight passes for 132 yards.
The Avengers fell to 1-1 with the defeat while the Soul improved to 2-0.
LA 7 6 7 13 33
PHI 14 13 13 7 47
Passing: LA - Mann 24-43- 270-4-1.
PHI- Graziani 2-3-23-0-0., Sauk 17-29-147-3-1.
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