Soul A Week Away From ArenaBowl Match-Up With Arizona

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - For the fourth time in franchise history, the Philadelphia Soul are headed to the ArenaBowl.

The Soul will match-up with the Arizona Rattlers on Friday night, August 26th, out in Glendale, Arizona.

"These guys deserve it," Soul head coach Clint Dolezel tells KYW Newsradio. "They've practiced hard, they've played hard all year long. It's definitely something they deserve and we're looking forward to it."

Listen to the entire interview with the Soul's Clint Dolezel...

The Soul got here by beating Jacksonville this past Sunday, 55-50, to win the American Conference title. This game was one for the ages. Philadelphia actually trailed 50-49 in the final minute, but a six-yard touchdown pass from Dan Raudabaugh to wide receiver Darius Reynolds with just four seconds left gave the Soul the win. Reynolds made the catch by tipping the ball to himself while crashing into the wall in the end zone.

"We had (wide receiver Chris) Duvalt in motion, he's the main route there," Dolezel explains. "If they try to play him man-to-man, we like to work that option route with him. They came up and did a good job and actually took him away and we've got a two-on-one on the outside there and Dan threw a nice touch pass in the back corner of the end zone and (Reynolds) tipped it to himself and then was able to grab it and really with his momentum and weight going in the opposite direction.

"It was a heck of a play," Dolezel adds, "let alone in the situation it was to win the football game. Just a spectacular catch."

Arizona didn't have to sweat nearly as much to get here as they beat Cleveland to win the National Conference title, 82-41. The Soul and the Rattlers split their two meetings during the regular season, each winning at home. Philadelphia's 65-58 win back on May 14th was actually Philadelphia's first-ever against the Rattlers.

Dolezel knows this is a great match-up.

"Two top quarterbacks playing against each other (Soul's Raudabaugh and Arizona's Nick Davilla), it's how it should be," Dolezel says. "It doesn't always work out that way. It's hard to get there. (Arizona's) done it year in and year out, they're that good. They're well-coached, talented and they've got a lot of depth. They've got a lot of guys that don't even play that are starters for a bunch of teams and stars. So we know we've got our hands full."

This will be third time the Soul and Rattlers have met in the ArenaBowl. Arizona beat Philadelphia for the title in 2012 and 2013 and Arizona also won the title in 2014. Those are three of Arizona's five ArenaBowl championships.

Philadelphia won the ArenaBowl in 2008, beating the now-defunct San Jose SaberCats.

The ArenaBowl on August 26th will kickoff at 7:00pm.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.