Soul Open Playoffs Saturday Against Cleveland

By Matt Leon

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- After a 15-3 regular season, the Philadelphia Soul are now getting ready for the playoffs. They will open the post-season on Saturday, at home, against the Cleveland Gladiators.

"We've been ready for this for a month, at least, now," Soul head coach Clint Dolezel tells KYW Newsradio. "It's nice that it's here. 18 regular season games is a long, long season. Plus the two bye weeks, 20 weeks, plus two weeks of getting ready (for the season). So you're talking 22 weeks before this point. So we've been chomping at the bit to get here."

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

Philadelphia lost in the first round of the playoffs last year to Cleveland. However, this year the Soul are 3-0 against the Gladiators (who finished the regular season 8-10). That includes a 48-33 win last week in Cleveland. Dolezel is happy this playoff game will be in South Philadelphia.

"Last week, their crowd was a big factor, as far as play-calling on the offensive side, listening in the huddle," Dolezel says. "I think we had one delay of game (penalty) and had two or three that were really close. So we're hoping to turn that switch back on them where our crowd gets loud, our announcer gets loud and puts them in that same situation we were in."

It is rare to play a team four times in a single season and Dolezel talks about dealing with that kind of familiarity.

"(Cleveland) Coach (Steve) Thonn and I, on the offensive side, we're smart enough to make some changes and take advantage of what they're giving us," Dolezel says. "It's a chess match. Defensive coordinators against offensive coordinators. That's the biggest thing, whoever makes the adjustments during the week and during the game."

Philadelphia and Cleveland will kick off at 5:00pm on Saturday.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.