Soul In Pittsburgh Searching For 2-0 Start
By Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – It's a cross-state trip for the Philadelphia Soul as they follow the turnpike west to visit the Pittsburgh Power Friday night in Arena Football League action. Philadelphia is looking to get off to a 2-0 start.
The Soul opened things up with a thrilling win in their opener, holding off the New Orleans VooDoo 63-62. The win was in doubt until the very last play of the game, when the Soul blocked a potential game-winning field goal attempt.
Head coach Doug Plank, says that performance wasn't perfect, but they'll take it.
"It's a great way to start. I know that some people are a little disappointed that we didn't win by a bigger margin. But taking everything into consideration, the turnovers, the mistakes we made, we're still very happy to come away with a win on the road."
Plank says that winning that opener in such dramatic fashion, could really help accelerate the development of the team's chemistry.
"It says something about the start of the year, momentum, and just a belief in each other. This was a team that was assembled from all around the country, from different organizations, different colleges. So I think putting this group of men together and having that first win, was really big in our binding process."
Listen to KYW's Matt Leon's interview with Doug Plank:
Podcast
Pittsburgh is also 1-0 as they won their opener over Orlando 40-26 back on March 9th. Plank says they present an interesting challenge for an Arena Football League opponent.
"They are like the mini version of the Steelers. Very physical, tough, they play great defense. It sounds crazy, but they do a great job running the football down inside the red zone. They are just a tough team. They have a great home-field environment, too, with a great fan base. So it's going to be another challenge for us to go into a rivalry game just in week #2."
The Soul and Pittsburgh will kickoff at 8:00pm.
