Soul remains undefeated

QB Matt D'Orazio scored eight total touchdowns and Eddie Moten picked off QB Clint Dolezel three times as the Philadelphia Soul defeated the Dallas Desperados, 57-28, on Monday night at the Wachovia Spectrum in the Broad Street Brawl.

Soul 64, Blaze 56

PHILADELPHIA, PA -- QB Matt D'Orazio was 28 of 37 for 300 yards and six touchdowns adding a rushing score as the Philadelphia Soul defeated the Utah Blaze, 64-56, on Saturday night at the Wachovia Spectrum. WR Chris Jackson has 13 catches for 138 yards and five touchdowns.

Blaze QB Joe Germaine finished 21 of 28 for 250 yards and five touchdowns. FB Rodney Filer had six rushes for 49 yards and three touchdowns. WR Huey Whittaker had six catches for 67 yards and three scores.

Philadelphia 59-51 victory over Tampa Bay

PHILADELPHIA, PA -- Quarterback Matt D'Orazio tossed seven touchdown passes, including three each to Chris Jackson and Larry Brackins as the Philadelphia Soul extended its perfect record to 5-0 with a 59-51 victory over the Tampa Bay Storm Saturday afternoon at the Wachovia Center. D’Orazio hit Brackins for 22 yards on a critical third and 17 play in the final minute and followed with a three-yard TD to Jackson for the final margin of victory. The Soul defense held on for the final 38 seconds to secure the first 5-0 start in franchise history.The triumph moved the Soul into sole possession of first place in the Arena Football League Eastern Division, ahead of the 4-0 Dallas Desperados, who meet the New York Dragons Sunday afternoon. The loss dropped Tampa Bay to 2-2 in the AFL’s Southern Division.The Soul seized control of the see-saw battle midway through the third quarter, scoring two touchdowns during a 2:18 span with D’Orazio hitting Brackins from eight yards out and Jackson on a 14-yard score. The Jackson touchdown was set up by an Eddie Moten fumble recovery. It was the Soul’s second win without starting quarterback Tony Graziani, who was injured in the Week 3 victory over the New York Dragons. Brackins totaled 139 yards on 10 catches and added a highlight-reel special teams tackle that pinned Tampa Bay to its one-yard-line during the first half. Jackson had eight catches for 76 yards to go along with his TD grabs. His eight yard reception at the end of the first half gave him 12,004 receiving yards, making him just the fourth player in AFL history to surpass the milestone. He ended the game with 12,054 receiving yards.Jackson now needs just eight more catches to hit the 900 mark for his career and 12 more TD catches for 300. Storm quarterback Brett Dietz completed each of his first eight passes, including touchdowns to Hank Edwards and Brent Holmes, as the Storm took the lead in the first quarter and stayed in control for most of the first half. Philadelphia’s Connor Hughes hit a 32-yard field goal as time expired in the first half to give the home team a 25-23 at the break. Dietz ended up with six touchdown passes, including three to wide receiver Lawrence Samuels. The Soul opened the scoring on the first play of the game, when D’Orazio completed a short sideline pass to Brackins, who then busted it up the sideline for a 37-yard touchdown.Graziani may return next weekend, when the Soul host the Utah Blaze Saturday, April 5, at 7 p.m. at the Wachovia Spectrum.

Avengers pound the Soul

LOS ANGELES, CA -- The Avengers ended their three-game, 11-day stretch with a 71-34 loss to the Philadelphia Soul on Thursday night at STAPLES Center before 13,398. Los Angeles now has nine days to shake off a two-game losing streak before playing at Grand Rapids on Sunday, March 30.

The Soul remained undefeated at 4-0 by taking advantage of fatigued Los Angeles offense that was shut out for the last 22 minutes of the game. The Avengers fell to 2-2.

Filling in for Soul starting quarterback Tony Graziani, Matt D’Orazio was 28-of-42 for 338 yards with eight touchdowns. Six of those scoring tosses were to former Avenger star wide receiver Chris Jackson, who finished with a game-high 167 yards on 10 catches and earned “Offensive Player of the Game” honors.

Avenger quarterback Sonny Cumbie was 18-of-30 for 152 yards and three touchdowns, with a interception. Veteran wide receiver Kevin Ingram caught 12 passes for 113 yards and two touchdowns for Los Angeles.

The Avengers appeared to show signs of fatigue late in the third quarter as their offense ground to a halt as it was stopped on eight straight possessions.

“It’s not ideal to play three games in 11 days,“ Avenger head coach Ed Hodgkiss said. “We did come out and play tired and flat in the second half. I don’t want to use the rough schedule as an excuse, because there have been times when we have had a short week and played well.”

Both teams scored on all of their possession in the first half. The difference being that the Soul scored last in the second quarter on a 24-yard pass from D’Orazio to rookie wide receiver Larry Brackins.

On that crucial play, Brackins caught the pass inside L.A.’s five-yard line and fought his way to the end zone with three seconds left until the intermission.

After the halftime break, Cumbie engineered a 15-play, 45-yard drive punctuated by fullback Lonnie Ford’s second one-yard touchdown run of the game, which tied the score at 34-34. That was as close as the Avengers would get.

The first of two touchdowns scored by the Soul defense came when linebacker Anthony Dunn stripped Cumbie of the football near the goal line and defensive end Gabe Nyenhuis, who was selected as the “ADT Defensive Player of the Game,” recovered it in the end zone to give Philadelphia a 48-34 lead with 3:41 to play in the third quarter.