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Philadelphia Soul face Baltimore Brigade in Arena Football League’s new playoff format

The Soul and Brigade will play a two-game series, Sunday in Philadelphia and Friday in Baltimore. If the teams split, the one with more combined points will advance.

Quarterback Dan Raudabaugh will be key to the Soul's chances.
Quarterback Dan Raudabaugh will be key to the Soul's chances.Read moreYONG KIM

Change continues to be at the forefront of the Arena Football League, now with a new playoff format.

"It's a little bit different with the aggregate scoring, but the one way to control that is to win both games," Soul quarterback Dan Raudabaugh said.

The third-seeded Soul (7-5) will face the second-seeded Baltimore Brigade (7-5) at the Wells Fargo Center at 6 p.m. Sunday in the first round of the AFL playoffs. The winner will be determined in a best-of-two series. Each team gets a home game, with the order determined by the higher of the two seeds. Baltimore chose Friday's second game to be at home. If the teams split the series, the team with the higher aggregate score will go to Arena Bowl XXXI.

"Not only do we want to win [Sunday], but we want to win by a large margin because Baltimore is a difficult place to play," Soul coach Clint Dolezel said.

The AFL last season had five teams and the top four advanced to the playoffs, which featured a single-elimination format. The switch in format was made after the league dropped to four teams. Top seed Albany and No. 4 Washington will meet in the other first-round series.

The Soul split their four-game regular-season series with Baltimore, each winning two games at home. Soul quarterback Dan Raudabaugh and Brigade quarterback Randy Hippeard have earned MVP and offensive-player-of-the-year honors in previous seasons.

"When you go up against another quarterback who can punch it in the end zone every time, it forces you to step your game up and play at a high level, too," Raudabaugh said. "I have a lot of respect for Randy and how he plays the game and how he's been able to transition and continue to learn and get better every year."

>>READ MORE: Soul owner Ron Jaworski believes the Arena Football League, down to just four teams, will rise again

The key for the Soul in this series is to slow the Brigade's high-scoring offense.

Said Soul line coach Jon Lyles: "It doesn't matter if you're [facing] Tom Brady. If you're up in their face and all around their feet, fighting and clawing at them, they're not comfortable. No quarterback is comfortable when you're all around them and clawing at them."

Last week, the Soul lost to the Albany Empire, 71-57. After a tied first quarter, the Empire outscored the Soul, 23-7, in the second quarter, and the Soul never recovered.

"You learn from the bad and you build on the good with every game whether you win or you lose," Lyles said. "And our guys definitely reflected back and saw what we cannot do … as far as playing focused football. We have to stay within ourselves and not make mental errors."

The Soul are two-time defending AFL champions. This is the team's 13th season and seventh straight playoff appearance.

"This is why you play the game," Dolezel said. "This is for the playoffs and trying to get that ring."

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