Soul man Ron Jaworski’s team wins another title

Hey Philly, you have a back-to-back champion.

The Philadelphia Soul rallied from a 13-point, secondquarter deficit to claim their second straight Arena Football League title, and third overall, with a 44-41 victory over the Tampa Bay Storm in Arena Bowl XXX Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

Despite a knee injury, quarterback Dan Raudabaugh threw four touchdown passes, but it was the defense that enabled the Soul to rally from a 20-7 second-quarter deficit to become the fourth team in league history to win back-toback titles and the first since the Arizona Rattlers won three straight from 2012-14.

The Soul held the Storm to seven first downs and 194 total yards, the fourth fewest in Arena Bowl history, and intercepted Tampa Bay quarterback Randy Hippeard twice, both by Dwayne Hollis. Philadelphia also recorded a safety on a sack by Sean Daniels.

Raudabaugh took a shot to his knee in the second quarter, which Soul owner Ron Jaworski said after the game was a torn ACL. Whatever the injury it did not keep Raudabaugh from throwing three TD passes in the second half, including a pair to Darius Prince, who was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.

Raudabaugh hit Sean Kauleinamoku to give the Soul a 44-34 lead with 4:42 left in the game. That’s when the defense came up big. Hollis picked off Hippeard for the second time to seal the game with 2:40 remaining. The Storm scored their final touchdown as time expired.