Philadelphia Soul game notes

Published on May 16, 2006 under Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Philadelphia Soul News Release


WILD CARD PLAYOFF GAME
SOUL @ WRANGLERS: THE FACTS

Date: Sunday, May 21, 2006
Kickoff: 3:00 PM ET
Site: Frank Erwin Center
Officials: Referee: Dave Lambros, Umpire: Rick Podraza, Head Linesman: Bill Ward, Line Judge: Dana McKenzie, Back Judge: Joe Duncan

THE GAME CAN BE HEARD...

On SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia with Ari Wolfe handling play-by-play, Director of Communications Tim Farrell and OL/DL Donny Klein adding color analysis.

THE GAME CAN BE SEEN...
On NBC10 with Ted Robinson, Charles Davis and Roger Wallace calling the game.

THE SERIES - SOUL VS. WRANGLERS

This will be the fourth meeting between the Soul and Wranglers. In Week 10, the Wranglers traveled to Philadelphia and defeated the Soul 43-38. Austin came from behind at the half when they were down 21-13 as Wranglers quarterback John Fitzgerald finished the game completing 23-of-38 for 296 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions. Four of those touchdown catches were by rookie OS Derrick Lewis to go along with eight receptions for 150 yards.

WHAT'S AT STAKE

If the Soul win, it would
- Give the Soul its first career playoff victory
- Advance the Soul to the National Conference Round
- Give the Soul a 2-2 record vs. Austin
- Give the Soul a 10-7 overall record
- Give the Soul a 5-4 road record

THE SOUL'S WEEK 10 GAME vs. AUSTIN
Offensive Player of the Game: Derrick Lewis (AUS)
ADT Defensive Player of the Game: Donvetis Franklin (AUS)
Ironman of the Game: Sedrick Robinson (AUS)

PHILADELPHIA -- John Fitzgerald threw six touchdown passes, included four to Derrick Lewis, as the Austin Wranglers (7-3) defeated the Philadelphia Soul (5-5), 43-38, at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Penn.

Fitzgerald finished 23 of 38 for 296 yards, 6 TDs and no interceptions. Lewis had 8 receptions for 150 yards and 4 TDs. Sedrick Robinson chipped in with 5 catches for 64 yards and 2 TDs.

For Philadelphia, Tony Graziani was 29 of 42 for 269 yards, 4 TDs and no interceptions. Mike Brown led Soul receivers with 11 receptions for 112 yards and 2 TDs.

LAST WEEK'S GAME @ GEORGIA
Offensive Player of the Game: Wes Ours (PHI)
ADT Defensive Player of the Game: Eddie Moten (PHI)
Ironman of the Game: Derek Lee (AUS)

ATLANTA, GA - Wes Ours ran for four touchdowns as the Philadelphia Soul clinched their first playoff berth in team history with a 57-41 triumph over the Georgia Force.

Ours finished with just 13 yards rushing but scored on runs of two, one, two and five yards. His final score with 6:20 left in the third quarter gave the Soul a 43-27 lead.

Tony Graziani threw for 205 yards and a touchdown for the Soul (9-7). His favorite receiver was Sean Scott, who had six receptions for 80 yards and a score.

Georgia (8-8) could only make the postseason if Columbus loses to San Jose later Saturday.
Georgia's Matt Nagy completed 24-of-36 passes for 269 yards with four touchdowns and three interceptions.

THE COACHES
Bret Munsey (First Season)

Bret Munsey became the third head coach for the Philadelphia Soul and is the first Soul coach to lead them into the postseason in three seasons. He has compiled a 9-7 record this season and has received a two-year contract extension through the 2008 season. This is Munsey's first head coaching position in the League.

Munsey, 37, joins the Soul after serving on Orlando's staff for three seasons under Jay Gruden. After joining the Predators in 2003 and serving as the team's offensive coordinator and wide receivers/defensive backs coach, he was promoted to assistant head coach in August of 2003. This role also included his director of player personnel and defensive coordinator roles throughout the last two seasons.

