Soul drop home opener to Sharks, 59-41
The last time the Soul took the field at the Wells Fargo Center, they fell to the Jacksonville Sharks in the American Conference title game last summer, falling just short of the franchise's fourth Arena Bowl berth.
On Monday night, the Soul opened the home slate for the 2016 season. The venue was the same, the opponent was the same, but unfortunately for the Soul (1-1) so was the result, as they fell to the Sharks (1-1) once again, 59-41.
"We were off, which wasn't the way that we wanted to start our season," said Soul head coach Clint Dolezel after the game. "We did too much thinking, instead of just playing the game of football. We need to get back on the field as soon as possible and fix the errors we saw tonight."
The usually efficient Soul offense was anything but Monday night, as the unit turned the ball over four times, which helped the Sharks expand their lead during the second half.
Reigning AFL MVP Dan Raudgabaugh was picked off by the Jacksonville defense on three occasions (twice by defensive back Greg Reid), which is uncommon given that he only threw 12 interceptions all of last season.
He did managed to throw three touchdowns to go along with 306 passing yards. His main target was Darius Reynolds, who caught 10 passes for 129 yards and snagged three scores of his own.
Ryan McDaniel caught nine passes for 135 yards, but lost a costly fumble during the fourth quarter.
Before the turnovers began piling up, the Soul were keeping pace with the Sharks, as they only trailed the defending conference champs, 35-34, with 8:55 left in the third quarter, but the turnovers helped the Sharks score 24 unanswered points.
The Soul finally got back on the board with only 23 seconds left in the game when backup quarterback Luke Collis found Reynolds for a 33-yard touchdown.
Leading the Sharks was wide receiver Joe Hills, who caught nine passes for 154 yards and four touchdowns. Former Soul receiver Tiger Jones also had a productive night, catching seven passes for 126 yards and two scores.
Hills and Jones made life easy for quarterback Tommy Grady, who amassed 326 yards and seven touchdowns.
The Soul are back home Sunday, April 17 when they host the winless (0-2) Portland Steel at 4 p.m.