Soul escape New York with win, 65-60
April 1, 2007 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Philadelphia Soul News Release
The Philadelphia Soul defense and special teams led the Soul to victory over divisional rival New York on Sunday 65-60 in Long Island, New York in front of 8,729 fans in attendance to keep their record perfect at 4-0 to start the season.
The Soul began the game with pressure on Dragon's quarterback Rohan Davey to start the first drive. Bryan Save knocked the ball loose out of Davey's hand and was recovered in the endzone by Felipe Claybrooks to start the game up 7-0 after a Todd France extra point conversion.
Philadelphia continued their dominance on both sides of the ball during the first half and went into the locker room up 44-28. Their 44 points set a new franchise record for points in the first half. One of those scores was an interception return for a touchdown by ADT Defensive Player of the Game Eddie Moten. Moten picked off Davey with 9:12 in the second quarter to extend his streak of consecutive games with an interception to seven. On the play, he was wrapped up in the endzone, but was able to brake loose from New York receiver Mike Horacek and take it 50 yards the opposite direction for a touchdown.
Following the break, the Dragons came out scoring on consecutive drives to trim the lead to 44-42 before the Blue and Grey got back on the board to extend their lead with two scores of their own to make it 58-42.
New York fullback Ja'Mar Toombs punched in a 2-yard touchdown run to cut the lead back down to 10 at 58-48. Ironman of the Game Charles Pauley would then take it off the net 57 yards for Philadelphia's first kick return for a touchdown this season to put the score at 65-48.
The Dragons did not let up there. They went on to score two more touchdowns and failed to convert on two 2-point conversions to have their comeback fall short 65-60.
Offensive Player of the Game Tony Graziani finished the game completing 24-of-41 passing for 297 yards with six touchdowns despite two interceptions. He spread the ball around between four receivers while eight receptions went to each Larry Brackins and Pauley. Brackins tallied 108 yards receiving with two scores and Pauley had 100 yards with two touchdowns.
Davey completed 25-of-35 passes for a career-high 375 yards with eight touchdowns and two interceptions. He also fumbled the ball three times and lost two of them.
Fun! Family! Football! The Soul return home to face the 4-1 Georgia Force on Monday, April 9 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2 at the Wachovia Center. Single game tickets for the Soul's 2007 season are on sale now. 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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Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from April 1, 2007
- Blaze maintain division lead with 57-47 victory in Vegas - Utah Blaze
- Soul escape New York with win, 65-60 - Philadelphia Soul
- Crush win 55-48 in dramatic last minute comeback over Nashville - Colorado Crush
- Gladiators fall to Utah at home - Las Vegas Gladiators
- Kats lose Heartbreaker to Divison Rival Crush 55-48 - Nashville Kats
- Turnovers Costly in Soul's Defeat of the Dragons - New York Dragons
- D'Orazio, Sippio lead Rush to 66-31 rout of L.A. - Chicago Rush
- Wranglers lose to Desperados in final minute, 68-64 - Austin Wranglers
- SaberCats Down Storm 69-49 - San Jose SaberCats
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