August 11th, 2019 is a day that impacts the AFL foundation to its core. The big game feels from the crowd attendance at the Times Union Center, the former and current AFL players in attendance, and the presentation on ESPN 2 for Arena Bowl 32 certainly made everything feel larger than life. Truly, Arena Bowl 32 featured the two best teams in the AFL. The Philadelphia Soul were the third seed in the playoffs going against the first seed Albany Empire, who were ten-point favorites. When the game was all said and done, the Empire defeated the Soul, 45-27, to secure their first-ever Arena Bowl championship.
Both teams were undefeated in their playoff run headed into Arena Bowl 32. Going into Arena Bowl 32, the Philadelphia Soul and Albany Empire each owned a win against each other in 2019 when starters played the entire game. 12,042 attended the Times Union Center and the packed house looked great on ESPN 2. Before the game, "Touchdown" Eddie Brown, formerly of the Albany Firebirds, did the opening coin toss. A few other former AFL players, personalities, and current players were in attendance in Albany for the championship game, including Coffee Jones, Kendrick Ings, and Antwane Grant.
The players of the Albany Empire had performances that stood out across the board. The offensive player of the game was Quentin Sims had nine catches for ninety-three yards and four touchdowns. The defensive player of the game was Maurice Leggett, who intercepted Dan Raudabaugh in the endzone and returned for a fifty-four-yard touchdown, which is now an Arena Bowl record. Leggett also had a fumble recovery that came at a critical time when the Philadelphia Soul just got the ball back on offense. Terence Moore forced a fumble on Darius Prince, which was recovered by Leggett. The most valuable player of Arena Bowl 32 was Tommy Grady, who threw five touchdowns and no interceptions. He played a very clean game to clinch the Empire's first Arena Bowl championship.
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Speaking of Maurice Leggett, head coach Rob Keefe had high praise for the defensive player of the game. Leggett signed with the Albany Empire in time for the final regular-season game, which was against the Philadelphia Soul. We asked Keefe about reaching out to Leggett just before the AFL playoffs:
"An unbelievable player. This business is all about relationships and the relationships you have with players, so the last time I coached him was in 2012. So for him, to be in the CFL for the last six years, at one time he was the Kansas City Chiefs special teams player of the year, and that's the impact that he has. I knew I had to get him back. The CFL was going to retire him and he wanted to continue to play. I definitely called him and said, 'Mo, we need you.' He wanted to be here and the guys embraced him."Rob Keefe on Maurice Leggett; 8/11/2019
Game analysis on the page below:
Game Analysis
The Albany Empire won the coin toss, flipped by the honorary captain "Touchdown" Eddie Brown. They elected to defer to the second half, giving the Philadelphia Soul the ball to start the game. Before the kickoff, the Albany Empresses cheerleaders took the field before the introduction of the Empire players and their honorary captain. Everything about the Arena Bowl felt like another away game for the Soul. As much as Albany was a great city to host the Arena Bowl because of the following the Empire has, I couldn't help but think that a neutral site for a championship game is needed.
Rob Keefe commented about having the home-field advantage in Arena Bowl 32. After hearing his take, it put in perspective just how special the Arena Bowl in Albany was for the Empire. Keefe stated, "the fans, I cannot thank them enough. This is the place, where again, it works. You go to the grocery store, you go to the gas station, you walk into any bar or restaurant here and they know who you are. They care about you."
In the first quarter, Dan Raudabaugh began the game with a thirty-four-yard touchdown pass to Darius Prince. The Albany crowd wasn't as loud at the beginning of the game, seemingly taking the crowd out of the game early. The Albany Empire came out to answer, but James Romain forced a fumble on Malachi Jones after catching a pass from Tommy Grady. Tyrell Robinson recovered the fumble from Jones, but was hurt on the play and would not return to the game.
Clint Dolezel commented on Tyrell Robinson's injury after the game, "it didn't help, that's for sure. The kid was playing at a high level. Recovered a fumble. I thought we had a really good plan for our secondary. To hold them to that and then lose him, we definitely missed him several plays they had big chunks of yardage on."
Dan Raudabaugh and the Philadelphia Soul offense had the opportunity to extend the lead, but Raudabaugh threw a pass into coverage that was intercepted by Maurice Leggett. The interception return for a touchdown would be a new Arena Bowl record at fifty-four yards. Early on in the first quarter, this was a big momentum-changing play. Raudabaugh regrouped on offense and would find BJ Bunn for a thirty-eight-yard touchdown, regaining the lead of the game at 14-7. Bunn had a great game in his first Arena Bowl in place of Aaron Wascha. Clint Dolezel commented, "man, he's a great player. One of our several rookies that stepped up and played well for us. He's very good after the catch. He had a long touchdown on the fake, little screen we had there. He deserved it. I was happy to get him back in there." It wouldn't be long after for Tommy Grady to answer back with an eleven-yard touchdown to Quentin Sims. The first quarter would end, tied at 14.
