Move over Eagles, the Philadelphia Soul are the hottest football team in Philly, and the newest city champs, having won ArenaBowl 22 Sunday. The Soul beat the reigning champion San Jose SaberCats 59-56 in their first ArenaBowl, withstanding a tense late 4th quarter comeback by San Jose.

Both teams scored on their opening drives of the game. Soul Quarterback Matt D’Orazio threw seven touchdowns and ran for one other score. Philadelphia scored on all six of its first-half possessions and took the lead for good with three consecutive touchdowns in the second quarter.

That’s not to say that the SaberCats gave up. San Jose made things very tense in the final minutes, scoring 14 points in 11 seconds in the final minute of the game. Philadelphia scored with 40 seconds left in regulation, after receiving the benefit of a defensive pass interference call on 4th down on a play in the end zone. D’Orazio then hooked up with Phil Bogle three plays later to seemingly seal the game for the Soul at 59-42 with the extra point.

That is when things got dicey. San Jose quarterback Mark Grieb connected with Rodney Wright to bring the game to 59-49. The SaberCats were unsuccessful on the 2-point conversion. They were, however, successful on the onside kick the following play, downing the ball on the Philadelphia 14. San Jose was down by 10 with 28 seconds to go. Eleven seconds later that lead would be reduced to just four, with a touchdown pass to Jason Geathers. San Jose connected on their two point conversion and made it a three point game at 59-56.

Despite another onside kick, the SaberCats would get no closer. Philadelphia recovered the kickoff and was successfully able to run out the remaining time on the clock to win their first championship in their short five year history.

The Soul’s victory was the first championship in Philadelphia since the AHL Philadelphia Phantoms won the Calder Cup in 2005. There hasn’t been a championship in football in Philadelphia since the Eagles won the NFL Championship in 1960, before the establishment of the SuperBowl.

While the Soul’s victory will likely not garner the same kind of attention and enthusiasm from Philadelphia’s fanbase that a Phillies, Eagles, Sixers, or Flyers championship would, it is still an exciting achievement worthy of note and recognition. The Soul have battled through a tough season, one that looked dour early when first string quarterback Tony Graziani sprained his ankle in Week 3, this after he set the franchise record with touchdowns in a game with nine. Newly acquired second string quarterback D’Orazio played most of the remainder of the season and held this team together to a 13-3 record.

It was a remarkable story and on behalf of everyone here at Hot Stove Philly I send our congratulations to the Philadelphia Soul, their owner Jon Bon Jovi, and General Manager Ron Jaworski, the 2008 Arena Football League Champions!