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Philadelphia Soul Open Season Sunday In Orlando

By Matt Leon

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- The 2015 Arena Football League season will get underway for the Philadelphia Soul on Sunday night as they visit the Orlando Predators.

Philadelphia went 9-9 last season, grabbing a playoff spot, but they lost in the first round to Cleveland. 2014 was an uphill battle from the start for the Soul, as they started off 0-3 and never got more than a game above .500 the entire season.

"Overall it was a frustrating season last year," Soul head coach Clint Dolezel tells KYW Newsradio. "Had so many injuries and had to battle and lost so many close games. But we like what we've done with the roster this year, we've got a lot of new faces on it, I think we've got 11 returning guys from last year's team so that means we've got 13, 14 new guys. We're heading in the right direction the right way. Got a lot of good athletes on both sides of the ball."

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


One of the big acquisitions for the Soul during the offseason was Beau Bell, picked up in a trade with LA. Dolezel calls Bell the best linebacker in the league.

"He plays so hard," Dolezel says. "The biggest thing for him is just keeping him on the field healthy because he runs around and bangs so much. I really believe if he stays on the field the whole season, he'll lead the league in sacks, no questions asked."

You have to have great quarterback play to compete in the AFL and the Soul bring back one of the best in veteran Dan Raudabaugh. He completed 65% of his passes last season for Philadelphia with 85 touchdowns and just 18 interceptions.

"Anytime you can have one of the top three quarterbacks in the league," Dolezel says, "you're going to feel good about going into football games."

As far as the match-up with Orlando, Dolezel breaks down the keys for his squad.

"Containing their quarterback (Bernard Morris)," Dolezel says. "He's a really great runner of the ball, which is unusual to say in this game, that you've got to stop the running game from a quarterback. He throws the ball well and he's got two giants out there that he's throwing to, so stopping the 50/50 ball when they throw it up is going to be crucial for us, too."

Philadelphia and Orlando get underway at 7:00pm on Sunday.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.

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