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Are You Ready…For Something Footballish?

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clevelandgladiatorslogo.gifWe don’t pretend to be Arena football experts here at WFNY. And while the Gladiators have the Cleveland connection working with Bernie Kosar, and occasionally good write-ups, Arena fever has yet to infect this portion of the net.

The Gladiators play the Philadelphia Soul this afternoon for a spot in the ArenaBowl (XXII if you are keeping score at home). Kick-off is at 1pm. I’m pulling for the Gladiators, if for no other reason than to spite Jon Bon Jovi for that Keep The Faith album I wasted money on 15 years ago. But here’s a preview from someone who actually watches the sport

The History

When the 2008 schedule first came out no one thought the Soul and Gladiators would be division rivals, but that’s exactly what happened. The Gladiators, which moved into the National Conference Eastern Division this year after relocating from Las Vegas to Cleveland, have played a pair of hard-fought games against the Soul this season. Cleveland knocked off an undefeated Soul team, 67-55, back in May at Quicken Loans Arena and the Soul won the second meeting, 62-61 in Philadelphia. The Gladiators actually hold a 4-1 edge over Philadelphia in the overall series which dates back to the 2004, but the clubs have been pretty evenly matched up in 2008.

In two games against the Soul this year, Cleveland QB Raymond Philyaw has passed for 609 yards with 11 TDs against just one interception. Soul QB Matt D’Orazio started the first contest (141 yards and three TDs) but left the game in the third quarter with an injury and was replaced by Tony Graziani. In the second meeting, D’Orazio tossed six TDs in a 1-point Soul win.

The Stakes

It doesn’t get any bigger than this. The winner goes to the ArenaBowl and the loser goes home. Most of the pressure will be on Philadelphia as no one expected the Gladiators to be in this position. Philly knocked off New York, 49-48, last week in the divisional round, while Cleveland has used a pair of playoff wins over Southern Division foes Orlando and Georgia to earn a berth into the Conference Championship game.

During the regular season, the Soul finished with the League’s best record (13-3) and gained the No. 1 seed in the National Conference playoffs. Philly also led the AFL in scoring averaging with 62.0 points per game. Cleveland won nine games during the regular season and qualified for the playoffs as the No. 4 seed in the National Conference. Cleveland was one of four teams from the Eastern Division (Philadelphia, Dallas and New York) to make the playoffs.

Tip of the cap to Nathan Boudreaux.


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