In 2005 the Predators finished with a 10-6 regular season record and lost in the conference finals to the Georgia Force. The team ranked third in the League in scoring defense (47.2 ppg), fifth in total defense (269.2 ypg) and second in pass rating defense (98.9).

In his role as defensive coordinator, Munsey organized Orlando's defensive game plans and served as defensive backs coach. His 2004 defense ranked first in the league in scoring defense (43.1), total defense (236.8 ypg) and pass rating defense (95.7).

The Soul look to capitalize on Munsey's defensive knowledge. Philadelphia was the worst in the League against the run last season, allowing 576 yards. They also allowed the second most touchdowns in the League and made the least amount of tackles. Cutting down on stats like these are Munsey's top priority.

In his role as assistant head coach, Munsey handled several administrative duties for the Predators - including planning and conducting training camp, tryouts and player housing. He was also in charge of recruiting and handled contract compliance with the League.

In his first season with the Predators, Munsey served as offensive coordinator and coached the wide receivers and defensive backs.

Munsey came to the Predators from the Carolina Cobras, where he served as defensive coordinator. Under his guidance, the Cobras were ranked in the top five in the Arena Football League in many defensive categories and came within one play of earning a spot in the semifinals.

Skip Foster (Third Season)

Head coach Skip Foster is in his third AFL season with the Austin Wranglers. Foster, deemed the second most winning coach in arenafootball2 history with a 44-10 record including an ArenaCup Championship, will again act as the Wranglers offensive coordinator in addition to carrying the head coaching duties. After finishing the team's 2004 debut season with a commendable 8-8 record, Foster has built a 2005 team that will take the Wranglers to an ArenaBowl championship.

In the Wranglers second season, the offense, led by quarterback John Fitzgerald, scored 109 touchdowns, with 18 different players recording points on the year. Fitzgerald posted 300 or more yards in five games and surpasses all his career bests as he threw for 354 completions for 3,960 yards and 72 touchdowns. Five of his receivers combined for 11 games in which they had 100 or more receiving yards. Rookie Kevin Nickerson was honored with a spot on the AFL All-Rookie Team after leading the team in receiving yards with 1,028. Receiver Darrin Chiaverini led the team and posted a career-high in receptions with 114. He also posted career-highs in receiving yards (951), touchdowns (18), tackles (25.5) and interceptions (3).

In the team's inaugural season performance, Foster's offense scored 104 touchdowns, an average of 47.8 points per game, led the AFL in total offense for five weeks and remained one of the League's top three total offenses for a total of fifteen weeks in 2004. The Wranglers offensive unit gained more than 300 yards in five different performances and had two 200+ receiving-yard games for AFL All-Rookie Tacoma Fontaine. Quarterback John Kaleo posted career-highs in attempts with 565 and completions with 352.

SOUL'S NOTES AND TRENDS

FIRST FOR EVERYONE
Philadelphia and Austin will be facing each other in the playoffs first the first time this week. It is also the first time since both franchises came into the League in 2004 they have reached the postseason.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR???
DS Eddie Moten picked off two more passes last week to give him an AFL record-tying 13 on the season. He tied San Jose SaberCats' DS Clevan Thomas' 13 picks from 2003. Thomas was later named the League's Defensive Player of the Year. On the season, Moten has tallied 104 total tackles, 18 pass breakups, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. Three of his interceptions were returned for touchdowns and he is now one of only six players in League history to record more than 100 tackles in a season. He has also received ADT Defensive Player of the Game honors six times and Player of the Week honors once.

HE'S OURS
FB/LB Wes Ours finished the regular season with a bang in Georgia last week. He made it in the endzone four times for a team record in a single game and finished the season with 11 touchdowns. He was also named Offensive Player of the Game for the first time in his career.

ARENABOWL DAYS
The Soul have five members of former ArenaBowl championship teams on their roster. Kevin Gaines and Ernest Allen each won titles while with the Orlando Predators (Gaines - '98, Allen - '00). Connell Maynor has been a part of four championship teams (Tampa Bay - '95, '96, Orlando - '98, '00). Donny Klein and Chad Dukes were on the Colorado Crush last season.