The Philadelphia Soul continued their drive into the second quarter and would eventually stall after Dan Raudabaugh's pass to Lonnie Outlaw for first down yardage was dropped on fourth down. About as quickly as the Albany Empire scored previously, Tommy Grady linked back up with Quentin Sims again for a six-yard touchdown. This would be the first lead for the Empire. The Soul came back out on offense and tied the game back at 21 after Raudabaugh connected with Darius Prince on a four-yard touchdown. Kenny Spencer and the Philadelphia special teams attempted an onside kick and it was recovered successfully by Kyle Chandler. A play later, Albany's Terence Moore forced a fumble on Prince, recovered by Maurice Leggett. Defensive plays were being made by the Empire and the story so far was that the turnover battle was being lost by Philadelphia.
One play after Darius Prince's fumble, Tommy Grady completed another touchdown to Quentin Sims, this time for twenty-five yards. Taking a page right out of Clint Dolezel's strategy, the Albany Empire attempted an onside kick off the foot of Adrian Trevino and recovered by Terence Moore. Unlike the Philadelphia Soul, the Empire would cash in on the successful onside kick recovery when Grady would once again throw another touchdown to Sims for eleven yards. At halftime, the separation in the score began. The Empire led the Soul, 35-21.
Continued on the page below.
To begin the second half, the Albany Empire had the ball since they deferred the winning coin toss. On the first drive, Tommy Grady would find Mykel Benson for an eight-yard touchdown, extending the lead to 42-21. Everything had to start to go right for the Philadelphia Soul. Dan Raudabaugh and the offense made it in the red zone, ready to score, but Adrian Ferns was stuffed twice. It was fourth and goal, down by twenty-one. Raudabaugh did a dive option on the goal line but opted to pull the ball away and scramble around the offensive line to the endzone. Jeramie Richardson was able to wrap up Raudabaugh's foot and bring him down for a loss on the rush, effectively turning the ball over on downs. Clint Dolezel explained the play call after the game, "it's a read. A dive option. We were, at that point, searching because we were getting stuffed. We're not used to that. We're used to, for years, since I've been coaching and since I've been playing, we're able to run that play and get it in. Tonight we couldn't. That's a very rare thing for us." The Empire turned the ball over on downs in four plays, after Grady's pass fell incomplete to Malachi Jones.
Beginning the last quarter of Arena Bowl 32, the Philadelphia Soul had possession on offense. Rather quickly, Dan Raudabaugh completed a pass to Lonnie Outlaw for a three-yard touchdown. Kenny Spencer's kick was blocked by Joe Sykes. The next drive for the Albany Empire, the Soul held them out of the endzone on defense. Adrian Trevino kicked a thirty-one-yard field goal. This would be the last point scored in the game, bringing us to the final score of 45-27. Philadelphia would turn the ball over on downs again after Darius Prince was not able to get the ball into the endzone. The end of the game saw an ugly turn of events for the AFL when James Romain and Demetres Stephens were ejected from the game for throwing punches at each other. Romain explained thoroughly what happened that led up to that moment with Stephens:
"A few years ago, the guy Stephens, I smoked him across the middle. Smoked him. He tried to catch a pass, I almost killed him. He tried to talk, 'I'm too little.' I said 'bro, I almost killed you before. You almost went to the ER.' Luckily the doctors were on scene. If the doctors wasn't on scene, they would have to call the paramedics for him. So, I told him that. He got mad, the end of the game, he tried to hit me with a cheap shot and I threw him down and he got up and tried to put his hands in my face. I slammed him again, he tried to get up, and I tried to knock his head off. I'm not a chump. Ya'll winning, but you're not gonna' punk me."James Romain on Demetres Stephens; 8/11/2019
Notes
One of the biggest challenges for the Philadelphia Soul was the inability to keep drives going and turning the ball over on downs. The unearned turnovers, ones that aren't interceptions or forced fumbles, were compiled with Maurice Leggett's interception and a fumble recovery. Clint Dolezel commented on not being able to convert on goal-line situations, "without going too far into it, we're at the one-yard line. We got to be able to punch that in. I don't know what else to say, we're usually pretty good about that. If we had it over again, I'd do it the same way and I think we would get in, but tonight we didn't."
The agony of defeat was very real. As the cast of media and reporters took the field to get the live reactions of players, coaches, and even the fans after Arena Bowl 32, it was hard to see just how much the Philadelphia Soul players wanted this win and the realization that August 11th, 2019 was simply not their night. James Romain did a great job of putting this game and season into perspective for his teammates, "basically, it's a stepping stone. It's not the end of the world. Young guys, they got a lot more years to come." I spoke to Romain and asked him what the most important trait of the Soul team is after overcoming the adversity of the 2019 season to make it to the Arena Bowl:
"Confidence. Gotta' be confident. You always want to work your craft, you always want to get better, so it's always the next play. The last play we played was Albany winning the championship. So, [to] come back next year, we can't dwell on that."James Romain on the Philadelphia Soul going into 2020; 8/11/2019
In saying this, James Romain wishes they could go back to playing tomorrow. That is the hunger and fire he, as the AFL Defensive Player of the Year, brings to the table.
In all, the Arena Bowl 32 weekend and gameday were special not only for the Albany Empire and their fans but for the AFL as a whole. For myself, my cast of beat writers, and David Malanda Jr, it has been an incredible time covering all that is the Philadelphia Soul and the Arena Football League. We are excited about next season and the growth of the AFL. I am very proud of the Soul and the Arena Bowl 32 appearance that they fought for. However, 2019 belongs to the Empire and the city of Albany.
