ArenaBowl has Soul; Philly wins AFL title
Philadelphia scored on all six of its first-half possessions and took the lead for good with three consecutive touchdowns in the second quarter, then survived a frantic San Jose rally in the final minute to hold on in the 22nd ArenaBowl.
D'Orazio, the Arena League MVP in the regular season, hooked up for three scores with wide receiver Chris Jackson, the offensive player of the year.
Jackson finished with 146 yards on 11 catches and D'Orazio threw for 302 yards.
San Jose, which hoped to become the first repeat champion since Tampa Bay in 1995-96, lost for the first time in four Arena Bowl appearances.
San Jose scored touchdowns on its first three series, but Philadelphia made two key stops to turn a 20-14 deficit into a 34-20 advantage. The SaberCats turned the ball over on downs to stop one possession, and defensive back Eddie Moten picked off Mark Grieb's pass on the next.
Grieb tossed a league-high 18 interceptions during the regular season.
Philadelphia extended a 37-27 halftime lead to 44-27 on Jackson's 32-yard touchdown catch and added a safety when Grieb fumbled into his own end zone.
That mistake, plus 11 penalties for 65 yards, slowed down San Jose for most of the day.
The Soul appeared to be in total control when Phil Bogle caught a touchdown pass to make the score 59-42 with 39 seconds left, but San Jose made the last half-minute interesting, scoring 16 points in 11 seconds with the help of a onside kick the SaberCats caught on the hop and returned to the Philadelphia 14.
Philadelphia, which rallied from a 33-7 deficit on the road to beat San Jose 58-57 in the regular season, finally sealed the win by recovering a second onside kick.
San Jose's Rodney Wright set an ArenaBowl record with 13 catches, including seven in the first quarter. Jason Geathers, a linebacker subbing for injured wide receiver James Roe, caught five touchdown passes.
Philadelphia, which survived a replay review after scoring a touchdown on the final play of its Eastern Conference semifinal victory over New York, came out on the good end of all three reviews against San Jose. The league adopted the review system for the first time at the start of the playoffs.
The SaberCats challenged two calls that were upheld. Philadelphia challenged one call and it was overturned — a wild play in the fourth quarter when Wright intercepted a pass off a botched field goal snap and fumbled at his 8-yard line. After ruling Wright down initially, officials reversed the call, and Philadelphia scored to go ahead 52-36 a few plays later.
Recent comments
Basketball is a great sport no doub,But so is the AFL. tHEY HIT JUST…
Listen Here Wannabe fans | July 28, 2008 at 7:18 p.m.
i agree NFL is the king, but we live in salt lake and i for one dont…
vpof commonsense | July 28, 2008 at 11:22 a.m.
Who cares about arena football? Playing on a basketball floor?…
Jazz Fan (The Original) | July 28, 2008 at 9:10 a.m.
