Soul clinch playoff berth with win
June 16, 2007 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Philadelphia Soul News Release
PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia Soul quarterback Tony Graziani connected with Charles Pauley from three yards out with :07 seconds remaining in the game and followed it up with a two-point conversion to defeat the Columbus Destroyers 56-53 at the Wachovia Center in front of 17,284 fans. The win gave the Soul entry into the postseason.
Philadelphia and Columbus went back and forth in the first quarter while matching each other with score after score. At the end of one, the score was tied 14-14 after Graziani connected with Larry Brackins on two drives and started the game 8-for-8 for 80 yards. On the other side of the ball, Matt Nagy was 6-for-7 with two touchdowns for 40 yards.
With 11:02 remaining in the second quarter, the Soul came up with their first stop in three games when Peter Martinez missed a 48-yards field goal attempt. The offense could not capitalize on the stop, as they were unable to score on four downs. The Destroyers took advantage and saw B.J. Barre rumble his way in to the endzone from five yards out, yet Martinez missed the extra point to trail 21-20.
Graziani quickly got the Soul back in the endzone as he found Jerrian James on a slant from the 8-yard line to put six on the board, but Columbus came right back and scored with 30 seconds in the half. At the brake, the score was notched at 27-27.
After the teams came back out for the second half, the Destroyers scored on the ensuing drive to give them their first lead of the game at 34-27. Their defense came out following the score and stopped the Philadelphia offense for the second time on four downs. They took over from the Soul 9-yard line and scored as Nagy rolled to his right to find Barre in the back of the endzone to go ahead 40-27.
They each tacked on one more score a piece to end the third quarter to enter the final 15:00 minutes with Columbus a head 47-41.
The Destroyers controlled the clock for the majority of the final quarter, but only came away with six points. After the Soul scored with 10:51 remaining, Columbus held the ball for just under 10 minutes and could not get another point on the board. Philadelphia took over with :53 seconds moved down the field to go ahead and pull out the victory.
Graziani finished the night 24-of-36 for 280 yards with seven touchdowns and no interceptions. He connected with Brackins eight times for 113 yards with four scores to go along with a two-point conversion.
Nagy was 21-of-41 for 204 yards with seven touchdowns despite two interceptions.
Fun! Family! Football! The Soul return home for their final game of the regular season to take on the Orlando Predators at the Wachovia Center on Thursday, June 21 at 7:00 p.m. Single game tickets are available and for more information call (888) PHIL-AFL or log on to www.philadelphiasoul.com. The Soul are entering their fourth season in the AFL and in their three seasons they have sold out 93% of the venue while drawing a League best 387,491 fans combined.
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