IN A RUSH
The Blue and Grey ruled the ground game last week against Georgia totaling six rushing touchdowns on 15 carries. They finished the regular season with 194 carries for 491 yards with 31 scores.

PICKING A WINNER
The Soul picked off the most passes during the regular season in the League with 28 and ranked second all-time in League history (29-Orlando - '92).

LUCKY 13
Austin picked off 13 passes during the regular season to equal the same total as the Soul's Eddie Moten.

WAY TO GO ROOKIE
Kicker Todd France was honored by the League and received All-Rookie Team honors following the regular season. He ranked fourth in the League in points scored among kickers (137) and was sixth in touchbacks (31). He was also first among rookie kickers in both categories.

MOVING ON UP
OL/DL E.J. Burt tallied 4.5 sacks this season and has moved up to ninth all-time on the career sacks list with 27 in his four year career.

DEUCE DEUCE
Soul OS Steve Smith is 22 yards shy of reaching the 4,000 receiving yard plateau for his career. This season he has caught 83 passes for 953 yards with 14 touchdowns.

PLAYOFF TEAMS
Philadelphia has compiled a 6-4 record against the other 11 teams who are in the playoffs. Their six victories have come against Chicago, Dallas (twice), Georgia, Nashville and New York. On the opposite side, their losses have come against Austin, Colorado, New York and Orlando.

ONLY US
The Soul are the only team in the League to finish the regular season with nine victories.

FIVE HUNDO
The Blue and Grey finished the regular season with 502 yards on the ground and rank fourth in the League and set a team record.

THE FOUR HORSEMEN
Wes Ours (132), Sean Scott (115), Mike Brown (105) and Chad Dukes (104) each tallied more than 100 yards rushing on the ground this season.

PUT YOUR DUKES UP
Chad Dukes has moved up the polls in every rushing category in the League. He is now ranked fifth all-time in attempts (264), fifth in rushing yards (1,229) and sixth in touchdowns (56).

GREAT SCOTT
WR/LB Sean Scott has been honored by the League twice this season as the Ironman of the Week. Also, in the Soul's nine wins this season, Scott has been named Ironman five times and Offensive player of the Game once.
He finished the regular season one yard shy of 1,000 for the season and caught 87 passes with 17 touchdowns. He also rushed the ball 35 times for 115 yards with seven scores.

RUN TO VICTORY
When Philadelphia runs the ball more than 10 times a game they have compiled an 8-3 record. When they don't run the ball at least 10 times they have suffered defeat four times with one victory.

ELITE COMPANY
The Soul are only one of two professional sports teams in Philadelphia to reach the postseason this year. The Flyers made it into the NHL playoffs, but fell to the Buffalo Sabers 4-2 in a seven game series.

GROUND EFFECT
Philly rushed for a season high 77 yards last week against Georgia. It also set a franchise record for most rushing yards in a game. The previous high was during the first week of the season against the Tampa Bay Storm (50).

FAMILIAR FACE
Austin Wranglers' OL/DL Donovan Arp was a former Soul player who joined the team in Week 3 of the 2004 season. He played in 11 games for the Soul in 2005 recording eight tackles including four tackles for loss, one interception for a four-yard loss, one forced fumble and a fumble recovery on season.

SOUTHERN STYLE
The Soul finished the regular season with a 3-2 record against teams in the Southern Division. Their only losses came to the Wranglers and the Predators.

ERNEST GOIES TO TOWN
OL/DL Ernest Allen blocked his seventh kick of his career last week when Georgia kicker Nelson Garner attempted and extra point attempt with 18 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

ZILTCH TO 30
Philadelphia began last week's game on the wrong foot as they went scoreless in the first quarter for the second time this season (Week 3 @ Orlando). They would then bounce back in the second quarter and score their second highest point total before halftime with 30 points (Week 7 @ Kansas City, 35).

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Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from May 16, 2006


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